SBWW: A Wrapup

Well, it was quite a weekend in Walla Walla, Washington. Even though CMS ended up dominating the competition, there were two absolute barnburner matches, and we had the unique experience of being able to watch an entire DIII match on all courts in real time, which was pretty cool. Without dwelling on it too much, I would like to take a second to recognize the fact that I picked every single match correctly. I didn’t do nearly as well on the match-by-match breakdown, but still…

Anways, let’s talk about the teams:

UC Santa Cruz (0-3)

The Most Annoying Guy You Know (Glass Half Empty):

How can you sugarcoat 0-3? There’s nothing right with losing, but what’s worse is losing when you should have won. Scandalis was up 4-0 in the third set against Deuel. 4-0!?!? I’m sure Deuel just turned it on, but if Scandalis steals that match, all the sudden you could have a UCSC team with wins against a top 10 team and a top 20 team. What’s worse, they couldn’t even get it together to come back and beat an exhausted Whitman squad the next morning, which was really a golden opportunity considering they had only played 1 match in the weekend to Whitman’s 3.

Rose-Colored Glasses Guy (Glass Half Full):

Are you kidding me, man!? Look at the Santa Cruz roster. Their average ranking is over 9000. The fact that they’re even in the discussion with Trinity is a miracle in and of itself. They should be extremely proud of what they’re doing. Sure, they could’ve done better against Whitman, but that was also their first indoor match of the season. Also, did you see Soper? Did you see him? Cruz was supposed to have no depth and that’s their strongest position. Very impressive. Moving forward, you gotta like their chances against Cal Lu, and they could even beat Pomona or Redlands on the right day. Is that a sentence you thought you would be saying about Santa Cruz this year? Absolutely not. These guys are way better than everyone expected.

My Take

I’m having a glass-half-full kinda day. Sure, Cruz didn’t get the surprise win, but they continue to show improvement. If they can improve as much in the next two months as they have in the first two, I could see them coming up with something special and making it to the Sweet Sixteen. The only bad news is that CMS firmly set their ceiling for the weekend. After a beatdown like that, I don’t think even they believe they have a chance of making it to the Elite Eight.

Homework

– Keep doing what you’re doing.

– Start getting close wins at the top of the singles and doubles ladder. Scandalis has done great, but he needs to do just a little bit more

– Beat Cal Lu and Redlands

– Get on the Twitter train. Seriously, it’s so much fun, and I’m sure the parents would like score updates. We need some Slug Life in the Twittersphere. Actually, I’m upgrading this to #1 most important thing to do for the rest of the season.

Whitman

Most Annoying Guy You Know

Where’s my crowd-fueled, stunning top 10 victory? I was promised a crowd-fueled top 10 victory, and I want my money back. Listen, Whitman. You’re never gonna get a better chance than that. I mean, you don’t have any more top 10 teams on your schedule, so you’re literally never gonna get a better chance than that, and you had all the momentum. You were up 2-1 inside and were one game away from taking three 1st sets out of the top 4. Also, you were supposed to be one of the deepest teams in the country, and you went 1-7 at 5 and 6 singles over the weekend, with their only win coming in a 10-pointer (including two losses to Pacific). Yikes.

Rose-Colored Glasses

Say what you want, douchebag. I think Whitman did pretty well this weekend considering it was their first significant match experience of the weekend and they had to play one more match than everyone else. They were, what, four total points away from taking CMS to 5-4, which is pretty impressive, and they came up with their best result on the weekend in their 4th match in 48 hours (against a team who had played just one match, no less). Their doubles lineup is also incredibly solid, which is great considering what a mess it was last year. Swept Cruz, took a lead on Trinity, and were a couple points from taking a lead on CMS; not too shabby.

My Take

To quote the Beatles, “You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you’ll find you get what you need.” That pretty much sums up the weekend. They didn’t get the win over Trinity they wanted, but they got a ranked win, and, judging from the fact that they had just two ranked wins last year and finished the season ranked 16 in the country, a ranked win can go a long way. They also got incredible production from their seniors (particularly Mr. Roston) in the heart of the lineup, and they know what they have to work on. Plus, their deep singles might have had a bad weekend, but you won’t be able to keep Rivers down for long and they’ve Huskey and Hoeger waiting in the wings. All in all, I would say the weekend was a success. If they can beat Redlands or Pomona-Pitzer, they’ll be in the top 15. If they can beat both they’ll be 10 or 11.

Homework

1. Malesovas now has close losses to A. Putt, healthy Ybarra, Koenig, Wood, and Deuel on his resume. If he can start winning some of those (which might just be a matter of luck), that would be great.

2. Deep singles, what’s up? You’ve got a week to sort this out because you’re not gonna beat Redlands or Pomona without winning some matches there.

3. I don’t know whose organs Coach Northam had to sell to make this weekend happen, but do it again.

Trinity (TX)

Most Annoying Guy You Know

Right, so now TU’s two matches against national championship-caliber competition include a non-that-close 6-3 loss to Wash U and an 8-1 shellacking at the hands of CMS, and you’re trying to convince that these guys can compete for a national championship. You can talk all about how tired they were, but remind me why they were tired? Oh yeah, BECAUSE THEY HAD A HARD TIME WITH WHITMAN AND SANTA CRUZ. Trinity sucks. QED.

Rose-Colored Glasses

Wow, that’s quick harsh you piece of sh**. TU now has four wins over top 20 programs this season, and they walked into Walla Walla on a Friday night and came away with a victory, which anyone will tell you is a hard thing to do. They have also been battling injuries this whole time. I’m telling you, when they get healthy, they’re gonna be crazy. Also, that match with CMS was closer than the score. Deuel was a couple points away from beating Wood, and they had chances at several other positions. Also, can we talk about how much of a baller Dunn is? Didn’t play in the starting lineup until this weekend, clinches two matches anyways. Also, I think Mayer went 5-1 on the weekend, so they’ve got that going for them, which is nice.

My Take

I’ll agree that TU’s result against CMS is troublesome for a team hoping to compete for a national championship, especially considering the fact that they don’t play any more top 10 teams this season. I’ll also agree that their win over Whitman was quite impressive, and it’s not really fair to judge them on their result against CMS when they were clearly exhausted. Overall, you can’t complain about the two wins, but I think the Tigers have a lot of work to do to get where they want to be. Skinner hasn’t been as effective at #2 singles as I thought he would be, and he absolutely needs to step up. Other than that, the Tigers really need to pick up their doubles. Winning 8 total games against CMS is unacceptable, even if you’re tired. On the bright side, they’re the classiest guys in DIII. We do recruiting class power rankings, but if we did class power rankings, the Tigers would be at the top, no question.

Homework

– I touched on it already, but the only thing Trinity has to do is shore up their doubles. Their #3 team went 0-3 on the weekend, and they just generally haven’t been as good this season as they have in years past. The Mayer/Haugen team is totally solid, but #1 and #3 need work. Maybe it’s time for a Dunn sighting in the doubles lineup, or maybe they just need a little pick-me-up. I’m tough on you guys because I care.

CMS

Most Annoying Guy You Know

I got nothing

Rose-Colored Glasses Guy

You don’t need rose-colored glasses to get excited about an 8-1 win over the #6 team in the country. Butts/Kotrappa lost one game, one game, in three matches at #3 doubles, including an 8-0 victory over Whitman’s #3 team, which I would consider to be among the top 5 #3 teams in the country. Butts at #4 singles just isn’t fair. Perhaps most impressive was Wood at #1. The dude didn’t have a good Fall, but the sentiment this weekend was that he had the ability to “turn it on.” Trinity mentioned it on Twitter, and you could see in in the doubles match against Santa Cruz. From down 3-6 and a double-break to winning 8-6, Wood hit some shots that just made you go, “So why isn’t this guy playing for UCLA?” All that is without even talking about Dorn at #2. I wouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t lose a match there all season, as he’s playing even better than the dominant player he was last year.

My Take

Pretty much the same as the rose-colored glasses guy. These guys are clearly the favorites to win the national championship, they have no holes in their lineup, and even if an injury occurs, they’ve got 3 or 4 proven winners on the bench.

Homework

– Stay healthy. The current lineup wins a national championship, no question, but I wouldn’t be as confident with Yeh in the singles lineup. Ironically, Kotrappa would probably be at the top of my list of “Guys I would like to have playing #6 singles for me,” but he doesn’t appear to be in the conversation.

Looking forward to the whooping they’re gonna put on everyone in the Stag-Hen