Denison def. #27 Kalamazoo 7-2
It looks like the Big Red won this match pretty comfortably. Doubles has been Kalamazoo’s Achilles heel this year, and against a team as good as Denison, they had basically no chance after falling down 3-0. Denison has looked solid to start the season, and this win will get them back in the national rankings, but with so few D3 matches under their belt, we really have no idea how good they are. Kalamazoo may fall out of the rankings after this, and there are actually quite a few decent team that will end up outside of the national rankings this year (CNU and Rhodes from the A. South; Carleton and maybe Wisconsin-Whitewater and Kalamazoo if they drop out of the Central; Vassar, Tufts, and Brandeis are all decent teams). Forgive me for saying so, but I think it’s about time the Division 3 rankings were extended to 40 schools. There used to be only 15 or so good tennis teams in D3, and finding teams to fill out the top 25 was a chore, but I think the gap has closed enough to warrant expanded rankings. Just my opinion.
#4 Kenyon def. #13 Carnegie Mellon 5-4
This was definitely the match of the day. Carnegie took 2 of 3 doubles, but Kenyon won two of the first three singles matches to make it 3-3 with three matches in the third set. The Lords obviously managed to pull two of those out to give them the thrilling victory. This was a definite missed opportunity for Carnegie Mellon, and yet another display of mental fortitude from Kenyon. CMU has a dangerous must-win match against Denison in a couple weeks. As long as they win that one, they will probably make the tournament if they can get to the UAA finals (win or lose against Hopkins). This doesn’t change much for Kenyon. They also play Denison, but if they can avoid the upset there, they will go into the NCAA tournament as the 4 or 5 seed, setting up a potential Elite Eight match with the winner of the California region. (Either Cal Lu, CMS, or Cruz will probably be the opposing 4 or 5 seed, so whoever wins that region will get the Lords). There’s a very slim chance that Kenyon could move up to #3 in the nation if Williams or Amherst loses to Middlebury, but I think their NCAA fate is pretty much decided.
Kenyon got lucky. Down in the 3rd in 3 matches and they win 2 of the 3. CMU is much better than in years past. I would have to agree that Kenyon has some clutch freshmen.
First of all, Kenyon did not get lucky, and they were not down in the third in 3 matches. The closest the 3rd set of burgin’s match was when they were at 2-2, and razumovsky’s closest score in the 3rd set was 3-3. Neither were ever down at all during the set. Both won their 3rd sets by double breaks. So Kenyon was only down in the 3rd in one match, which was at 6 singles. Therefore you are incorrect, and you are definitely incorrect that kenyon got lucky.
Razumovsky and burgin, who went to the same high school, come up big for the lords. Actually I am more impressed with the continued great play of the kenyon freshman. Rosensteel and heerboth have been exceptional this year, in addition to razumovksy.