The Spring Break Chronicles: Amherst Lord Jeffs

AMHERST SPRING BREAK PREVIEW

Welcome to yet another Spring Break Chronicle, where we’ll be taking our first look at arguably the best team in the country not named CMS. Get ready for smallpox because the Amherst Lord Jeffs are traveling west! Side note, if Amherst Tennis creates a twitter account, #smallpoxed would be an incredible hashtag (sorry D3West, I can’t help myself). Amherst has quite possibly the most over-loaded spring break schedule I’ve ever seen. We always joke about the Jeffs fielding B and C teams, but they’re actually going to have to bring at least 20 guys on this trip, maybe more. Their schedule is as follows…

Take another minute to process that schedule. That is 17 matches in barely 6 days. Now, of these 17 matches, only 5 are against ranked DIII teams. The rest of their matches are against all types of schools, most of which I’m too lazy to investigate further. Moving on from the rand-o schools, let’s focus in on the 5 most important matches of Amherst’s week…

1)   Amherst @ Pomona

2)   Amherst @ Whittier

3)   Amherst @ CMS

4)   Amherst @ Cruz

5)   Amherst @ Redlands

1) Amherst @ Pomona, Tuesday

This match should kick off in approximately 12 hours. Meanwhile, Pomona is barely 3 hours removed from a 5-4 EPIC come from behind victory over Whitman, where JK won 7-5 in a 3^rd set breaker as the last match on. Pomona should be feeling great about their win, likely the best of their season so far. The Hens have been able to stay competitive with a bunch of good teams so far, losing to Trinity Tx 5-4, Bowdoin 5-3, and CMU 5-4. However, if Amherst plays their A lineup, the Jeffs should show Pomona a different level of talent. Whether it’s Dale, Reindell, Revzin, or a number of unproven yet talented players at the bottom of the lineup, Amherst should be able to handle Pomona’s singles depth with little trouble. Knowing Garner, this match might not feature his full A-squad. However I’m still taking Amherst with a comfortable 6-3 win.

2) Amherst @ #21Whittier, Wednesday

If I wasn’t expecting a full lineup for Pomona, I’m afraid Coach Belletto will end up getting something closer to the Amherst B-team. Unfortunately for Whittier, they simply don’t have the depth to compete with whatever lineup Amherst throws at them. The Poet’s doubles are not great, and in order to shock Amherst you’ve gotta take a lead after doubles. I see this match as another 7-2 Amherst win, even without their full lineup. I do hope that Garner starts Fritz at #1 in this matchup, as DK has been one of the most consistent points in the entire country (according to the ITA website he hasn’t lost to anyone this spring, including D1 wins over Villanova and UCSD). Fritz was one of my two preseason “locks” to make individual nationals, and the other (Loutsenko) has already gotten hurt so I’m gonna humbly request that Joey have a good week…

3) Amherst @ #1CMS, Friday

The granddaddy of them all (just imagine Brent Musburger’s voice raining down on you like silk). This matchup will feature the teams currently ranked #1 and #2 in the power rankings, and they could possibly end up #’s 1 and 2 in the next set of ITA rankings. As I’ve said before, I believe CMS is simply on a different level than the rest of the country. While I do believe that Amherst is quite possibly the best of the rest, I do not believe they match up all that well with CMS. I’m going to wait to extensively preview this match until later in the week (hopefully by that point we’ll have a better idea of Amherst’s lineup, but no promises) when I’ll try to break down each potential matchup, but my initial feeling tells me to go CMS, 6-3.

P.S. Keep your fingers crossed that we’ll get the CMS announcers and a live feed for this match!

4/5) Amherst @ #19UCSC & #15 Redlands, Saturday

Ok, I guess I can stomach the fact that you all are playing 17 matches in 6 days. Maybe I get behind playing 5 ranked teams in 6 days as your first D3 matches of the season. Perhaps I can even accept the idea of playing two ranked teams on the same day. However, I will never condone the idea of scheduling two top-20 teams AT THE EXACT SAME TIME. Somehow, on Saturday March 22^nd, Amherst is scheduled to play at Santa Cruz at 2pm, at San Diego Mesa College at 2pm, and at Redlands at 3pm. That means that one of two things has happened, either Garner believes his team is really that good, or his arrogance has simply reached an all time high (or both). A loss to either team, even if split-squadded, will severely hurt Amherst’s national ranking. I’ll take Amherst’s B-Team 5-4 over UCSC and what I assume will be the majority of their A-team 6-3 over the Bulldawgs.

 Here are a few other key factors to keep in mind over Amherst’s spring break trip

–       Amherst’s doubles teams. If the Jeffs have an Achilles heel it would likely be their doubles. In recent history, Amherst has struggled to find a consistent #3 doubles team. We will likely see Garner try out a bunch of different teams this week to see who will work well together.

–       Can Joey Fritz become the player we always knew he could be? Joey will likely have the opportunity (depending on which matches he actually plays in) by taking on Weichert, Konstantinov, Wood, Scandalis, and Lipscomb this week. If he can win 4 of those matches, then Amherst should feel very good about their top gun.

–       How will Garner handle the “bottom” of his lineup. In years past, the bottom of Garner’s lineup has been a veritable revolving door until Nationals. Let’s see if Amherst favors or even sticks with any particular bottom of the lineup players this week.

–       How will the freshmen deal with the pressure? Amherst has a couple of very talented freshmen (Tang and Zykov) but the ever-present possibility of a benching should keep them equally motivated and scared.

–       Is Fife finally healthy? He didn’t play much in the fall. When he did, he and Fritz teamed to win the NewEngland ITA. Fife will be crucial to Amherst’s success this season, and we have yet to see if he will hit his “sophomore slump”

–       Speaking of sophomore slumps…Is Yaraghi past his struggles? Andrew had a poor fall by his standards, and this will be our first sight of him since October. If he can start earning steady points at #2, Amherst fans should be in for a special season.