Well, it was a very interesting day at the Stag-Hen.
Claremont bounced back from a tough week, as expected, but they did not do it at all like I expected them too. The Stags have never been a dominant doubles force, and they have always been one of the deepest, if not the deepest, teams in the country. Today, they won by sweeping doubles and winning the top two singles positions. Lane has always been a great competitor, and he recovered from a tough start to his season today. Wood is playing extremely clutch for the Stags right now, which is something I never would have expected from him after the Swarthmore debacle. Normally, I would say that a great 1-2 punch would make them the national title favorite, but the bottom of their lineup is playing like garbage. They need to find some passion and fast, or they’re going to get steamrolled by Emory.
Speaking of Emory, the Eagles looked dominant today, especially in singles. After blanking Skidmore, they fell in a quick hole to Kenyon (which can happen to anyone), but they responded quickly, taking the top 5 singles in very routine fashion. By the time 6 singles was on the court, they had already basically sealed the victory, so that result doesn’t really matter. By the way these two teams played today, I would take Emory as the heavy favorite heading into tomorrow. Even if they got swept by Claremont, I would expect them to win at least 5 singles matches. Wood/Lane might be a good 1-2 punch, but I don’t think they can beat Pottish/Goodwin. I would expect Goodwin to be back at the 2 spot tomorrow after the way he played today. I’ll take Emory for a repeat 6-3 victory in the championship match.
Kenyon started its day off right with a 5-4 victory over Pomona. Even though they clinched at 5-1, they were lucky to escape with the victory. They were up 6-1 at #2 doubles before losing, and they had match points against them at 1 and 3. The Lords are very tough in singles, but I don’t think they’re tough enough to take five matches against P-P. Still, taking 2 out of 3 is an improvement. Their match against Emory was even more encouraging on the doubles front, but they had to have been discouraged by the singles. They got absolutely blown off the court. Can’t blame Burgin and Heerboth, but Razumovsky and Williams should not have lost as easily as they did. They have a rematch with Bowdoin tomorrow, and they absolutely have to avoid the let down.
I knew that Bowdoin was capable of pulling off the upset, but I never actually thought they would. Kudos to them for beating Wash U and putting themselves back in the driver’s seat for Pool C. Unfortunately for them, they weren’t able to take down Claremont in the afternoon, and they have to be regretting some missed opportunities in this one. At one point, they were up a break at #2 doubles and on serve at #1 and 3 before CMS pulled away. If they had gotten at least one doubles point, the match might have been a different story, but getting swept gave them basically no chance. They fought extremely valiantly, however, and had a chance to come back, but King just coudn’t get the 3rd set against Wood. I actually like their chances of upsetting Kenyon tomorrow in the rematch, and I’ll take them for a 5-4 win.
Hopkins had a very ambiguous day. They failed to back up their #4 ranking by losing to CMS, but there is absolutely no shame in that. They got swept in doubles, and won three 3-set matches in singles before finally going down. If they can figure out their doubles lineup, they are a national championship contender, but right now they aren’t. It can’t help that basically their entire roster is below 6 feet tall. Regardless, their singles play is incredible, and they can win 5 matches against anyone in singles. I think they are the heavy favorite to beat Pomona-Pitzer tomorrow.
This has already been said a lot, but P-P’s inability to capitalize on opportunities is starting to become a disturbing trend. It’s absolutely devastating to lose one doubles match after having match points. I can’t imagine what it felt like in that huddle after they lost two. They played with a lot of heart, as they always do, in singles against Kenyon, but the clinch came relatively early for the Lords, and they never really had a chance after the doubles. Though they may not be clutch, the Hens certainly are resilient, as they did a good job coming back in the afternoon to fend off a spirited Skidmore team. Unfortunately, I think they are absolutely outmatched in singles against Hopkins. I’ll take the Blue Jays, 6-3.
I hate to dwell on the negative, but Wash U might actually be the story of the tournament so far. After falling to Bowdoin, they are actually in danger of missing NCAA’s for the first time in the history of always. It’s really bad to lose to a fellow Pool C competitor. They almost rebounded by beating Hopkins, but they lost that one too, and now they are in the uncomfortable position of having to play a fiery Skidmore team in a must-win match. Having beat Skidmore a couple days ago might actually put even more pressure on the Bears to win this one, and the Thoroughbreds will be extremely hungry for a victory after dropping a tough fight to Pomona. Wash U should be hungry too, but the difference is Skidmore pretty much expected to be in this match, while Wash U has to be pissed off.
Skidmore played a good couple rounds. They got absolutely rocked by Emory, which was expected. And they put up a good fight but lost to Pomona-Pitzer, which was also expected. Overall, I think they are pretty much appropriately ranked where they ended up, and I doubt they will be able to take out Wash U. I’ll go with the Bears in the 7th place match, 7-2.
Some of the top teams like Hopkins, Emory, and Kenyon are relying heavily on their best freshmen. CMS is playing Woods but not Marino or Bernhardt, both of whom had great fall tournaments. This seems odd given the problems they have had after Woods and Lane. If they are injured that is bad luck for CMS. Scraping out doubles and winning dogfights at the top two singles does not seem like a recipe for long term success though it has worked for them at the Stagg-Hen so far.
Bernhardt is recovering from surgery. Someone commented that Marino was sick a week ago. I’m guessing he’s probably still on the mend
That is all correct. Both are expected back this season, but it’s hard to know how strong they’ll be. I won’t say the Stags’ season depends on those two, because I think the other guys at the bottom of their lineup can play better than they have…but this is certainly something to keep an eye on.
Pretty sure he meant to say Emory in that part. He had just come off complimenting Kenyon and then talking about disappointing singles play(Emory match)
That’s right. Sorry, I accidentally typed “Kenyon” instead of “Emory” in there. I made the switch, and that should clear things up.
Day 2 is a washout
Too bad – could have been a fun day.
Then again, at least CMS is now assured of ending spring break on a much-needed high note. Sweeping doubles and winning at 1 & 2 singles probably isn’t a good long-term recipe for success, but given how disrupted their singles lineup has been, I’m guessing they’re happy to ride that wave as long as they can. Hopefully a month from now their singles lineup will look something like Wood, Lane, Erani, Marino, Johnson, and Bernhardt, in which case I think they will be much stronger at 3-6 singles.
Kenyon has beaten Pomona 3 time in the past year. 5-4 in the last two stag hen tournaments and 6-3 at a neutral site at national indoors. Clearly the lords are a better team from top to bottom.
No one is disputing that Kenyon is better or that they shouldn’t have won. All people said were that it was close which if you go off the last year’s results are also indisputable. These two teams battle in unique ways every time.
That’s what is great about D3. There are some great match-ups. It also shouldn’t be forgotten that both teams are better than last year, but so are so many teams. D3 is so good right now. That’s part of the reason CMS has struggled as well. Anyone can beat anyone right now.
There seems to be a lot of parity after Amherst and Emory. Williams and Middlebury may be at or near their level. After that there are a lot of tough teams that can beat each other depending on the day and location. Hopkins, NCW, and Kenyon look strong but they are clearly beatable. Cal Lu, Cruz, and CMS seem to be in the next group with good wins and surprising losses. Trinity, Bowdoin, Pomona, and Redlands seem to be in the next echelon. Wash U has underachieved. The mystery teams are Whitman which has been very scrappy and taken advantage of limited opportunities and Whittier and Trinity Ct, which are flying under the radar ready to pounce and move up. Below them are a bunch of dangerous teams that can beat teams above them if the stars are aligned. There is some very good DIII tennis in surprising places this year.
Kenyon didn’t clinch at 5-1 and it didn’t come early. It went: 2-1, 3-1 (Burgin), 4-1 (Williams), 4-2 (Hudson), 5-2 (Rosenstee), 5-3 (Wiechert), 5-4 (Singh). The 2, 4, 5 matches also finished close to each other.
Sorry, that’s right. The point is that, even though the score line was close, Kenyon was never really nervous once the singles started
Rosensteel won before Hudson did
Yes, but the 5 singles match was removed from the others because of the court setup. The point is that it was very tight and to say Kenyon wasn’t nervous is kind of silly.
Well, the Kenyon guys said they weren’t nervous, so maybe they were being silly
Your discussion of the Kenyon Pomona match is very confusing. First off razumovsky and williams did not lose easily in singles. Razumovsky lost 6 in the third and Williams actually won. Did you mean doubles? Also you say you cant blame burgin, but what would someone blame him for, he beat Meyer 3 and 2. I’m still confused as to how Kenyon got blown off the court in singles. They won 3 singles spots and lost at #2 6 in the third and they lost at 5 5 in the third. That’s not getting blown out at all. Could you clarify these statements?
Great wrap up of day 1, totally nailed pretty much everything that happened. Just because I haven’t seen it mentioned on here yet but lost in the shuffle of all the Stag-Hen coverage is the Cal Lu/Redlands result. Cal Lu wins 6-3. After going behind 2-1 after doubles, Cal Lu wins 1-5 singles.