Upset Special: NE weekend 3/1-3/2

NYU…Who? Swat…What? RPI…Why?: NE Weekend Upset Recap

            Going into last weekend, I thought the D3 tennis community was in for a bit of a Post-Indoors lull. But, luckily in the DIII tennis world there is no such thing as a lull! In fact, there were three upsets in the Northeast last weekend as NYU took down #25 Skidmore and Swarthmore and RPI both beat #27 Stevens Tech. In this article I will offer up a small recap of the weekend for each of these 5 teams, as well as what is on each of their respective horizons. With the continued improvement of DIII, the teams that hover around the rankings are in constant jockeying for position. Look for plenty of change around #’s 25-30 all season long, including some additional new comers that we haven’t heard from yet.

NYU defeats Skidmore 5-4

1. Loutsenko/Knight (Skidmore) def Steven Wu/Aaron Meltzer (NYU) 8-3

2. CJ Leong/Sidd Thangirala (NYU) def Hoblitzell/Sherpa (Skidmore) 8-5

3. Ransom/Gabe Steerman (Skidmore) def Matt DeMichiel/Han Ren Lim (NYU) 8-4

1. Steven Wu (NYU) def Oliver Loutsenko (Skidmore) 6-2, 6-2

2. Aaron Meltzer (NYU) def Jimmy Sherpa (Skidmore) 7-6(3), 6-2

3. CJ Leong (NYU) def Danny Knight (Skidmore) 7-6(8), 5-7, 6-3

4. Sidd Thangirala (NYU) def Miles Ransom (Skidmore) 7-6(5), 7-6(4)

5. Alec Hoblitzell (Skidmore) def Matt DeMichiel (NYU) 6-7(6), 7-5, 1-0(9)

6. Jonah Epstein (Skidmore) def. Han Ren Lim (NYU) 6-3, 6-1

Recap: This match was likely the biggest upset of this young season. All the credit in the world goes out to the Violets (pretty sweet nickname) for shocking the world. This is (or at least looks like) Skidmore’s full lineup, so I don’t think Coach Simms took the match for granted. As soon as Skidmore won 2/3 doubles, handily I might add, I thought that this match was done. Not only was I wrong, but it was never really in doubt. With only 4 courts to play on, NYU went out into singles, took a commanding lead, and never looked back. I already gave a shoutout to CJ Leong as my player of the week, but the honor really could’ve gone to his countryman, Thangirala, or even his captain, Wu. Thangirala contributed 2 points (as did Leong) and Wu took down regional #1 Loutsenko in a match whose score suggests routine ease. This NYU team lost to Swat, Skidmore, Stevens, Vassar, and Chicago last spring, but every match was either 5-4 or 6-3. Perhaps another year of development was all this team needed. Major props are due to Coach Choy and the entire Violet squad.

What’s next for NYU: NYU debuted in our freshly published weekly rankings at #28, and jumped all the way to #24 in the ITA rankings. This is the first time they have been ranked by us or the ITA! Their schedule cools off a bit in the near future, as the Violets only have one more match in the month of March (try saying that 10 times fast) vs. Brandeis on March 15^th. If they win that match, they have a good shot to keep their national ranking for at least the majority of the season.

What’s next for Skidmore: There’s no way around it; this was a bad loss for the Thoroughbreds. They rebounded nicely by beating Vassar 7-2 the next day, and they did so without Loutsenko in the singles lineup. Perhaps this is just a rest day, or maybe there is a nagging issue there? I’m not taking anything away from Mr. Wu, I’m merely putting it down as a possibility. Skidmore fell all the way from #16 to #30 in our rankings and dropped down to 26 in the ITA rankings. However, Skidmore will have plenty of opportunities to prove this was nothing more than an off-day. They start their spring break trip this weekend and have matches against Bowdoin, Pomona, and Swarthmore while out in California.

SWARTHMORE DEFEATS STEVENS 5-4

Recap: Again I was mislead by a doubles lead! Going in we knew Stevens was going to have to win at least 2/3 doubles in this match as Swat has proven to be a deeper team. Props to D3AS for his predictions. Though he didn’t nail down every match like D3West on Sunday, he gave us a very solid outline for the match. According to him, 2 doubles was a swing match, Swat would win 2/3 bottom singles and had a clear advantage at 2 singles. Swat’s bottom 5&6 did come up huge, and Kaye easily took apart Foran at #2 singles. For the Ducks, props are due to Heinrich for another solid day. A good doubles showing, and what appears to be a straightforward victory at #1.

What’s next for Swat: Swarthmore made its season debut in our composite rankings in the #29 spot but remains unranked in the ITA poll. The Garnet have some tough matches ahead, so they’ll have plenty of opportunities to prove their worth to the both sets of ranking committees (ours is WAY more official). Swat goes on their spring break trip next week, and will take on Skidmore @ Pepperdine (Wednesday the 12^th) before saddling up for the rough and tumble ride that is the Stag Hen (starts Friday the 14^th). Swat will need to beat the struggling Thoroughbreds if they have any hope of cracking the ITA rankings, or staying in ours.

What’s next for Stevens: See below

RPI DEFEATS STEVENS 6-3

1. Regier/Mazzara (RPI) def. Foran/Perich (STEVENS) 9-8

2. LaBarre/Grimes (RPI) def. Heinrich/Drake (STEVENS) 8-4

3. Uyeno/Graham Harris (RPI) def. Brett Derrington/Feldman (STEVENS) 9-7

1. Matthew Heinrich (STEVENS) def. Matt LaBarre (RPI) 6-3, 1-0

2. Jarrett Regier (RPI) def. Ben Foran (STEVENS) 7-5, 1-6, 10-8

3. Brandon Mazzara (RPI) def. Charles Drake (STEVENS) 6-4, 6-1

4. McKinley Grimes (RPI) vs. Michael Feldman (STEVENS) DNF

5. Antonio Perich (STEVENS) vs. Sherman Uyeno (RPI) DNF

6. Anthony Kim (RPI) def. Brett Derrington (STEVENS) 6-4, 6-4

Recap: While this upset was by no means predicted, it should come as less of a shock than NYU over Skidmore. RPI played MIT to a somewhat tight 5-4 decision back in October and although neither of their lineups are the same now, we learned back in the fall to not overlook the Engineers. As I mentioned in the Swat/Stevens recap, the Ducks’ depth is one of their issues, although doubles is usually a strength. RPI certainly neutralized that “strength”, swept doubles and took a commanding 3-0 lead into singles. From there, Mazzara and Kim won in straight sets while Regier took down Foran in a super. I don’t know the extent of Labarre’s withdrawal., but let’s hope it was more of a “my team has just clinched so I don’t need to further exacerbate an injury” than a “serious and season jeopardizing” injury. Either way, props to Matty H. for another big singles win, this time against LeBarre, a fellow semifinalist. Heinrich is looking more and more like he’s got the right stuff for an upset bid into Individual Nationals.

What’s next for RPI: Congrats to RPI as they cracked the ITA rankings! Coach Satkowski’s squad hit #30 in the ITA poll and are the first team ranked out of the rankings in our list (effectively #31). The Engineers (like every other team out there…except Kenyon) will head out to California to protect their newly earned ITA ranking. They will take on Occidental, Biola, Whittier, and Cal Tech. RPI should be favored in 3 out of those 4 matches, but will go in as underdogs against the Poets. The Whittier match should give us a good sense of where RPI sits right now. If they can stay close with the Poets, then they certainly deserve their ranking.

What’s next for Stevens: With 3 losses on the season, Stevens fell out of both the ITA rankings and our rankings this week. This afternoon (4pm start time) they take on Haverford, another team hovering in the low-mid 30’s who will be able to give Stevens a run. Then the Ducks will head out west and battle with Redlands, Carnegie Mellon, Rochester, and UT-Tyler (threw in Rochester just so I don’t get an angry tweet from BShap). They will need to beat Haverford today and Rochester next week to have any shot at regaining a ranking at some point down the line, but will be heavy underdogs against the rest of their California trip.

Check back later tomorrow for a Spring Break Walla Walla (the place so nice they named it twice) preview brought to you by none other than Mr. Bad Joke himself, D3West!