I’d like to start off this small joint preview by letting the readers know something. D3Central decided to get all younger generation on us, got silly on a Thursday, and mailed in his preview today via email. When I say mailed in, I mean threw in the towel. You’ll see it later. But give the guy a break, he’s a veteran who really has a tough time mixing alcohols. Stick with the wine, Central. Make sure you sip those things slowly for sure. Oh, this is supposed to be a preview? Right. As you should know, Kenyon and CMU will be playing tomorrow in their annual rivalry match. Fun fact about this match – this will be the only home match that EITHER of these teams play this year. That’s right, Kenyon does not play a home match and this is CMU’s only home match. Talk about road warriors. This is also important to note because Carnegie is usually decently tough on their home courts and Kenyon really needs all the breaks they can get right now. This match is set to start tomorrow (Saturday) at 3PM ET. That gives you ample time to read this preview and adjust your TV sets accordingly. Let’s get into D3Central’s pitiful preview before I crush him with my expertise (kinda like how this match might go).
D3Central: Hi, did ASouth mention I’m a drunk buffoon? Well, here are my thoughts anyways. This match will be a measuring stick for the Lords as it will show if they have a little fight left in them and aren’t going to fold the season away with the loss of Raz. Either way, I think CMU wins, but if Kenyon comes out battling, it will be close. If Kenyon has thrown in the towel, then Carnegie could get a blow out win. I actually have changed my tone on this over the past week and I think Kenyon will come out with something to prove. Like I said, I still believe Carnegie will take the match, but the Lords will give them a run for their money.
Doubles will be where Kenyon can flex a bit of muscle as even without Raz, they are still the better doubles team. I expect Kenyon to win at 1 although Geier and Rosensteel have been struggling as of late. It has been well documented that CMU isn’t a doubles team and Kenyon will exploit that. I think the Lords will get another point either from the 2 or 3 spots.
As for singles, I seem to have changed my mind once again as I go up and down the match-ups and think the Lords are in serious trouble. Kenyon has shown weakness in the middle of the lineup and been stronger at the top and bottom. Unfortunately that is where Carnegie is best as well. Carnegie’s singles lineup rivals any of the top teams. I believe Heerboth has a shot at Alla, but no one else will get a win. With that, I believe Kenyon takes a 2-1 lead after doubles and then gets swept in singles for a 7-2 tartan win.
D3ASowth: So, what does D3AS expect from this match? Since D3Central decided to take a Casual Friday, I’ll have to give in-depth thoughts for both teams instead of just CMU in this one. First off, Kenyon is struggling right now. There seems to be this negative aura around them especially after the departure of Raz and I doubt this team’s morale is very high at the moment. This is a hard-working team but the talent is just not there. For Carnegie, this match is a match that they should win. However, this match may mean a lot more than winning and losing for both these teams. If Kenyon can pull the upset here, they could potentially pick up that last #1 seed and maybe get an easy draw in NCAA’s. If they lose, they’ll stay at the same ranking spot and pick up a high #2 seed and travel somewhere to a tough region. It’s really a nothing to lose situation for the Lords considering this is an out of conference match against a stronger opponent. For CMU, they need this to keep any chance of picking up a #1 seed in NCAAs. Now, the question is “do they want that last #1 seed (CMS)?” I’ve brought this up countless times and to be honest I might not even want that seed. Whatever, hosting is still pretty convenient. So this is really a match for seeding purposes which at this time of the year is pretty important. Okay, enough jibber jabber. Onto the match.
The only way Kenyon can win this one is by taking either a 2-1 lead or preferably, a 3-0 lead into singles. Unfortunately for the Lords, doubles has never been their strong suit. They’ve taken a huge hit at #2 with Razumovsky out and have placed Colin Haas with Heerboth at the #2. It’s a team that is solid, but definitely not as strong as the old veteran team of Wade/Raz. At #1, the team of Rosensteel/Geier is going to need to step up and be a rock for the Lords. Reason why is because they are putting an inexperienced team of Roberts/Fiaschetti at #3. For CMU, the question (as I’ve been saying) is “will the doubles lineups be switched?” It’s late in the season so who knows right now. I think they will be, but I have no idea of who’s going to be where. I’d assume Heaney-Secord/Duncan will stay at #1 to keep their regional ranking but at this point anything could happen – this is the worst doubles team in the top 20 and they need a change. Since I don’t know what’s going to happen with the CMU doubles lineup, I’m not going to go match by match. I think CMU will steal a bottom 2 doubles match with a new team and lose #1 and the other spot, going down 2-1 in doubles to the Lords. If they keep the same lineup, I could potentially see them getting swept – but they could go down 2-1. The key here is a switch would give them the potential of 2 spots instead of 1. Either way, Kenyon 2-1 into singles.
In singles, this may be a bloodbath. Central briefly mentioned (lol, briefly as in his whole preview) that Carnegie’s singles is top-notch. Well, with Raz gone, the only top notch players are Heerboth and Geier in my opinion. That doesn’t bode well for the bottom of the lineup (#3-6). Honestly, someone needs to tell me what spots the Lords will win down there. Maybe Fiaschetti at #5? Oh wait, Zheng is there. How about Rosensteel at #3, where Duncan has been a bit weak? Well, Rosensteel struggled at #4 singles earlier in the year, so I don’t think that’s a great bet. The Lords best bet might be to play their depth and win at #6, but I just think it’ll be tough sledding against Wadwani on home courts. I’m definitely taking CMU at all 4 of those spots to clinch this one 5-2 with the remaining two matches still on. Heerboth vs. Alla is a big time match to watch. You gotta love the game of Heerboth, it seems like he’s never out of a point and he certainly fights until the very end. This will be a battle between two different game styles as Alla hits mostly flat while Heerboth tends to really spin and loop his shots. I think this will give Alla some trouble and this will go 3 sets. The CMU courts are usually pretty high-bouncing, so I like Heerboth’s game here. I’ll take him in 3 close sets. At #2 will be Geier vs. Heaney-Secord, which will be a nice matchup between two really solid players. Geier is more of a grinder as well while Heaney-Secord hits the crap out of some balls. Christian has been playing well as of late and I think he’s rounding into form at just the right time. Let’s go with H-S in a close straight set win, 7-5, 6-4. At the end of the day, Carnegie wins 6-3 and gets to celebrate their only home match of the season. Well, that’s that! D3Asouth, out.