2014 Season Preview: Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens

Well, I just got back from study abroad in Burma, and I know you’ve all been waiting for some quality reporting on the West region, so I need to get my ass in gear. Believe it or not, I was actually gonna do this one over Thanksgiving because, Sagehen-Turkey. Get it? Anyways, here we go.

Coach: Steve Bickham, 1st year

Location: Claremont, CA

2010 Ranking: 10

2011 Ranking: 8

2012 Ranking: 11

2013 Ranking: 17

2014 Projected Ranking: 14

Overview:

By now, you’ve all heard my spiel on P-P. They’re constantly in CMS’ shadow. The have good recruiting, but CMS has better recruiting. They have great facilities, but CMS has better facilities. They have a solid program, but CMS’ program is just better. If this were Harry Potter, CMS would be James Potter, and P-P would be Snape. Snape would work his tail off to impress, but James still gets the girl. Snape tells himself that it’s OK because he’s smarter. You think that’s an insult, but remember, Snape turns out to be kind of a badass in the end.

Anyways, some would say last year was a “roller-coaster” season for the Hens, but I would tend to disagree. It was more like climbing a mountain: At first, it’s like doing 10,000 consecutive lunges, and it sucks, and you lose to Whittier 8-1. Then, you get to the top of the mountain, beat Whitewater in the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl, and you’re pretty much awesome the rest of the way. I still think their wins over Redlands and Whittier in the SCIAC championships should have been enough to get them in the tournament ahead of Tyler, but I guess the selection committee didn’t listen to me.

Is there any other big change that happened with this team between this year and last year? Nope, can’t think of a single one. Let’s move on to the lineup.

Lineup Analysis

Key Losses: Max Sabel (1/2 singles, 1 doubles), Frankie Allinson (4 singles, 1 doubles)

Key Additions: Jake Yasgoor, Graham Maassen, Josh Kim, Anthony Bello, Spencer Simonides, Nate Billet

I cannot understate how important Sabel and Allinson were to the Hens last year. When Weichert was out, they were pretty much the only thing that held the team together. They were good for three wins a match at the end of the year, and they brought the fire. That being said, the Hens are going to be better this year.

They’ve got a new coach and half of their lineup will be freshmen, so the team will have an entirely different feel. They will also have great leadership from Weichert to give them enough continuity to maintain their identity and stick to their famous work ethic. In singles, I gotta believe it starts with Weichert if he’s healthy. He didn’t have a phenomenal fall, but he’s very steady and will get you wins at the top of the lineup.

Connors Hudson and Sutton are both solid players who will win a lot at the bottom, but I’m not sure they will be successful at the #2 or 3 spot. KWei continues to improve, and he would be a force at #6, but, again, I don’t think he would fare too well higher in the lineup. They also have sophomore Thomas Low and a smattering of other players vying for spots in the singles lineup, but I think the story this year will be the freshmen.

To start things off, Jake Yasgoor turned some heads this fall by cruising by Warren Wood before falling to Konstantinov in three sets. Graham Maasen had a solid showing against the eventual champ, but lost in 3 sets to a Redlands freshman in the consolation. You have to figure the 4-star will fit somewhere in the middle of the lineup. Though Joshua Kim went down with a whimper in the first round of the singles draw, he and Maassen took out the 5th seeded team from CMS in doubles, while Bello teamed with Weichert to advance to the semis of that draw. All things told, it’s an exciting time to be a P-P fan. If I had to take a shot in the dark at their lineup, it would probably look something like this:

1. Weichert

2. Yasgoor

3. Maassen

4. Hudson

5. Sutton

6. Wei

Again, I have no idea. This team has so many players who could be successful at the bottom of that singles lineup, it’s going to come down to who has worked hardest this fall, and who gets luckiest in the challenge matches. Doubles is another mystery. You gotta figure Weichert and Bello will start at the top. Sutton/Hudson found some success at the end of last year, and Kim and Maassen got off to such a good start together that those could be the other two teams, but that combo would leave Yasgoor out. Anyways, Coach Bickham as a lot to figure out, but he also has a lot of time and a lot of good matches to test his players out in.

Schedule Analysis

Once again, P-P has a monster schedule. They have too many matches, so I’m gonna try to focus only on the most important ones.

They start things off in early February with a road match against Santa Cruz. That’s a tough trip for one match, but I gotta figure P-P will win that one and get a key in-region win. Their second match is also huge for Pool C against Bates. Bates got good recruits, but I figure they came one year too late, with Bettles and that other guy graduating last year (Crampton. I remembered. It’s Crampton), so P-P should get a big win there. Skipping past Mary Washington, they have Trinity (TX) at home on March 10th. I actually think Trinity could be a Final Four participant this year, so I can’t go against their experience in that one.

After a tricky match against Skidmore, they have the Stag-Hen. The Hens are always good for an upset in that tournament, and I think that first match could be prime. Bowdoin will be just starting its competitive schedule, in the sun, on P-P’s home courts. A win against such an important Pool C competitor could potentially lock up a post-season berth for them, and I think they pull of the stunner. The rest of the Stag-Hen is a bit of a mystery, so I’ll skip ahead again to Whitman.

The Squirrels have beaten the Hens the last two times out, but never on their home courts. I like the Whitman this year with their experience, but P-P’s freshmen will have plenty of matches under their belt at this point. 5-4 either way, and, as I previously indicated, I’m taking the Squirrels. The next day, I think the Hens take out their frustrations on another potential Pool C contender Tufts.

On March 24th, the Hens have yet another monster battle against Chicago. We keep saying “this is the year Chicago puts it together,” but I really think this is the year Chicago puts it together. The Maroons will be eager to notch a Pool C victory in their underwhelming schedule, but again, I gotta go with the Hens on their home courts. One day later, P-P plays Williams in a match I think the Ephs win. For those keeping count at home, that’s 10 matches against ranked teams in 20 days. B-R-U-T-A-L.

April is all about the SCIAC for P-P. They have matches against Redlands, Cal Lu, Whittier, and CMS. Fortunately for them, all those matches are at home (except CMS… but they’re probably not piling in a cramped bus for that one). As you can tell, I’m high on P-P this year, so I think they’ll take down Redlands in a 5-4-ish battle and cruise by Whittier. I’m not sure what to make of Cal Lu this year, but I think P-P will win that one too and be the second best team in the SCIAC this year. With Chicago looking good and Bowdoin recovering from Goldfish Gate, it’s going to be tough for more than two teams from the SCIAC to get in this year, so that’s what they need to accomplish in order to make the tournament. If they win all the matches I said they were going to win, they get in easy for another pounding at the hands of CMS. If they win all the matches I said they were going to win – 1, they still probably get in, and potentially do either Redlands or Cal Lu a huge favor by beating Bowdoin and Chicago.

Nevertheless, it’s an absolutely brutal schedule for a very young team. Most of the time, teams struggle early when they rely heavily on freshmen, but, like John Calipari says, they’re really sophomores by the end of the year.

The Verdict: I think these guys peak at the end of the year like they always do, finish second in the SCIAC and make it into the NCAA tournament.