2015 Season Preview: #25 UW-Whitewater

I will be completely honest with you all and say that I am less than enthused to write this preview. I don’t know if it is because of the recent polar vortex in November or if it is because I am not excited about the upcoming season for the Warhawks, but I will do my best to stay optimistic. Looking at last season results, you have to call it a rather large failure for the team, but a pretty big success for some individuals. Now that may seem like a weird conundrum considering a tennis team is made up of individual successes, but the Warhawks just didn’t produce like they were capable in the 2014 season. The first half of the season you have to say they proved they were good enough to be a top 20 team. This was denoted with a semi close 6-3 loss to Wash U and then a 5-4 WIN over Chicago. Chicago wasn’t as good as they are going to be this year, but that’s still a very good win over a team we all were over rating at the time. After that, the wheels sort of fell off as a team (5-4 loss to Colby and 7-2 loss to Depauw), but thankfully they had Jake Humphreys to lean on along with his doubles partner Byron Balkin. Humphreys fell in the second round of nationals to Warren Wood of CMS, but the doubles tandem defeated Wood/Dorn in a big upset for the first round before falling to the national runners up Bates in a close three sets. This season could get interesting as some key pieces were lost and no big freshmen are there to replace them.

Key losses: Byron Balkin (1 dubs/3 singles), Brian Klein (5 singles)

Key additions: Zane Navratil (freshman)

Singles Lineup:

1 Singles: Jake Humphreys: There is no doubt that Humphreys will be a little disappointed with his fall ITA and I think that is probably going to work in his favor. He came in as the top seed, but fell to a GAC player (Entwistle). Last year, Humphreys had an awesome run with good wins sprinkled throughout the season to earn him a bid to nationals. He had already locked up an All-American nominations with his fall ITA win, but backed it up by winning his first round of individuals. He only had one bad loss on the year against Depauw, but had plenty of wins to nullify that. If this team wants to have any chance of living up to their current rankings, Humphreys will have to be a rock solid #1 and I think he can be, but I will have to treat his success with some caution only because the team’s downfalls may make it tough for him to stay motivated.

2 Singles: Ben Shklyar: If you want to look at the exact opposite of the kind of season Humphreys had, you don’t have to look any further than Shklyar. After he had a fantastic first year at Whitewater from transferring, last season will be one he hopes to forget very soon. There were zero marquee wins for him and plenty of not so good losses. There is no question that he has the talent to beat some of the best and honestly should be an amazing #2, but it all comes down to production and he just didn’t do so last season. This fall didn’t show anything any different, but I think he had some troubles with injury. He fell early in the ITA to an unseeded GAC player that may play 6 singles. I hope all is not lost for Shklyar as he enters his final season.

3 Singles: Zane Navratil: I am putting the freshman here at 3 singles only based off of his fall ITA seed. He was seeded higher than teammate Noodles because he won his flight in the Warhawk Invite where Noodles struggled albeit at a higher flight. Being a freshman, there isn’t a ton to go off of, but Navratil finished as a 2-star on TR.net. That seems concerning, but if you look at his final ranking number, he would have finished as a solid 3-star if there were one more ranking period before he graduated. While he did win the C flight singles in the Warhawk Invite like I mentioned, Navratil did not fulfill his seed at the ITAs falling to a relatively unknown from Macalaster. I think Navratil may start at 4 singles and have the opportunity to move up if his record deserves it. This spot was held by Balkin in the previous year and it was an important one. I am not sure Whitewater has the talent to win here.

4 Singles: Rithwik Raman “Noodles”: Still my favorite nickname in D3 tennis and I will pat myself on the back for giving it to him. Raman was very good for the Warhawks last season and it seemed when he won, the team won (quite like Humphreys). As I mentioned previously, I think Noodles will start at 3 singles and may give way to Navratil because that will make him a bit more dangerous at the 4 spot. I don’t know much about his game, but his results show he can play. His fall wasn’t anything spectacular as he had a terrible tune up tourney getting dead last in the B flight and then falling to the younger Al-Houni who was seeded higher than he was at ITAs.

5 Singles: Cam Laktash: I must say that Laktash has some philosophical questions to discuss if you follow him on twitter. I think he is just voicing the interesting things he hears in one of his classes this fall, but either way, they are enjoyable to read. Academics aside, Laktash should find himself playing 5 singles this season. This will be a bump up from the 6 spot where he was last year. He split time at the 6 spot and was ok so I think a bump up may make it difficult on him in terms of success. The depth of Whitewater is a big concern and it starts here.

6 Singles: Matt Bisbee/Martin Beck: The 6 spot should go to one of these two and after the fall results, I would think Bisbee has the upper hand. Along with Humphreys, Bisbee was the only one to make the round of 16 at the ITAs so he has that going for him. Again, depth is an issue with this team and whomever plays this spot should struggle against the better teams.

Doubles: I am exhausted talking about this team already. Humphreys will play at the top spot for sure, but beyond that your guess is as good as mine.

Schedule

 http://www.uwwsports.com/schedule.aspx?tab=tennis2&path=mten

Whitewater’s schedule doesn’t change too much from year to year. They typically play a handful of D1 opponents early, some cupcakes in between a few solid regional opponents on spring break, and then finish off with some tough matches. This year is no different. The Warhawks will get some good competition against the D1 guys and this will benefit Humphreys (maybe Shklyar too) the most. The first real test will be away at Depauw which could be an interesting match-up. Both teams are on the decline if you ask me. It could very easily come down to who is up in doubles in which both teams take some pride in. Whitewater is top heavy with depth issues and Depauw is strong in depth, but no stud at the top. I think Depauw will win this match which will put pressure on Whitewater to do well late in the season to keep a national ranking.

Gustavus is the next match of note and if the ITA results are anything to show how this match will go, I wouldn’t expect GAC to have too many issues. They simply are stronger in dubs and a deeper team. Spring break comes around and the Warhawks will play a solid Stevens team and a Colby squad that upset them last year 5-4. Spring break was not kind to Whitewater last season and it may happen again this year. I think they need to go 2-0 against these teams in order to stay in the conversation and I don’t think they will. I expect them to fall to one of them.

To round out the final month of the season, Whitewater goes to a Wash U quad where they truly don’t belong. That may sound harsh, but playing the likes of Wash U, Texas Tyler, and Chicago in 36 hours will show them how far they really are from the top echelon of teams. There is no way they get out of that weekend with a win and it could be detrimental to Humphreys bid to return to nationals. Losing to Chua and whomever plays 1 for Wash U won’t hurt his ranking, but he will likely need a good in region win at some point during the season to get in the top 8 and he doesn’t have many opportunities. He will have played Jack Michael from Carroll (should win), Depauw’s 1 (should win), and Al-Houni (toss up) by this time and I think those are all must win matches.

To finish the season, Whitewater plays a trap match that could be an upset if all things turn out the way they could. They play Coe who is a team that has always been on the cusp of a national ranking, but hasn’t ever really beaten anyone to deserve the acclaim. They typically go 27-0 and then play Whitewater or Gustavus to end the year which they have lost in years past. Last year this match was 6-3 after a Whitewater sweep of dubs. This year, Coe should be a little stronger as long as Noah Sprinkel returns for the spring semester and from what I have hear, he will be. I am not sure I am ready to give Coe the edge quite yet, but this is a match that I will be watching closely when the end of April rolls around.

Wrapping it all up, Whitewater is the second team I have previewed in the Central region that I believe it on the decline. I have already discussed Denison and will be adding Kenyon and Depauw to the list in the coming weeks. The Central region is getting steam rolled by Wash U, Chicago, and Case. We need some of the usual suspects to step up their recruiting efforts or maybe even a few new teams to step in to replace the teams with their downfall. I would prefer it if ASouth continues to be the weakest region in the country!