2015 Men’s Season Preview: #37 University of Rochester Yellowjackets

University of Rochester

 Coach: Matt Nielsen

 Location: Rochester, NY

 Preseason ranking: #37 ITA, Unranked in our top 35 power rankings

Good evening, division 3 tennis fans! It’s your favorite/only regional blogger, d3regional, and today we head up north for my third straight UAA preview, with the University of Rochester Yellowjackets. The Yellowjackets are a team that is improving, but very slowly. They have finished last at the UAA tournament every year since the 2009-2010 season, but have gotten closer and closer to stinging their way out of the cellar. Every year, the Jackets have gotten one or two talented recruits and on the right day, they can certainly wax a team ranked around 30 in the country, but it really has to bee the right day. They have a few matches against teams right in this range this year, including NYU and RPI. Regardless, will this be the year that Rochester flies out from that #8 slot in the UAA and gets closer to that elusive top 30 ranking? Read on to find out!

Lineup Analysis:

Key Losses: Boris Borovcanin (#4 singles, #3 doubles)

Key Additions: Aaron Mevorach, Andrew Nunno (both freshmen)

Singles:

Honestly, I think that Rochester’s top 4 singles players could all beat each other on any one day. Take my lineup with a spoonful/grain of honey/salt because of this. Due to these circumstances, I am taking a page out of D3NE’s book and adding a “Range” to each player in the lineup. Thanks for the idea D3NE!

#1 Singles: Julian Danko (senior), Range 1-4: Danko looks to be the one senior who will crack the ‘ackets lineup this year. He was a pretty solid #3 last year, with his best win by far coming over Tyler Kratky of Wash U. Great win! He also had good wins over CJ Leong (NYU) and Christian Phelps (Vassar), although he lost to Dan-Dan Lubarsky (Brandeis) and CJ Leong the second time around at the UAA tournament. Just like the top four guys in this lineup, I would feel really confident with Danko playing #3 or #4, but I don’t think he is consistent enough to be a strong #1.

#2 Singles: Jonny Baker (sophomore), Range 1-4: Baker played #2 last season as well, and actually proved to be a dangerous #2, recording two very nice wins over Michael Arguello of Brandeis, and Christian Heaney-Secord of Carnegie Mellon. He made the second round of the ITA Northeast tournament, losing relatively quickly to Sidd Thangirala (NYU). Again, Baker at #3 or #4 would be great, but he could be a decent #2 as he was last year with more experience.

#3 Singles: Ben Shapiro (junior), Range 1-4: Shapiro played #1 all last season for the boys in yellow, and his results reflect that. Against ranked schools last year, Shapiro went 0-6, losing to the #1’s from Brandeis, NYU twice, Carnegie Mellon, Stevens, and Wash U. Shapiro is a talented fellow, and I think #3 could be a nice spot for him to regain his swagger, as he played #4 and #3 singles the year before and had a nice year.

#4 Singles: Ian Baranowski (junior), Range 1-4: This tall guy from Long Island played a good #5 for the ‘Jackets. He started at #3 in the recent dual match against Roberts Wesleyan, and also lost 16-14 to his teammate Baker in the finals of the SLU Invitational Tournament this fall. Basically what I am trying to get at is that Baranowski has potential, so he should be a pretty good #4, maybe even playing higher.

#5 Singles: Sam Leeman (sophomore), Range 5-6: I do think that the lineup drops off a bit after #4, but Leeman isn’t a bad player. He was the #6 for most of last year, with his best win coming over Han Ren Lim (NYU). He played #5 against Roberts Wes, and that’s where I like him to land this year.

#6 Singles: Aaron Mevorach, Andrew Nunno, Ryan Zu (sophomore), or Matthew Golub (sophomore), Ranges 5-9: Not a whole lot to go off of here, but I do think one of the freshmen will grab this last spot. Ultimately, I wish this were still my Brandeis preview so I could make a Judge joke about how the jury is still out on this #6 singles spot, because I can’t seem to think up another corny bee pun.

Doubles:

Doubles is always pretty tough to predict, and it looks like Coach Nielsen has switched up his teams from the year before, which makes a lot of sense given that the Yellowjackets didn’t exactly sting their competition on the doubles court last year. Anyway, here’s what I’m thinking based on their one dual match so far, and the ITA tournament.

#1 Doubles: Julian Danko / Ben Shapiro: The projected top bee of the Yellowjackets made the semis at the ITA tournament this year, losing to Ben Foran and Matt Heinrich of Stevens.

#2 Doubles: Ian Baranowski / Aaron Mevorach: Baranowski / Mevorach lost in the second round of the ITA tournament to Jonah Epstein and Kai Yuen Leung of Skid.

#3 Doubles: Jonny Baker / Sam Leeman: Baker and Leeman had a nice ITA as well, defeating Nick Litsky/Evan Udine (Vassar), and McKinley Grimes/Brandon Mazzara (RPI) before falling in the quarters 9-8 to Kit Green-Sanderson/Lucas Pickering of Skid. I have to think that the #2 and #3 teams will be very even going into the season, and I can see this switching around.

How can they get in the rankings:

Schedule: http://www.uofrathletics.com/schedule.aspx?path=mten

Alrighty folks, before we get into the strengths of this Yellowjackets squad, I wanted to take a quick peek at their schedule. After squaring off against fellow Rochester area school RIT, the Jackets take on division 1 Colgate as well as Ithaca College. Then, they make their way out to Cleveland for the sole purpose of taking on UAA foe Case Western. A week later, they head out to Claremont, where they will play Carnegie Mellon and Wash U, as well as Chapman. It’s a shame that they couldn’t get schools like Cal Lutheran, Whittier, Redlands, and even Occidental on the Cali schedule, but I guess that’s how the cookie crumbles. When they come back to the cold northeast, they take on NYU, TCNJ, Hobart, St. Lawrence, and RPI, before heading down to Florida for the extremely competitive UAA tournament, where every school is nationally ranked.

As I alluded to up above, I definitely believe that the strength of this team will be at #3 and #4 singles. Rochester has traditionally competed the best in those middle of the lineup spots, and this year should be no different. If the Jackets can get consistent wins at those two spots, I could definitely see them getting a win here and there at #2 and #5, and even #6, really depending on how the freshmen Mevorach and Nunno step up.

If Rochester can split the singles against a top 30 squad, it will come down to doubles. Rochester has been streaky at best on the doubles court, but they have made nice strides this year, with each of their projected top 3 doubles teams winning a match at ITA’s, and a couple of them making decent runs. I have to believe that if Rochester continues to improve, they will have the chance to win a couple doubles matches against a top 30 team.

What can keep them from the rankings:

While #3 and #4 singles are a nice strength for the Jackets, I would consider everything else either average or below. At #1 singles, I just do not see the Jackets competing against any school that has a strong #1. Rochester has never competed well at the top, and without any new ultra-talented recruits, I do not see this year being any different.

Also, while doubles could ultimately end up being passable, it could also be a huge weakness. Last year, Rochester was swept by Stevens and Chapman, and lost each match because of it. They also lost 2 out of 3 to Brandeis at the UAA tournament, who could not buy a doubles win in the first two rounds against Wash U and Chicago. Yes, they beat up on NYU in doubles twice, but NYU has always played terrible doubles. Against any school in that 25-35 ranking that is not NYU, I am concerned about the Jackets chances.

Prediction:

Rochester really has 2 big matches on their schedule this year, despite playing Carnegie, Wash U, and Case, since I do not think that the Jackets are ready for an upset of that magnitude. Their chances are against NYU and RPI, which are two very interesting matches. Rochester took down NYU in season last year, but lost in the UAA tournament. I think Rochester will once again win 2 out of 3 doubles, but NYU will have better depth and will take #1, #2, #3, and #6 singles, as NYU actually is strong at the same places Rochester is strong, with Sidd Thangirala, CJ Leong, Matt DeMichiel, and Karan Goyal holding down the middle of the lineup.

After the tough 5-4 loss, RPI vs. Rochester is a really tough one to pick. Last year, RPI takes it in my book, but with Matt LaBarre and Jarrett Regier out, I think Rochester is going to pull it out, 5-4, setting them up for the UAA tournament, where I sadly think they will enter and exit as the #8 team once again. Rochester is currently ranked #37 in the ITA, and I think that is pretty accurate right now. RPI is #38, so the Jackets will hold off the Engineers, but will pretty much stick in that spot all year, as long as they revenge their loss to Chapman from last year. Thanks for reading once again, and check out my preview of the Stevens Ducks, coming next week!