When Spring Break Goes Wrong

Just a little review before the Bates bashing begins: 

February 15^th: Bates’ season begins

February 17^th: Bates loses to Whittier 5-4 as Berg cramps in the 3^rd set vs. The Russian Rocket. (http://athletics.bates.edu/sports/mten/2013-14/releases/20140218ofpkj2)

February 20^th: Bates loses to Pomona 7-2 after leading 2-1 after doubles. (http://athletics.bates.edu/sports/mten/2013-14/releases/20140220k44x5a)

February 22^nd: Bates loses 8-1 to CMS winning their lone point at #1 dubs, 100% as I predicted. (http://athletics.bates.edu/sports/mten/2013-14/releases/20140222dye92x)

My colleagues and I have a running joke that Bates is “bad at spring break”. The sad part is that we’re not wrong although Bates’ struggles go much deeper than simply on court performance. However, before I get too far into my Bobcat bashing section of this article, some readers might need some background. As you all should know, Bates is a member of the strongest tennis conference in the country, the NESCAC (I don’t wanna hear it D3West, this is my article). The NESCAC is a group of small liberal arts schools in the NE, all of which are good academic schools with low acceptance rates. For some reason, the conference feels that its academic prestige allows them to act in a pretentious “holier-than-thou” sort of way.  Don’t believe me? Check out the mission statement, http://www.nescac.com/about/mission_statement. Yeesh. It is for this reason, and perhaps a few others, that the NESCAC only allows their athletic programs a certain amount of practice time and match dates. For the longer version, (not to mention a super-fun read) check out the Middlebury athletic handbook, which adheres to the NESCAC rules: http://www.middlebury.edu/about/handbook/athletics. The two most important points in relation to this article are 1) that the NESCAC does not allow their spring sports to begin practicing until February 15^th and 2) that varsity NESCAC teams are not allowed to schedule a “competitive contest” before the 2^nd Saturday in March. HOWEVER, there is a loophole to this rule, which states that a team can play a “competitive contest” before said 2^nd Saturday in March if the school is on vacation. This is where Bates fits into the picture.

Like many NESCAC schools, Bates has a somewhat peculiar school calendar; the Bobcats have a 4-4-1 calendar with a mini semester in May. As a result, Bates’ mid-semester (“spring”) break occurs in the middle of February. Although Bates students may view this break in a positive “who wants to be in Maine in the middle of February” way, it has its repercussions for the tennis team, which each February heads west to play the best of the best in Cali. Thanks to its ridiculously early spring break, Bates’ trips out to California literally take place in the first week of the NESCAC approved season (start date: February 15^th). In 2012 they had 5 days of practice before their 1^st match, in 2013 they had 3 days of practice, and this year they had 2 days of practice before that crushing 5-4 loss to the Whittier Bellettos.  They’ve compiled at 1-8 record on these trips, playing against teams who at the time were ranked #6, #14, #5, (UCSC, Redlands, CMS); #8, #12, #5, (UCSC, PP, CMS); and (according to our composite rankings because, well, let’s be honest, they’re way better than the ITA rankings) #19, #14, and #1 (Whittier, PP, and CMS), respectively. Although, many of these losses were closer than Bates’ overall record would indicate, Bobcat losses do include blown doubles leads and a couple of tough 3^rd setters that seem to indicate that Bates was not ready to open their season against such tough competition, and their 8-1 defeat Saturday at the hands of our top ranked Stags was the only time the Bobcats failed to register at least 2 points in a match. Basically what I’m trying to say is that the Bobcats may have performed better if it weren’t THE FIRST WEEK OF THEIR SEASON!!! I’m not blaming the coach (he has to get top notch competition on his schedule any way possible) and I’m certainly not blaming the college (what you mean they won’t shift the entire school’s calendar for just one sports team?) but something has to be done. Perhaps Bates should save their trip for later in the season (I’m sure the athletes wouldn’t mind missing a little bit of school). Or maybe they should work in a few warm up matches while they’re out there? If playing a couple of D3West’s “Best of the Rest” negates the high level of competition, Bates could challenge a couple of better DI or DII teams before taking on their direct Pool C competition. Obviously I’m not a scheduler, but it has become apparent that Bates needs to do something different with their schedule if they’re going to make a stronger play for a team bid to the NCAA tournament.

It is impossible to say whether or not Bates would have won more of these matches if they were played later in the season, but the trend of previous seasons suggests the matches would have been at least closer. The 2012 Bates team went on to win at #4 Hopkins and come one set from beating #9 Midd. The 2013 Bates team, when healthy, came within a few games of beating both #8 Hopkins and #3 Amherst (both 5-4 losses). I’m sure this year’s Bates team will improve as well, but does it even matter? Is their season totally lost? The answer, of course, is no, not totally lost. Their 0-3 start will undoubtedly make things more difficult, but Coach Gastonguay’s guys have rebounded before. However, as I originally noted in my team preview, this week just further cements the fact that losing Crampton and Bettles is simply devastating to this team, and unless we see some real NESCAC magic (two wins against the top 4 in the conference in addition to beating Wesleyan/Tufts/Trinity Ct) I don’t believe we’ll be seeing the Bobcats come NCAA time.

Dayum, I now know more about Bates tennis than almost any other school in the country, and that’s just depressing.

BRING ON THE REST OF THE NE! Please?! #Can’tWaitForMarch8