UC Santa Cruz
The Banana Slugs have proven once again that they are very tough to beat on their home courts. Their victories over Pomona-Pitzer were foregone conclusions: the Sage Hens just aren’t that strong this year (especially with Weichert out) and the Squirrels were gassed from the previous day. They were truly impressive against UT-Tyler. The weekend was full of scheduling inequities, but this one was even; i.e, both teams had played just one match the previous day. Tyler’s two new DI transfers went undefeated on the day, but Cruz depth dominated. Their #3 doubles team remained perfect, Rogers got another tough win, and they appeared to shore up the bottom of their lineup by making the switch to Rosner. All in all, it was a very impressive 6-3 win against a team I expect to beat CMU today and perhaps even Trinity later this year.
Next up for Cruz is a Claremont swing against Midd, Williams and Depauw. They will almost definitely beat Depauw, and they could certainly come away with an upset in any of those matches, but they ultimately don’t really matter for the Slugs. Their big ones come in mid April at home against Cal Lu and on the road against CMS. If the Slugs want to make one last serious run at a national championship, they’re going to want to host their regional. The good news for them is that they continually get stronger as the season progresses, and the fact that their two biggest matches will happen late in the year helps. Their matches next week will be telling as to how much of a chance they actually have to beat CMS, but other than that, we’ll just have to wait and see what fate awaits the Slugs.
UT-Tyler
Personally, I went into the weekend expecting UT-Tyler to go undefeated. The main difference is that I expected them to win at #2 doubles and #5 singles against Cruz, which obviously didn’t happen. I also expected them to thrash Whitman, which didn’t happen. Whitman obviously deserves a lot of credit for what they have done, but we’ll get to that more later. Right now, it appears Tyler’s new team (Martinez, Brown, Ybarra) aren’t complimenting their old team – they are carrying them. Against Whitman, those three players accounted for all five of Tyler’s points, and the Patriots will need more production from Singer and Spencer going forward.
They have a big match against CMU today, and I have no idea how it’s going, but I think they will win a close one. Their biggest match of the season is against Trinity, as far as NCAA seeding goes, but for now, they’ve done enough (in my opinion) to earn the right not to be shipped to the California regional by beating Whitman. Moving forward, they could be a #1 seed by year’s end, but more likely they end up with a draw like Trinity’s last year and the year before: a two seed in a foreign locale with a good shot at earning an Elite Eight berth.
Whitman
To me, Whitman was very, very impressive this weekend. After losing Rivers, who is probably the second most important player on their roster, I thought they were outmatched everywhere, but Whitman’s development shined through. Malesovas went from not starting last year to winning at #1 against Sabal and pushing Ybarra to 3. Roston went from not starting last year to beating Allinson at #4, beating Spencer (last year’s #1) against Tyler, and pushing Rogers to 3 sets. Huskey went from being ranked in the 900’s to getting a win against Tyler (albeit a not deep team playing without their usual #5) and pushing Rosner to 3. Riggs went undefeated at #5, as expected.
That’s the good. The bad is that they haven’t figured out their doubles in the absence of Rivers and they aren’t getting enough production from La Cava. Whitman is a team that usually relies on a lead after doubles, and they only managed that once this weekend. Not good. Additionally, La Cava went from being a very solid #1 last year to going 1-2 this weekend at #2. He shouldn’t push the panic button, however, because he took a top 50 recruit to 3 sets one night and lost to Halabi, who has a history of beating solid #1s, the next day. Up next, the Squirrels have to regroup for a tough Hawaii swing. They play Wash U, CMS, and Whittier. Wash U could be playing to keep their season alive, but if they can beat Whittier, I think they will have earned the right to avoid the California region.
Pomona-Pitzer
Obviously, the was not a good weekend for the Sage Hens. They haven’t recovered from their graduations quite as well as I hoped they would’ve, and Weichert’s injury is a huge part of that. Every top 10 team needs a reliable #1, and they don’t have that right now. The biggest problem for the Hens, however, is their inability to regain their former doubles prowess. It always seems like P-P can make a formidable doubles lineup out of just about any combination of players, and they haven’t done that yet this season.
Nevertheless, all is still not lost for P-P. They have three big matches on their home court this weekend in the Sage Hens. I just don’t see how they beat Bowdoin, but they absolutely need a win in a potential match against Swarthmore, which won’t be easy. That would set up a 5th place match against either Case or Skidmore (probably Case), where Pomona could really help their chances at Pool C with a win. I don’t think the Hens will be making the tournament this year, but if they can keep improving, they have a chance, especially with Redlands’ win over Case. Wei keeps getting better, and Low could be a reliable win at the bottom of the lineup. If they can get their doubles together, they will only get harder and harder to beat.