The University of Texas at Tyler
Coach: Chris Bizot
Location: Tyler, TX
Preseason ranking: #20 power rankings, #18 ITA, #5 ITA west region
Hello again D3 tennis fans! With the lack of truly compelling regional matches this past weekend (except for TCNJ’s 9-0 win over Vassar, holy moly), I have decided to pick up the slack, step out of my regional role, and finish up these season previews. Today, I’m looking at the Texas-Tyler Patriots, a very interesting team in my eyes. Texas-Tyler has bumped around the #20-30 range for several years now, and with a very experienced lineup, the Patriots are ready once again for a great year. They already have one good win over UCSC, and have a stronger schedule this year than ever before. Despite this, the Patriots have lost four starters to graduation, so there is more than a little uncertainly in Tyler, TX. With guys like Chris Wootton stepping up, and a couple nice additions, there is a lot to love about the Patriots, so if you’d like to get my take on the Patriots, read on!
Lineup Analysis:
Key Losses: Ramon Martinez (#1 singles, #3 doubles), Justin Randell (#4 singles, #3 doubles), Ryan Spencer (#5 singles, #2 doubles), Edward Timponi (#6 singles)
Key Additions: Frankie Fischer (junior transfer from Aquinas College), Alex Free (freshman), Cameron McCarthy (freshman), Alex Bouchard (freshman from Canada, related to Eugenie?!), Jake Davidson (freshman), Cameron Crim (freshman)
Singles:
#1: Daniel Budd (junior), range 1-3: Budd was a decent #2 last season for the Pats, as he did not have any bad losses. However, he went 0-5 against division 3 ranked squads in dual matches, losing to the #2’s from Trinity (TX), Redlands, Stevens, and Whittier. Budd is 0-3 in the three Walla Walla matches this year, losing at #1 to Max Littlejohn (Santa Cruz), Patrick Lipscomb (Redlands), and Colton Malesovas (Whitman). Budd might be the Patriots’ best option at this spot, but I do not think he is going to pull any huge upsets this year.
#2: Chris Wootton (senior), range 1-5: I’m not sure how Old Man Wootton spent his summer, but after primarily being a doubles specialist, this dude has skyrocketed up to the #2 spot so far this year. Wootton is 2-3 against the ranked teams so far in 2015, defeating Manuel Brown (Trin TX) and Chad Stone (Santa Cruz), but losing to Nick Cummins (Redlands), Zach Hewlin (Whitman), and Paxton Deuel (Trin TX). Wootton is a huge wild card this season for the Pats, but I think he will continue to improve.
#3: Harry Kelleher (senior), range 1-4: This man from Australia had a very good first season in his junior transfer year last year. He primarily played #3, and went 2-3 against ranked teams, defeating Michael Feldman (Stevens) and Samuel Farmer (Whittier) and losing to Connor Hudson (Pomona), Nicolas Moreno (Trin TX), and Tom Suchodolski (Redlands). I think Kelly should improve even more this year, and #3 is a nice spot for him in the lineup.
#4: Frankie Fischer (junior), range 3-4: The junior transfer Frankie Fishy looks to be the top dog coming in this year, and already has one very good win over Tom Suchodolski of Redlands. He made the quarters of the ITA southwest tournament, defeating Charlie Curtis (projected #5) and Connor Dunn (projected #6), and losing to Aaron Skinner (projected #3), all from Trinity TX. Because of this, #4 should be the perfect landing spot for the big fish this year.
#5: Ryan Elwood (sophomore), range 5-7: Despite Elwood’s impeccable flow, I do think there is a decent drop-off after the #4 spot. Elwood did not routinely start last season in his freshman year, and lost to Joey Duelle (Redlands), and Chase Friedman (Whitman) up in Walla Walla (barely started his match against UCSC).
#6: Jack Puckey (junior), range 5-8: Puckey lost in straight sets in his three matches in Walla Walla. His one win was in the ITA tournament over Sam May of Hardin-Simmons.
In the hunt: Jake Davidson, Alex Free, Cameron McCarthy, Cameron Crim
Doubles:
#1: Chris Wootton/Frankie Fischer: Coach Bizot has decided to split up the Wootton/Kelleher #1 dubs duo from last year, and I think this is a good move on his part, given the success that Wootton/Fischer have found so far this year. Although they lost in the first round of ITA’s to Connor Dunn and Pablo Diaz (projected #3 or #4 at Trin TX), they absolutely brought down the roof up in Walla Walla, taking out the #1 teams from Whitman, Redlands, and Santa Cruz, by scores of 8-3, 8-6, and 8-5. It will obviously be hard to keep this level up all season, but these results will be good for their confidence, as well as their west doubles ranking.
#2: Daniel Budd/Harry Kelleher: I think this team will be up and down all season, as they already have been this year. They also lost in the first round of ITA’s to a Trin team (Eliot Guin/Manuel Brown, likely in the #3-#5 doubles range), but they lost to both the #2 teams from Redlands and Whitman. They rebounded nicely by taking out the #2 team from Redlands.
#3: Alex Free/Ryan Elwood: I am of the belief that this team is very similar in level to Budd/Kelleher, and I could realistically see them moving up to #2 depending on how the season is going. They lost 8-5 in ITA’s to Paxton Deuel and Adam Krull (Trin TX, projected #1-2), lost close pro-sets to #3 teams from Redlands and Whitman, and took out the #3 team from Santa Cruz. At this point in time, Budd/Kelleher is a far more experienced group of doubles players, and likely the better team, but both of these teams could bounce around a little bit.
How can they stay (and rise) in the rankings:
Schedule: http://www.uttylerpatriots.com/mtennis/schedule/
UT Tyler has switched up their schedule quite a bit this year. As we know, they have added the Walla Walla trip, where they took out Santa Cruz but lost to Whitman and Redlands. They have also added an Orlando trip in March, where they should have good matches against Wabash, Ogelthorpe, and Coe. After a couple junior college and conference battles, the Pats will head out to St. Louis, where they will have three more wars against Wash U, Wisconsin-Whitewater, and University of Chicago. They then will play Trinity (TX) before the American Southwest Conference championships, where the Pats typically roll, except two years ago, when they were shocked by UT Dallas. Their season typically concludes in a NCAA birth, likely involving a plane flight and a difficult first round match.
The #2-4 spots in the Patriots’ singles lineup will be huge this year. Wootton is suddenly a pretty solid #2, and Kelleher should take a step forward at #3. Fischer may be a little inconsistent, but he should have the ability to be a very good #4. Ideally, these 3 guys put it together and become a force in the middle of the lineup. In an ideal world, if everyone plays well on the same day, the Patriots could take out a team like Chicago that is on their schedule.
How could they fall out of the rankings:
While spots #2-4 could definitely be strengths this year, spots #1, #5, and #6 look to me like they could be big weaknesses. Ramon Martinez played #1 last year and has graduated, but he lost pretty routinely to all of the ranked schools he played. Dan Budd had a similar year at #2, so I do not expect him to fair much better than Martinez at the top spot.
Also, some of UTT’s best wins last year were at the #4-6 spots. For instance, against Redlands, they lost at #1-3, but won at #4-6. I know this is just one match, but the Patriots typically competed much better at those lower spots (examples from last year: Earlham, Stevens, Whittier). With these three guys, Justin Randell, Ryan Spencer, and Edward Timponi, all graduating, I am concerned about spots #5-6. Fischer looks like he should come in and play a good #4, but this is not a given either.
I am also nervous about the Pats’ doubles, with three new teams in the lineup. Last year, the Patriots generally played good, but not great, doubles. Although their #1 team is looking very strong thus far, #2-3 is a big question mark for me given some of their losses so far this year. With my concerns in the singles lineup, doubles is going to be a huge piece of the Patriots’ season, and I hope it all comes together. If things don’t break right for the Patriots, they could fall to dangerous foes like Wisconsin-Whitewater and Coe.
Prediction:
Currently, we have Texas-Tyler ranked #20 in our power rankings, which I think is very accurate, given what we have seen so far this year, losing to Whitman (#14), Redlands (#13), and defeating UCSC (#24). With this, I do think their results will be fairly predictable, due to the fact that last year, many of the Patriots players would routinely beat unranked and teams in the 30-40 range, but lose to anybody higher than that. Coe is a sneaky tough match, as they have a good #1-3, and could definitely steal some doubles matches. I think the Pats will get through it, and ultimately will not lose from now until their trip out to St. Louis. They will beat Wisconsin-Whitewater but will fall to Wash U and Chicago. They will also lose to Trinity TX as the regular season comes to a close, and ultimately will travel out to Emory, CMS, or to some other highly ranked team for NCAA’s.
To wrap things up, Texas-Tyler strikes me as that classic #20-30 team in the country. They are good pretty much everywhere and strong at a few positions. However, there are a few spots that lack the firepower to compete with higher ranked schools. The Patriots are definitely strong enough to avoid any upsets, and with a little improvement, they could definitely take out a team like Redlands. Right now though, #20 seems like just about the right spot for the Patriots. Thanks for reading!
Lastly, if any coaches are interested in being interviewed in an article to be posted on Tennis Recruiting, please send me an email at d3regional@gmail.com. Thanks!