SCIAC Tournament Recap

As always, the SCIAC conference tournament provided some big time fireworks this weekend in Thousand Oaks. I’ll recap the results in this article, but if you’re looking for a convenient place to check out box scores, here it is. Let’s go to the team-by-team recap:

1. CMS

Dominance can get so boring. Unlike the NESCAC and UAA championships, there was very little drama involved in CMS’ nth consecutive SCIAC title. The Stags haven’t lost a SCIAC match in something like 8 years, which is especially impressive when you consider that the SCIAC has had years when it was arguably the best conference in the country – I believe CLU, Redlands, and P-P were all in the top 10 at some point.

Individually, Dorn took care of business by beating Weichert in a tough 3-setter at #2 in the SCIAC championship match to seal his NCAA berth. Butts/Kotrappa narrowly avoided disaster with a tiebreaker victory at #2 against P-P. Despite their ITA ranking, I don’t see them making NCAAs, but after the last ITA rankings came out, I just don’t know what to believe any more. All told, CMS pretty much just rolled through the regular season, and they’re in a position to qualify four players into NCAAs. That is absolutely incredible and should be applauded. The next couple weeks will be all about whether or not the Stags can exorcise their NCAA demons. Playing on their home courts the rest of the way should help, as they won’t have to worry about going indoors at any point.

2. Pomona-Pitzer

The Sagehens have been a model of consistency this year. With teams tripping up left and right, Pomona-Pitzer managed to avoid a bad loss throughout their absolutely loaded schedule, and that really speaks to the strength of their freshman class. Freshmen are usually known for inconsistency, but Yasgoor, Maassen, Kim, and Bello have shown maturity beyond their years. With those four at the helm, P-P’s future is very bright. (Thanks Belletto).

Individually, Bello/Weichert didn’t get things done in the SCIAC semis. I still feel they deserve a berth to NCAAs. It mystifies me how Deuel and Moreno are in the top 4 after their losses to CMS, Whitman, and P-P, so here’s to hoping that the NCAA committee does a better job. In singles, neither Yasgoor nor Weichert got the win they needed to get into the top 8. If that doubles team doesn’t get in, the top 12 Hens will not be represented at NCAA’s, which would be a darn shame.

3. Whittier

Watching the scores this weekend, I couldn’t help but think that Whittier’s run was eerily similar to P-P’s run last year. Last year, an embattled P-P team came together at the end of the year behind their seniors to avenge a pair of 8-1 losses in dramatic fashion. This year, an embattled Whittier team came together at the end of the year to avenge an 8-1 loss and a 7-2 loss, thanks in large part to senior Chris Schommer. We give Belletto a lot of credit on the blog, and this is precisely why. He seems to get his teams to peak at the right time. Despite the fact that their team season will end, they’ve got a lot to look forward to next year. The only starter they lose is Schommer – a heavy loss – but they have the pieces to put together another solid season next year. Once Belletto gets his recruiting engine going, Whittier will be a team to look out for in the coming years.

Individually, Konstantinov will go in singles after his win over Wood (despite losses to Cardenas and Lipscomb), but I’m not sure that #1 doubles team will get in. They certainly did themselves a favor by beating Cal Lu in the 3rd place match, but they’re firmly on the bubble going into Selection Monday, and we’ll just have to wait and see what the committee decides.

4. Cal Lutheran

I’m not going to sugarcoat it; the Kingsmen manufactured a very rare kind of collapse this weekend, the likes of which I’m not sure if I have ever seen. Against P-P in the semifinals, they went from a potential doubles sweep to a 2-1 deficit in the blink of an eye, and the entire team lost its collective composure heading into singles. Even more disappointingly, the Kingsmen weren’t able to pull things together the next day, as they got swept in doubles by Whittier en route to a 5-4 loss. This is a team with much more talent than their ranking would suggest, but they didn’t put things together this year, and now their season is over. Looking forward, they lose Nichols, which really hurts, considering they often relied on him for two points a match. If TRN is to be believed, they don’t have anyone coming in to replace him. Let’s hope that’s not true, and Gennette has another Cardenas up his sleeve, so the Kingsmen can reload next year.

Individually, Cardenas continued to prove that he’ll be incredibly dangerous in Claremont a couple weeks from now with wins over Weichert and Konstantinov, though it should be noted that he had split sets with Thompson before the match was decided. Regarding Nichols/Treacy, I’m not sure what to think. They avenged themselves on Chapman and beat Pomona-Pitzer. I think a win over Whitter would’ve gotten them in, but after that loss, I have a feeling they’ll end up on the outside looking in tomorrow. Tough season for the Kingsmen.

5. Redlands

Redlands, Redlands, Redlands. I really thought this would be the year Redlands shed its choking label and established itself once again as a serious contender. Yes, bad injury luck played a significant role in their season’s demise, but this program’s problems go deeper than that. After opening the season with 5-4 wins over Cal Lu and Mary Washington, the Dawgs had 5-4 losses to CMU, Williams, Whitman, and Whittier in the last two months of the season. Characteristically, they never really played like a team. For them, it was more like a bunch of individual matches in something vaguely resembling a team setting. As disappointing as that all is, they don’t have a single senior on their roster, and, if they can stay healthy, their lineup next year could consist of Lipscomb, Cummins, Hunt, Wilson, Suchodolski, Jones, Leahy, etc., etc., etc. We’ll see if they can finally put it together next year, but I’m not betting on them again until they actually do it.

Individually, Lipscomb will be doing his thang in Claremont a couple weeks from now. I believe he made it to the quarters last year, and lost a tight one, so he’ll be another legitimate threat to win the whole thing. He was serving BIG this weekend against Konstantinov, but barely escaped from Thompson in the 5th place match. He’ll need to be more consistent if he wants to make a deep run.

6. Chapman

Another ho hum year for the Panthers. They were pretty solidly the 6th best team in the conference all season, despite their 5-4 match against Oxy this weekend. They didn’t have the strength anywhere in the lineup to stand up to the big dogs all season, but they were deep enough and consistent enough throughout the lineup to beat anyone else consistently. Unfortunately, they’ll be graduating Thompson, so they’ll probably take a step back next season, though they’ll get to keep their dangerous #1 doubles team together and should remain the deepest unranked team in the SCIAC.

7. Caltech

With the arrival of the Pathireddy twins, this season marked a huge step forward for the Beavers. This past weekend, they won this season’s rubber match against an exhausted Occidental team, but the Tigers’ fatigue should not take anything away from their accomplishments. Their #3 doubles team even took a point off CMS. That’s the stuff of legend at Caltech, even if it was CMS’ #6 doubles team. Looking forward, the Beavers are graduating their best player, Devashish Joshi. They’ll either need to develop very well or recruit to replace him. I think this program is completely handcuffed by their academic requirements and probably won’t ever challenge for a ranking, but you gotta admire these guys.

8. Occidental

This season just has yikes written all over it for the Tigers. They won just three matches, one against Caltech in conference, one against a team I never heard of, and one against the fourth best team in the NWC. I’m not going to get into it because it just makes me so mad that this team isn’t good. Anyways, they graduate Siebs, who was quietly a tough out at #2 singles, and they don’t appear to have anyone significant coming in to replace him. We’ve got another year of Dancu to look forward to, but if these guys aren’t careful, they could end up as perennial SCIAC bottom-dwellers and that’s not where you want to be.