Kenyon College
Coach: Scott Thielke
Location: Gambier, OH
Preseason ranking: #12
I don’t know what it is in the Midwest, but it seems like I always am talking about teams that work really hard to get the most out of what they have. Kenyon in the past has been sort of the blue collar team that exemplifies this. The school is far from blue collar, but in terms of hard work on the tennis court, Kenyon has it. One might think that Kenyon should be poised for a great year. They lost no seniors from last seasons squad and the added experience will only benefit the Lords. However, a closer look at this team will cause many (myself included) to wonder if Kenyon will continue to be relevant on the national level. Last season they started decently well with easy wins over Chicago and Whitewater and close losses at Indoors before prevailing over Cal Lu who were a shell of themselves without Ballou. Kenyon stay high in the rankings because they kept matches close against the top tier programs. They had 5-4 losses to Case and Emory at Indoors, but we must remember, that was with Raz in the lineup. Once he was gone, the firepower dwindled. With a pretty poor recruiting class by Kenyon standards, not much should change this season and a horrific ITA tournament sounds the alarm for the spring. Not one Kenyon player made it past the third round at the ITA. NOT ONE! Yikes!
Key losses: ZERO seniors last year. Lost Raz half way through
Key additions: Peter Hazlett, Freshman
Singles Lineup:
1 Singles: Wade Heerboth: Heerboth is one of this blogs favorite players and dedicated readers. He also is a huge Big Brother fan so he is awesome in my book. Back to tennis, as long as his declaration on twitter of quitting tennis to join the equestrian team isn’t true, Wade will be at the top of the lineup come spring. The crafty lefty is a tough opponent for anyone to play because he has a unique style and I have seen him hit some god awful ugly shots that are impressive winners that can get into anyone’s head. He also seems to be the three set master. If anything is a sure bet in D3 tennis, it is probably Wade winning in three. I know he is very disappointed in his fall tourney falling in the third round to a Chicago freshman that may not even crack the lineup, but I am not worried about Heerboth at all. He will be a top player in the region and someone no one wants to draw at individual nationals.
2 Singles: Sam Geier: Geier was a breakout player last season for the Lords. He came from not starting in the singles lineup as a freshman to winning the fall ITA tournament. He had a good season in the spring and has a powerful forehand that is extremely dangerous. Geier is going to be an important piece of the puzzle for Kenyon’s success as they are weak in the middle of the lineup so hopefully he brought his tennis rackets with him wherever he was studying abroad in the fall semester. Heerboth came back strong from study abroad, but he also had a fellow D3 stud to practice with from the West region.
3 Singles: Rob Turlington: I am putting Turlington all the way at three because he was the next highest seed at the ITA tournament, but this is a pretty big jump. Turlington has been plagued by injuries thus far in his college career, so it is tough to say if he will succeed this high in the lineup. He didn’t feature in a dual match last season so this is quite a big difference and I have previously stated that the Lords will struggle mightily in the middle of the singles lineup. He got routed by Chua (eventual winner) in the third round this fall so that is hard to really gauge much. Whomever plays three singles, they will struggle.
4 Singles: Tim Rosensteel: Rosensteel had some ups and downs last year and mainly downs. He was the sacrificial lamb at three so moving him down to the 4 spot should help, but again I still think they struggle at this spot. I predicted his first round loss at ITA to Brian Sun of Chicago which is a bad sign considering Sun is probably #8 on the Maroons depth chart. Rosensteel is a tremendous doubles player and that is where he will need to come up big this spring to keep the Lords where they are in terms of rankings.
5 Singles: Jacob Huber: The back end of the lineup should be a strength for Kenyon as they have a lot of players on the roster that could feature. Huber will definitely be there and I expect him to be a good #5 and be the favorite against most teams and in particular the ones that are dangerous matches for Kenyon. By no means is he a lock to win, but he will at least be someone Kenyon can be confident in.
6 Singles: Colin Haas/Nick Fiaschetti/Mike Roberts: Honestly the six spot could be anyone. I am particularly high on Mike Roberts, but Coach Thielke seems to favor both Haas and Fiaschetti ahead of him. Roberts won the backdraw of the ITA which is impressive, but again I would predict that he will lose his time to either of the aforementioned players. The good news is that Kenyon will be strong at 6 singles whomever plays there and it will be a key spot for them to win.
Doubles: I think the only most likely scenario I can predict with the Kenyon doubles lineup is Geier teaming up with Rosensteel at the top spot. They were a solid tandem last season and should be a threat to make it to nationals if they play well. Heerboth will most definitely play two doubles, but his partner I am unsure of. I would guess Turlington or Haas with the other being part of the third doubles team. I personally am a fan of the Heerboth/Turlington pair because they were All-Americans two seasons ago after winning the fall ITA. Roberts was predominantly a doubles player last year so he will probably fall somewhere as well.
Schedule
http://athletics.kenyon.edu/schedule.aspx?schedule=95&path=mten
I fear for the Lords when I look at this schedule. To me it is filled with little opportunity and a whole lot of dangerous matches that could change the course of their year. Because I don’t think Kenyon has the firepower to play with the big boys, moving up the rankings is unlikely. The dangerous matches are against the teams in the 15-25 range that are looking for that marquee win to burst on to the scene. And of course I need to look no further than the alumni match as Kenyon could return some pretty big players like Burgin, Greenberg, Herrick, and Tesic. Shout out to Burgin for pointing this out via twitter.
There is no such thing as an easy start for Kenyon this year as their first weekend they will play away matches at Case Western and at Chicago. Case and Kenyon are almost mirror images of one another in that they are stronger at 1-2 singles, weaker at 3-4 singles, and solid at 5-6 singles. I would give the edge to slight edge to case at 1, 2, 3, and 4, but Kenyon is a bit stronger at 5 and 6. Doubles will be a Case strength so I don’t see the Lords pulling off this upset. Obviously Chicago will want to make a big first impression and beat a top 15 team. I hate to speculate on Chicago because who knows how they will do this spring, but for now I will say they take down Kenyon in what could be a match that isn’t as close as we might think.
Thankfully Kenyon has a match against OWU which will at least get them a W in the column because a first round date with Wash U at Indoors isn’t exactly fun. They would then play the loser of Emory and Carnegie which I also think they lose setting up a match against likely host Gustavus for 7th place. Kenyon is better than Gustavus in terms of talent, but playing Gustavus at their bubble is difficult and this is another dangerous match that would cripple the Lords if they were to lose.
Heading out to California, Kenyon takes on Santa Cruz, Trinity, and Whittier before the Stag Hen. Trinity is an obvious favorite, but both Santa Cruz and Whittier should be licking their chops at a chance to knock off a national power. Santa Cruz is looking to reinsert their name into the top 15 while Whittier still needs a big win to solidify their emergence. The Stag Hen draw is all sorts of messed up, but I am pretty sure they will play Wash U again. Not exactly fun.
Upon their arrival back in the Midwest, Kenyon will get into their conference schedule which will be a nice respite as they are better than their conference rivals Denison and Depauw, but again, those matches are always tough. Kenyon beat Depauw twice last year 5-3 (came back from being swept in dubs in the conference final). They have Carnegie Mellon and Swarthmore sprinkled in there at home to keep the gauntlet going. All in all, I could easily see the Lords being a .500 team this season. That may seem like a bit of an overreaction, but one loss to a team below them in the rankings would put them at 10-9. They will still win their conference and head to nationals, but not be a factor to reach the Elite 8.
All in all, I really don’t want to be this negative about a team that has been one of the best in the region for the last 10+ years, but with last year’s struggles post Raz and this year’s ugly fall results, it is hard to be anything but skeptical. While I am not high on this team’s chances this year, I think they will stay in the top 20. They are still a tough team to play and won’t lay down for any one. It will be interesting to see how the season unfolds come spring time!