Stag-Hen Recap

I know how you guys like your DIII coverage to happen hours after the event, so here I am obliging you insatiable appetites. I’ll go team-by-team.

1. CMS

D3Central mentioned on Twitter that one of the things we learned from the tournament is that CMS is beatable. Really? Is that what we learned? Because I saw a team go 26-1 over three matches, and I wasn’t thinking “beatable.” When CMS was dominant in the Stag-Hen last year, I said, “well that’s cool, but let’s see you do it away from home.” And then they couldn’t. This year, the road to the national championship goes through Claremont.

They won’t have to worry about potentially playing indoors. Basically the only thing that can stop them is weird injuries, suspensions, or some sort of bizarre mental collapse. On that note, the only negative thing I saw from them this weekend was a potential tendency to lose focus when things were going too well. Against Bowdoin, their #1 doubles team surrendered three breaks after the team had gone up 2-0. Against Wash U, the #3 team surrendered two after the team went up 2-0. Both times, the doubles teams recovered and looked unstoppable the rest of the way. Other than that, there’s not much you can say about 26-1. They fought for matches well after the team match was clinched. They kept their collective foot on the gas in singles, long after it was clear that any individual singles match was over (I see that double bagel, Butts). It’s all rainbows and chimpanzees dancing with toothbrushes right now for CMS.

2. Wash U

If Wash U was pissed about how heavily we were favoring CMS despite their #1 ranking, they quickly found out why. Despite sweeping both CMU and Emory in doubles, the Bears could bearly even sink their teeth into any of the doubles matches against the Stags. Despite that, you gotta give it to them for fighting so hard in singles. After dubs, they knew their chances of winning the match were minimal at best, but they kept going after it, and managed to win three first sets (two in tiebreakers).

It’s also clear that their freshmen are absolute studs, and they’re one of the few teams that can dance with CMS all the way to #6 singles (despite Pereverzin’s dominant victory today). Other than that, Wash U showed that they are the class of the UAA this year with two nice victories over Emory and CMU. Their doubles was obviously excellent, and their mental toughness was enough to pull them through some tough spots in singles. Moving forwards, I think the only big question mark for Wash U is Putterman at #1 singles. The freshmen have been absolutely spectacular, but the Bears will probably need one big win from Big Putt along the way if they want to win the UAA and get to the Final Four yet again.

3. Emory

D3AS was very harsh on Emory in his Not So Rapid Reaction, saying they’re not the program that they used to be, but I’m here to give some credit where credit is due. Against GAC, the Eagles were down 1-2 and had lost four first sets before coming back to win 6-3. They could’ve gone away, but they didn’t, and they got better in each successive match (which I think is a Emory Stag-Hen tradition, if I’m not mistaken).

Their 8-1 victory over Bowdoin isn’t so much an indictment on the Polar Bears as it is a testament to what can happen with Emory if they can get their doubles together. The Eagles won three singles matches against Wash U, and they could’ve had more. Right now, they’ve got Wagner and Adams looking like locks at 5 and 6 singles, respectively. If they can get their doubles together, I still think they could be a team that could put a scare into CMS on a good day.

4. Bowdoin

Well, say what you want about the Polar Bears’ 2-4 Spring Break, but they got the win that they needed. If they can go home to the NESCAC and hold off all comers for 4th place, they will make the NCAA tournament. If they hadn’t beaten P-P, they would’ve left themselves vulnerable to another heartbreak, as Redlands and P-P both could’ve snuck in in front of them. They can feel good about that.

They can’t feel good about much else. They can’t walk away from their matches with CMU, Wash U, and Emory thinking they really had a great chance to win, and it all boils down to doubles. The Polar Bears went 6-12 in doubles on the week, and I would’ve thought the Lord/Bragg doubles team would do well at #3, but I believe they went 0-6, including a loss to Skidmore. That just can’t happen if you’re Bowdoin. D3Central also pointed this out on Twitter, but it also seemed like Bowdoin didn’t quite have the fire we’re used to seeing from them under Coach Smith. Good news for them is that they know what they have to work on when they go home and dive into the NESCAC. A little bit of doubles magic and a little more energy, and these guys suddenly become very dangerous. Right now they just look OK.

5. CMU

The Tartans are finally having the season I thought they would for the last couple years. They got big wins over Bowdoin and Redlands going into the tournament, and backed it up with a couple nice victories over P-P and GAC. That’s four top 20 wins on the season, and that will almost certainly be enough to get them into the post-season (barring some sort of disaster).

More impressively, they seemed to look their collective demons right in the eye and back them down. They faced deficits against Redlands, GAC, and P-P and came back each time. Today was the most impressive. After falling behind in doubles, they seemed to be in complete control with five 1st sets, but Pomona mounted a charge. It was a classic CMU scenario where they fold under relentless pressure, except they didn’t fold this time. Apparently CHS faced down a bushel of match points in his 2nd set to keep the score from falling to 3-4 before eventually losing after the match was decided, which took a lot of heart. Zheng and Wadwani were lights out at #5 and #6 singles, and I’m a little sad I didn’t get to see what they could do against CMS.

Of course, not everything is great in Tartanland. They still need to figure out how to play doubles. They’re not about to go down 0-3 against a really good team like Wash U and come back, so their homework is the same as Emory and Bowdoin’s.

6. Pomona-Pitzer

Between Trinity, Carnegie, and Bowdoin, the Hens have now lost three nailbiters against top 10 teams. They now know that they can compete with those guys, but they only have two more chances to get themselves into the top 10 this season, and unfortunately, those chances come against Williams and Amherst.

As far as good things go, the Hens continue to play solid but inconsistent doubles. They’ve gone up against Trinity and CMU, but who knows what would’ve happened if they had been able to do the same against Bowdoin. The Hen freshmen had an overwhelmingly good Stag-Hen. Maassen won his match against Bowdoin, while Yasgoor went 5-1 (I think) on the tournament.

When it comes to homework, it’s hard to say. As impressed as I am with Hudson and Kim, no position has been overwhelming strong for the Hens, and they definitely don’t appear to have a blatant weak point. They’re solid but not spectacular top to bottom, and they need to get just a little bit better everywhere to make the next step.

7. GAC

It’s the same old story for GAC. They’re right there, but they haven’t been able to break through with a big win. They’re consistently up on teams after doubles, but they can’t hold on in singles. This tournament’s loss to Emory must have been particularly heartbreaking, as I’m sure they felt like they pretty much had the match won.

At the same time, you have to give them credit for holding on to win against Swat. They almost suffered a Skidmore-like fate by battling so hard for their first two matches and having nothing in the tank for the third, while Swat got their butts kicked in the first two matches and were fresh as daisies for the last one. Right now, they’ve done enough to stay in the top 20. They’ve got a trip to New England scheduled where they’ll play MIT, Tufts, Amherst, and Middlebury, but I think they’re going to stay in the top 20 where they’ll be very dangerous to any team (Trinity) hoping to walk into their dome in the Sweet Sixteen.

Swarthmore

Yes, I know Swarthmore played an exhausted Gustavus Adolphus team kinda close today, but simply put, the Garnet didn’t belong in this tournament. Sure, they’re a good team, but I feel like CMS and Pomona could’ve invited anybody (Where you at, Kenyon?), and they somehow ended up with a team that’s outside the top 30. Consequently, the two teams that only won one match against these guys in the tournament (Pomona and GAC) don’t really have anything to show for their incredible efforts.

As you can tell, I’m not a huge fan of this team. They’ve got 6 3-stars and a good international on their roster, and they still can’t put it together enough to get into the top 30. D3AS, care to comment?