D3tennis and I both don’t have time to cover the great matches that will be happening this weekend, but I’m posting this so people can comment on what’s going on. If anyone wants to comment who is going to be there, send an e-mail and you can be a guest author…
Redlands won today against both Vassar and Mary Washington. Patrick Lipscomb has quickly established himself as one of the best players in the country. He’s undefeated with wins over Guzick, White, Wichlin, Frey, Milo, Berg, and a whole host of other non-D3 opponents. The Bulldogs have been relatively weak at the top of their lineup for the last couple years, and Lipscomb could be the player that helps them get back into Pool C.
Mary Washington is an absolute mystery. They destroy Kalamazoo, then lose to Whitman. They beat Cal Lu (who is playing like a top 10 team) then lose tamely to both P-P and Redlands. I’m with D3tennis. I think they can play like a top 10 team on any given day, but their lack of consistency prevents them from jumping back into the elite.
Trinity beat Pomona again today. With the exception of their loss to Cal Lu, they have been very impressive this year. Beating both Redlands and Pomona-Pitzer without your #2 singles player is incredible, especially for a team that was supposed to have a down year. (In response to people talking about the difference between missing a #1, a #2, or a #5, the higher up the player, the more significant the loss, obviously. If the #1 singles player is out, everyone else has to play above their comfort level. If the #5 singles player is out, only the #6 and 7 have to play above their comfort level). After a couple more matches against Skidmore and Bowdoin, the Tigers head back to Texas, and they should be rewarded for their play with a top 3 regional ranking.
Another close call for Pomona-Pitzer today, and coming up just short in big matches is becoming a disturbing pattern for the Hens. Fortunately for them, they have plenty of chances left, starting with the Stag-Hen. Once again, I’ll reserve judgement for a little bit.
Whittier still looking good, but they need to beat Vassar–a team with very similar strengths and weaknesses. If they win, it will be interesting to see where they end up in the next rankings.
Cruz got a big win today at home against CMS. Every time they stumble and people start questioning whether or not they are deserving of their top 10 ranking, they answer in a big way. I haven’t seen the box score, but D3’s tweets make it sound like it wasn’t that dramatic. Cruz took two out of three doubles and never looked backThe thing I’m really waiting for with the Slugs is to see whether or not they get Larsen back at the end of their quarter.
Anyone looking for commentary on CMS should look at D3’s post. I’m as confused as everyone else is. Hopefully for the Stags, they can figure this out soon because they’ve got Hopkins in 5 days.
All eyes will head back East for the first time in a while. Who does everyone have in the NCW-Hopkins match. I’ll take Hopkins, 5-4.
Sunday
Well, one of my predictions turned out to be pretty good for once. Hopkins beat NCW in an absolutely incredible match today. The Battling Bishops completely dominated doubles, but the Blue Jays came back in impressive fashion by sweeping singles. The top 4 singles matches were all incredibly close, with the top 3 going three sets. Hopkins showed both amazing heart and amazing depth, today. They rolled through NCW at the bottom two singles positions to get themselves back in the match, and overcame the potential momentum shift that could’ve occured when NCW took the second sets at 1 and 2. When the rankings come out at the end of the week, they will have to be ranked either 4th or 6th, but that will definitely change after the Stag-Hen. If they win, they will be ranked 2nd; whereas, any other result has them headed in the opposite direction.
The Battling Bishops shouldn’t take this loss all that hard. Sure, they surrendered a 3-0 lead, but they played great in doubles yet again. They seem to have filled the hole in their lineup that has been plaguing them for the past two season. It won’t help them if they can’t win singles matches, but I think they will bounce back from this one in a couple of weeks. For the moment, they will probably drop somewhere around 8-12 in the next rankings.
Middlebury beat Bates 7-2 in the other match between ranked teams today. Berg keeps playing well for Bates, but it won’t help them if they can’t win at the bottom half of their lineup. Maybe they will do better when they play teams ranked in the 20’s. Good start for Middlebury. They make a California trip in a couple weeks, and it will be good for them to have a win over a ranked team under their belt before their matches with P-P and CMS
Saw Berg against Middlebury. Wow! Very impressive!
Unbelievable singles performance by hopkins. I think they jump in rankings to 4 or 6 depending on if midd and whit move ahead or not. As for upcoming cms battle, have to get one doubles against them. Nc wes isn’t known for doubles prowess which is a troubling sign but no question they can beat anyone in singles. I think they go into cms the favorites but need to get 1 of those doubles
Hop defeats NC Wesleyan 6-3. NCW sweeps doubles, Hop sweeps singles… complete reversal of 2010 NCAA regionals.
What do you think happens to rankings of ncw and hopkins now? Where do they go?
For Hopkins, I agree with the person below me on Hopkins. They will be either 4 or 6. Personally, I don’t think one win over NCW tops wins over Cruz, MWU,and Kalamazoo for now, but Hopkins will keep moving up if they keep winning because they have the Stag-Hen up next. With the loss, NCW will probably fall a couple spots, maybe just behind JHU, Whitman, and Midd, but you could argue that Cal Lu and Trinity should also be ahead of them. Tough call. The rankings are an absolute mess.
Big time performance by Trin Tx tonight. Reading that write up, they jumped all over P-P in singles in the first sets but Pomona made a VERY serious run at them and almost pulled it off, number 4 saving two match points and a 5 two hole to clinch minutes before Pomona pulls out wins at 1 and 5. Tough place to play and to withstand that huge momentum shift that must have occurred after seemingly able to cruise to a victory after those first sets is commendable. They could be a big time final four threat if their singles can maintain that level of toughness to go along with their superb doubles.
Final four threat? They have to get through Cruz, CMS, Redlands, and Cal Lu just to get to the Elite Eight. They haven’t even come close to showing that they can do that
Not saying they’re favored just on the upswing. More than capable of sweeping anyone on any given day and they’re singles is getting stronger. They get Strauss back and they’re that much better. Plus they typically never play in a regional with any of those teams that will all battle each other anyways so they don’t play a role. PP and Redlands are basically neck and neck and they beat both without Strauss and really who is to say CMS has any heart right now anyways? Cruz is the current favorite for that region and Trin Tx is certainly capable and showed that when they played. Its not a question of ability with them its all belief.
My bad, I thought you were talking about Pomona-Pitzer. I would definitely agree that Trinity is a legit final four threat with Strauss, especially with the recent struggles of Kenyon and CMS. If upsets keep going the way they’ve been going, a bunch of upsets with happen Trinity will end up being the #1 seed in a region where they will only have to beat CMU or Case for an Elite Eight birth. After that, anything can happen.
The difference is that all the other top 10 teams play stacked schedules. Whitman could have played tough competition in California but they elected to go with Whittier Trin Ct rather than playing a strong regional opponent.
What makes you think that Whitman did not try to play the other top teams in So. Cal? Whitman can’t force other teams to schedule them, and lots of teams want to play in Cal.
As an assistant coach of one of those top teams I can tell you they filled their schedule with lesser schools first. We tried to schedule them and they had already filled all their dates.
Hello readers this thread was pointed out to me and I felt the need to respond. Scheduling is never easy especially being in a conference that demands a round robin and half (12 matches) and trying to squeeze in extra competitive matches. Over the years I have always tried to schedule the best competition for my Whitman team(s). In fact we often drive down the West coast swinging through Santa Cruz and the Los Angeles area so we can pick up matches (over 24 hours of driving each way). Also I developed, funded and organized the first DIII indoors tournament as an opportunity for Whitman players and all DIII teams.
Last year I planned to take a 2012 trip to Santa Cruz. However with the coaching change in Santa Cruz our weekend fell through. At that point I was scrambling put together a spring break schedule. Here is the email I sent to all the top coaches in CA —
“Hi guys I was planning on traveling to Santa Cruz for some tennis but that fell through. Would anyone be up for playing us Wed March 14 – March 17 (we could stretch our trip a bit longer if needed). Hope everyone has had a great summer.”
Most of the coaches emailed back saying they would like to play but were full on dates.
I also sent this email to all the top 20 teams in DIII
“Hello, Whitman College is looking for a match in Southern California on either Thursday March 15 or Sunday March 18.”
The Whitman team has been working incredibly hard and had a great year. I’m disappointed that some in the DIII community would post anonymous comments tarnishing our accomplishments (and my reputation). If the anonymous poster above would like to email me at northajw@whitman.edu I would happily forward you the above emails.
Sincerely,
Coach Jeff Northam
Whitman College
Amen, this is why we can’t have nice things. Didn’t the original blog almost shut down due to the community comments turning increasingly negative? Let’s keep this about tennis and positives about what’s going on this year because there is certainly much to focus on.
The big question will be? Does the ranking committee favor teams that have 1 good win or do they go with the strength of schedule that teams play? Whitman played 1 good match and won. Now they sit back in their little cacoon of a tennis world and play no one.