CLAREMONT MUDD-SCRIPS ATHENAS
Coach: the All-Mighty Dave Schwarz (1st year at CMS; ump-teenth year coaching, WELCOME BACK TO THE PROMISED LAND OF D3!!)
Location: Claremont, CA
Final 2012 rank: 8
Final 2013 rank: 4
Entered Spring 2014: #5 Nationally & #1 in West
Finished Spring 2014: #5 Nationally & #1 in West
Caroline Ward: #3 in West (#17 Nationally at end of 2014)
Katie Kuosman: #7 in West (#40 Nationally at end of 2014)
Lindsay Brown: #13 in West
Sarah Kukino: #15 in West
Bria Smith: #16 in West
Caroline Ward/Katie Kuosman: #1 in West (#2 Nationally at end of 2014)
Sarah Kukino/Kyla Scott: #8 in West
Lindsay Brown/Bria Smith: #15 in West
Key Losses:
Chloe Dobbert #22 in West (#3 Singles & #2 Doubles)
In general, these losses look huge on paper. However, with a pretty solid recruiting class for the Athenas, these freshman are ready for the dual match experience. Dobbert was a solid player at #2 Doubles with Sarah Kukino. The pair earned victories over Pomona (twice), La Verne, Redlands, Midd, Chicago, Tufts and Amherst. These solid wins will be important ones to repeat in 2015 as the CMS schedule only gets deeper especially once SCIACs/NCAAs roll around. On the singles court, she had a big win over Hopkins in the NCAA Quarters as well as Whitman, Redlands (twice), Midd, Tufts, Chicago and Bowdoin.
Crystal Lim #24 in West & Ojai Finalist (#4-5 Singles & #3 Doubles)
Only dropped two D3 matches in her Senior year, one to Bowdoin and the other in the ITA Round of 16. A rock of a player for the Athenas in the #5 spot mainly, defeating almost all squads who came up against her. Her only losses in her 2013-14 campaign were to D2 or D1 opponents including that of the Final of the Ojai. Doubles wins (with Likomanova) included Williams, Pomona (twice), Redlands (twice), La Verne (twice), Chicago, Tufts and Bowdoin.
Yvonne Likomanova #6 Singles & #3 Doubles
Held down the #6 position of most of her career. Senior year highlighted by wins over Bowdoin, Redlands and Pomona (twice). More of a figure on the Doubles court in her senior season with Crystal Lim.
First up: a quick recap of last season:
The Athenas had a strong 2014 campaign with a top-8 finish at NCAAs. Personally, with a team this solid top to bottom, they might consider a 5-4 loss to #4 Hopkins a disappointment. The 2014 season was highlighted by big wins over Bowdoin, Tufts, Chicago, Middlebury, Redlands (twice), Pomona (twice) and La Verne (twice). Caroline Ward and Katie Kuosman also compiled a strong run to the NCAA Doubles Final before falling in three sets.
Moving to the 2014-2015 season…
ITAs was the only Fall event for the entire CMS squad but boy, quite an event it was. Caroline Ward sweeping the event after winning one of the best Women’s matches in recent memory during the Final against Andrea Madrigal. She later partnered Katie Kuosman to take the Doubles. As a whole, the Athenas had a very strong team event with two semifinalists (Ward/Kuosman) and five quarterfinalists in singles (Ward/Kuosman/Kukino/Brown/Smith). The team also had Sarah Kukino and Kyla Scott as Doubles semifinalists.
The other (kind of) important event was the ITA National Small College Championships. Caroline Ward and Katie Kuosman brought home the bacon for the best region in the country (West Coast, best coast) by taking the title with a three-set win over Kirkland/Meighan of Washington & Lee. The pair defeated their first round opponents in the “Super Bowl”, a tournament after the tournament at the Small College Championships before falling in the Final to Div. II Barry University. Ward also competed in the Singles event, where she placed Eighth.
Schedule Analysis (by month): http://cmsathletics.com/sports/wten/2014-15/schedule-web
February: #21 Cal State L.A (Div. II), #37 Bates, #25 Point Loma (Div. II) & #14 Academy of Art (Div. II)
February is an “ease-in” month for CMS in terms of D3 tennis. The lone D3 opponent, #37 Bates should not be a big test for the Athenas, maybe 8-1 if the Cats get lucky. I won’t go into the other matches as they are not D3 contests. However, CMS did defeat Point Loma last season but fell to Cal State L.A.
March: 11 matches (major ones: #8 WashU, #7 Carnegie Mellon #1 Emory, #18 Trinity (CT), #16 Tufts, #10 Middlebury, #14 MIT, #15 La Verne, #38 Whittier)
March….the tell-all month for the regular season of D3 and CMS has a GREAT match schedule. I am really excited to see these battles go down. First up three UAA opponents, #8 WashU, #7 Carnegie Mellon and #1 Emory. I am not 100% on this WashU one to be honest, the WashU lineup will be a bit different because they graduated a few seniors towards the bottom of the lineup. The same area CMS graduated their seniors. Seeing as the match is at CMS. I am leaning towards a 6-3 decision to the Athenas. I just feel that solid performances by Caroline Ward and Katie “Kuzy” Kuosman can push CMS to a W. Next up, #7 Carnegie. This one will also be tricky and close. Carnegie is no joke and only graduated one major starter in Katie Cecil. This match between two solid squads will come down to who can grind more and who wants it more to be frank. Despite being on home soil, I give this one to Carnegie in an upset, 5-4. The biggest test of the Spring (outside of NCAAs) is the dual match versus #1 Emory. The Eagles, who are currently living it up in Brazil are a balls tough squad. Yeah, they lost Gabbie Clark but that really means nothing. 7-2 to the Eagles on this one. #18 Trinity (CT) and #16 Tufts will provide minimal tests for CMS. Tufts only managed one point in a dual match last year and their lineup is not THAT different from the prior year; 9-0 to CMS. In terms of Trin, I do not think this team has the discipline to pull off such a big result. CMS will take that contest 9-0 as well. #10 Midd will arrive at CMS for their first Top 10 match of the season. With lineups in question (see D3 Northeast’s Preview of the Panthers here: ) I see a Midd victory as questionable especially when CMS has only gotten stronger since last season. This year: 6-3 to the Athenas. #14 MIT has a solid lineup top to bottom. However, they did suffer a major setback in losing to Babson (BABO) in the NEWMAC Conference Finals. Overall, I see the bottom half of this matchup being a dogfight but the top half leaning more towards CMS (#1 will be a battle though). Result: CMS 7-2. Next up for the Athenas: a HUGE SCIAC contest with #15 La Verne. The Leopards are by no means pushovers and fought to a tough 5-4 loss in May. This season, La Verne is back and looking to get revenge. Will it happen? It is possible but I am pulling La Verne taking an upset 5-4 decision. UPSET ALERT! #38 Whittier (THE POETS!!!) are such a great squad. Unfortunately, they do lack the depth needed to pull off such a big win. 9-0 to CMS here.
April: #19 Redlands, #9 Pomona-Pitzer, THE OJAI
#19 Redlands is a squad in need of one more stud player to make an impact. Unfortunately, I do not see them making a splash here, 8-1. #9 Pomona-Pitzer will be muy interesante because of the history behind these two squads. Last year, CMS blew P-P away. At ITAs in the Fall, it was pretty much a CMS and P-P show with CMS winning out. I see this trend continuing in April, 7-2 to the Athenas. The final prep for CMS before SCIACs will be THE OJAI event, a great tournament highlighting California college tennis. Look for big performances from the CMS ladies in this one.
May: SCIAC Tournament, NCAA Team and Individual Tournaments
I will not even touch upon NCAAs in this Preview as I will do another one for that later on in the Spring. However, I will keep this simple in that CMS will take another SCIAC crown this year with a 5-4 revenge win over #15 La Verne. Tough battles all around once again, I just see revenge and an automatic NCAA bid as motivating allowing CMS to win out again.
Proposed Lineup Analysis:
#1 Doubles: Caroline Ward/ Katie Kuosman
All-Americans, ITA Small College Champs, Super Bowl Finalists, Defending NCAA Finalists….yup, not much more that can be said about these two ladies except for the fact that they are the #1 team in the country right now in D3 (unofficial). This Spring will be big for them in that they have a lot to defend and “sophomore slumps” do happen. Personally, I do not see such thing happen with Ward/Kuzy in 2015.
#2 Doubles: Sarah Kukino/Kyla Scott
A solid semifinal performance at the ITAs is a good showing for this new pair. Kukino, coming off of a good year with now alumni Chloe Dobbert, has found a new partner is the freshie. Can the newbie hold her nerve or will the veteran need to provide some reinforcements?
#3 Doubles: Lindsay Brown/Bria Smith
This young pairing could be a fresh combo for CMS. After a Quarterfinal finish at ITAs, this team may not replace the loss of Lim/Likomanova but it could be able to grow and earn some strong victories. However, with the schedule that CMS has, this position was, is, and will be vital for some victories.
#1 Singles: Caroline Ward
Ward’s leadership and stud-like play #1 will be key for the Athenas this year. She will need to win when it matters to help CMS thorugh this tough lineup. Matches against Kohrs (MIT), Gerger (Midd), Madrigal (La Verne) will be slugfests but I see Ward coming through a good majority of these.
#2 Singles: Katie Kuosman
Kuzy has some tough battles ahead of her in 2015. She did fairly well last year beating every team ranked outside of the top #12 (as she should) but I think her success at the Small College Nationals will really push her through this year. Look for a big year from Kuzy.
#3 Singles: Sarah Kukino
Kukino mainly played #3 last season but ended at #4 so her rise up will not be as dramatic as most. This year, I am unsure with how she will do. Success at ITAs helps, but Dual Matches are a new ballgame and more pressure will be on the top portion of the lineup if there are freshies in the bottom. I am leaving my preview for her as a question mark.
#4-6 Singles: Lindsay Brown, Bria Smith, Samantha Nuno, Lauren Livingston, Kyla Scott
4-6 Singles is a toss-up for CMS, a lot of young talent who did well in ITAs. Unfortunately, the ITA field is much weaker than what lies ahead of the Athena youngin’s look for some big wins and a few tough battles ahead for those who get positions.
Alright, that is all I got for now!! Thanks for reading, have a great weekend! Check out my next Preview of the #15 La Verne Leopards!!
D3WW