The Santa Cruz Quad

Well, there’s a phenomenal quad between four great West region teams happening this weekend, so it’s only natural that I be the one to cover it. One one corner we have the reeling Pomona-Pitzer Sage Hens – possibly coming off a revitalizing victory over Mary Washington –, in another we have the injury riddled Whitman Fighting Squirrels in their first action of the season, in the third we have the up-and-coming UT-Tyler Patriots – who hope to use their bevy of transfers to solidify a spot in the top 15, and in the final corner we have the host UC Santa Cruz Banana Slugs fresh off an impressive victory over Redlands. Let’s get to the matches.

Saturday March 9th

#16 Pomona-Pitzer at #11 UC Santa Cruz

We’re gonna start this thing off with a great morning match between two competitors who have been jockeying for top 10 positioning for the past couple years. The Hens were hoping they would be able to reload after being hit hard by graduation last year, but they haven’t done that so far. Sabel and Weichert have been bright spots for them so far, and they’ve been buoyed by the impressive play of freshman Thomas Low (4-0 this season), but they haven’t been as strong at the top of the doubles lineup as they usually are.

UC Santa Cruz, however, is playing extremely well on their home courts, and will be tough to beat in this one. P-P topped the Slugs in the regular season last year, but they’re going to need something special to make that happen here. Interestingly, #3 doubles has also been Cruz’ strongest doubles positions, so something’s gotta give here. As impressive as Low and Hudson have been Goetz and Halabi are 8-0 this season. You gotta go with them until proven otherwise. Cruz also appears to have shored up their #1 doubles team by replacing Scandalis with Rosner. I’ll take the Slugs there, and the Hens at #2 to keep things interesting. In singles, I gotta figure Low is a lock at #5, which has easily been Cruz’ weakest singles position this year. I’ll take Rogers at #4 just because he’s on fire. If I’m P-P, I consider switching Hudson and Sabel for this match because Hudson can hit through Halabi with that forehand, and I think Sabel would end up in a grindfest that would ultimately go Halabi’s way. Regardless, Koenig has beaten Weichert before, and I think he’ll do it again. Both teams are weak at #6 at the moment, but I think Littlejohn is a little stronger on his home courts. Altogether, we have wins at 1 and 3 doubles; 1, 4, and 6 singles for Cruz, and I think this will finish up 6-3 for the Slugs.

#16 Pomona-Pitzer vs. #20 UT-Tyler

The weird thing about all four of these teams, you’ll notice, is they all appear to be only 5 players deep at the moment. I’m hoping for at least one match this weekend where it comes down to 4-4 with #6 singles on the court. I don’t think this will be the match.

I’m not going to leave you guys hanging, I think Tyler is coming out of this quad undefeated. Ybarra hasn’t been the lock some imagined him being at #1, but Brown and Martinez have been unstoppable at 2 and 3, and that makes Spencer a very tough out at 4. Brown and Ybarra have also been incredibly solid at #1 doubles, pushing Singer and Spencer (NCAA doubles qualifiers, no matter how dubious their selection was) to #2. And there are your five wins for UT-Tyler: 1 and 2 doubles; 2 3 and 4 singles at the least. I think P-P wins at 3 doubles and 5 and (possibly) 6 singles, and Ybarra wins to make it 6-3 Tyler.

Sunday March 10th

#20 UT-Tyler at #11 UC Santa Cruz

In my mind, this is the match of the quad right here. Cruz hasn’t been beaten on their home courts, but who knows how good their wins over Bates and Redlands actually are? They were dominant in singles, we know that much, so let’s just get down to the match ups.

Again, Ybarra and Brown have already beaten GAC’s #1s and Oklahoma Christian’s #1s, so I’m not about to go against them vs. Koenig and Rosner (or Scandalis). Spencer and Singer are very strong at #2, and Littlejohn and Bettwy certainly haven’t given us much reason to pick them. If Cruz can steal one of the top two doubles, however, this is it. Once more, you gotta go with the hot hand at #3 doubles, and I think Tyler takes a 2-1 lead heading into singles.

I’ll take Brown at 2 and Martinez at 3 again. I’ll take Littlejohn at 6 again, until Tyler’s 6 provees otherwise. Koenig will keep things interesting with a win at #1, and Rogers could make it 4-4 with a win at #4, but I see Singer coming away with the win at #5 to make it 5-4 for the Pats. Who knows how Brown will react to Halabi’s game, though, so there’s a potential swing match. Still, I think it’s more likely that Ybarra beats Koenig or Spencer beats Rogers than Cruz gets wins at 2, 3 or 5. Speculation is fun.

#13 Whitman vs. #16 Pomona-Pitzer

Well, here’s Whitman’s first real match of the season, and I have to say that things don’t look great for them. As down as D3TG tends to be on Whitman, I think they’re a resilient bunch worthy of their development ranking. This time, however, I think the cards might be stacked against them a little too high. They lost their #3 and #6 from last year to graduation, and now the #2 isn’t playing and their #4 (half of the #2 ranked doubles team in the country) is injured. That’s a lot to overcome. It’s hard to tell from their conference matches, but it looks like they haven’t quite figured out new doubles combos that they’re comfortable with, so it will be interesting to see who they throw out there against Pomona.

Either way, P-P has a few decided advantages. First, they will come into this match having already played five matches against ranked teams. Second, they will be used to playing outside (much less in heat), which, even though I haven’t been checking the Walla Walla weather recently, I doubt Whitman has. If Whitman has an advantage, it’s that P-P could be tired from their doubleheader on the previous day. Nevertheless, Pomona’s experience advantage will be most potent in the opening doubles portion, and I expect them to be sharper overall and come away with wins at #1 and #3.

Singles has been more set for Whitman, so we have a better idea of what we’re looking at. You gotta go with Weichert over the untested Malesovas at #1, but Whitman should strike back with a La Cava victory at #2. I’ll go with Sadeghi’s experience over Hudson at #3 and Allinson’s experience over Roston at #4. Riggs vs. Low is a very interesting match at #5, but I think the junior transfer will probably pull that one out. Since I don’t think Whitman even knows who they’ll be throwing out at #6, I’ll take Pomona-Pitzer there to close out a much-needed 5-4 victory for the Hens. Swing matches to look out for are #3 doubles, #2, 3, and 4 singles (I just named half of the positions, so you know how confident I am predicting Whitman’s lineup).

#13 Whitman vs. #20 UT-Tyler

It’s almost as if Tyler turned all of Whitman’s bad luck with injuries and departures and turned it into good luck with DI transfers. If Whitman’s going to win this match, they’ll have to pull something out of their ass in doubles because they just don’t appear to be as strong in singles.

I would have loved to see Ybarra and Brown play La Cava and Rivers, but it doesn’t appear as though we’re going to see that, and I think the Patriots take #1 doubles with relative ease. Again, I think #2 doubles is a strong spot for Tyler, but we don’t know what Whitman is throwing out there, so for the sake of argument, I’ll just say that the teams will split 2 and 3 doubles to give the Pats a 2-1 lead heading into singles. Whitman is a strong doubles team, and it’s hard to see them getting swept by anyone.

From there, I think the Pats will take over. Ybarra over Malesovas in a battle of Texans at #1. Brown over La Cava in three tight sets at #2. Martinez over Sadeghi in straights at #3. Spencer in straights at #4. I’ll take Riggs at #5 in three close ones for Whitman, and Tyler again in three close sets over whoever Whitman has at #6. 7-2 Tyler.

Monday March 11th

#13 Whitman at #11 UC Santa Cruz

I must say kudos to Cruz for scheduling this quad so that every team plays a double-header except for them. (and that’s not insinuating anything malicious, I’m sure the other teams are saving dates and travel money. It’s just nice to play one match a day on your home courts). Anyways, the Slugs will probably be pretty eager to avenge their loss to Whitman from last year, and I think they will in this one. Again, if Whitman is going to win, they will probably need another doubles sweep, but with Halabi and Goetz, it’s hard to see that happening. Whitman has historically been strongest at #2 doubles, so I’ll just take them there again and go with a 2-1 Cruz lead with wins at #1 and #3, again. I’m not being very imaginative with these predictions.

Again, I think Malesovas is in for a rude surprise this weekend stepping into the #1 spot after not playing at all last year. Koenig is a seasoned competitor, and he’s going to be very tough to beat on their home courts. #2 singles will be one of the more entertaining match ups of all time. You’ve got a short, fast serve-and-volleyer versus a impenetrable grinder of a lefty with unbelievable passing shots and (by all accounts) no volleys. This one could go down to the wire, but it’s hard to go against La Cava at #2. Bettwy and Sadeghi have played before with Bettwy coming away with a 10-pointer victory. I’ll pick him in three again here. You can’t go against Rogers at #4 against an untested junior. I’m sure Cruz will win at least one match at #5 singles this weekend, but I’m going to pick Riggs anyways, and then I’ll take Littlejohn at 6 against a Whitman player to be named later to round out a 6-3 UC Santa Cruz victory.

If things go according to my predictions, we will be bereft of ranking ambiguity. We all know that’s how things always work in DIII tennis, so you can take these predictions to the bank! UT-Tyler is a huge underdog to go undefeated in Vegas.

Tyler 3-0

Cruz 2-1

P-P 1-2

Whitman 0-3