My overachievement in the beginning made it look like I wasn’t doing anything now with all the previews coming out. Gustavus is my last full team preview for the region, but I will do the “Best of the Rest: Central” at some point. Disclaimer: I apologize for this preview not being as in depth as others. Gustavus is tough to find information on with no schedule listed and no updated roster.
Gustavus Adolphus
Coach: Tommy Valentini
Location: Saint Peter, MN
2010 Ranking: NR
2011 Ranking: NR
2012 Ranking: #26
2013 Ranking: #18
I went into this preview expecting to bash on Gustavus a bit, but after closer examination, they still should be a good team this year. However, they won’t be the team of last season as they lost their rock solid #1 in Amrik Donkena and seem to have brought in no replacement. What is keeping GAC near the top of the region is their depth as well as doubles and they will rely on it once again this year. I will fully admit that information on Gustavus is tough to come by and will give a shout out to the guy who emailed me the schedule. Updated rosters for this season are not available so most of this information is coming from last year as well as this year’s ITA (the forgotten region). What used to be the Gustavus dominated ITA, has been taken over by Whitewater. I am not sure the Gusties will ever be the dominant force of the 90s and early 00s, but they should always be in the mix as a tough regional opponent.
Overview: Lineup Analysis
Key Losses: Amrik Donkena
Key Additions: ???
1 Singles: Mya Smith-Dennis. While Smith-Dennis won his region’s ITA last season, he ultimately underperformed in regular season with only one premier win at 2 singles against a streaky Putterman (Ross) from Wash U. This fall he lost to Carleton’s top player Michael which isn’t exactly a good loss. I expect Smith-Dennis to struggle at 1 singles against anyone of note.
2 Singles: Grant Leisner. Leisner seems to compete wherever he is in the lineup and had some solid wins last season against Lane of CMS and McGlashen from Whitewater, but again, bumping him up a spot will only make it tougher. He did handily beat Humpheys last season, but fell to Klein of Whitewater this fall.
3 Singles: Juan Luis Chu. Has no significant wins under him from last season and lost to Michael as well. Not much else to say about him.
4 Singles: Joey MacGibbon. 4-6 singles are going to be relied upon heavily for this team to have a successful season. MacGibbon will be a strong 4 singles player and his loss to a tough Karki from Luther in 3 sets proves that, but will he be enough to pull out the wins when they need him?
5 Singles: Bradley Entwistle. Like above, Entwistle will be a solid 5, but GAC needs to have 4-6 singles as guaranteed points to have any confidence as a team against the bigger opponents. Losing to Schklar isn’t telling as he is Whitewater’s 1 singles player, but Entwistle should be ok here.
6 Singles: Motasem Al-Houni/Marcel Gystwyt/Andres Saenz: Take your pick. Al-Houni is probably the likely player here, but Marcel “can I buy a vowel” Gystwyt played well this fall along with what seems to be a newcomer in Saenz although tennisrecruiting has him as a ’10 graduate. Anyone should do well at 6 as GAC has the depth.
Doubles will be good, but the Smith-Dennis/Donkena duo at the top of the lineup will be missed. I expect Smith-Dennis and Al-Houni to play 1, Leisner/Entwistle at 2, and then MacGibbon/Luis Chu to play 3. Saenz and Gyswyst made it all the way into the semis of the ITAs so they could feature as well. Two and three doubles will be must wins and heavy favorites against most teams.
Schedule Analysis
I am not going to spend much time on analyzing Gustavus against the likes of Wash U, Carnegie, Middlebury, Amherst, etc because lets be honest, they can’t beat them. The key matches on the schedule are Chicago, Whitewater, Depauw, and Kzoo (sort of). Because of their depth, I think I would easily favor Gustavus over Depauw and Kzoo, but Chicago and Whitewater will be must win matches for them to keep their ranking. I am going to give Gustavus the slight edge over Whitewater only because they lost more than Gustavus did to graduation. I think Chicago will take out Gustavus, but it could go the other way if GAC can be up after doubles.
The biggest glaring schedule omission is they will not host Indoors this year. While I don’t think they should be included considering they are not a Top 15 team, it just seems like the National Indoors belongs there.