Quick quiz, what current DIII team has one of the all time winningest coaches, brought in a top-10 recruiting class, faithfully updates their twitter, still has courts buried by snow, and is getting no love as a national championship contender? Today’s Spring Break Precap features none other than the Middlebury Panthers! Midd is currently ranked #3 in the ITA, #8 in our power rankings, and is coming off a national semifinal appearance that very nearly turned into a national finals berth and a “jainormous” upset win over CMS. Yes, Midd lost a few key guys from that team, but there’s simply no reason this year’s squad shouldn’t believe themselves capable of making a similar deep run. Let’s take a look at Midd’s early spring break matches and then we’ll take a trip to prediction land and check out Midd’s upcoming brutal cali stretch, full of some MAJOR Pool-C implications.
RECAP: Midd def. Chapman 6-3, Midd def. Biola 7-2, Midd def. Whittier 9-0, Midd def. Pacific 9-0, Midd def. Cruz 6-3
So many quasi-important matches to recap. So little time. The Panthers began their Cali trip with a less than impressive 6-3 win over Chapman in some hot Panther on Panther action. And yes, you usually do have to pay double for something like that. Chapman took a 2-1 lead after dubs, which they also did over Brandeis, but the NE Panthers were simply too strong in singles, and even the Law Offices of Thompson and Thompson couldn’t withstand the barrage. Later that same day, Midd took down Biola. Who is Biola? Well they’re an NAIA team primarily competing in the Golden State Athletic Conference, thanks Wikipedia! This was a match to get the B team some playing time, but Midd still came away with a convincing 7-2 win.
The Panthers’ second match day in Cali was even more successful than the first. Yes, Whittier is on a major down year, and yes, Pacific might not be as good as some of our readers would have you believe, but 18-0 in one day is nothing to cover a fart with a badly timed sneeze at. Midd managed to site the majority of their singles guys for at least one of these two matches, and still came away with the decisive sweep. Today’s match with Cruz was not nearly so easy. Once again, the Panthers found themselves down 1-2 after doubles, and once again they did not yield. In fact, Midd rolled after doubles, taking 5 of the 6 singles spots in straight sets. HOWEVER, this new falling behind after dubs trick, that most of the NE seems to be putting into practice, is really playing with fire. The Panthers’ next stretch of matches will be against tougher opponents, and a doubles hole is much more likely to mean a sad trip to Panera instead of a happy trip to Chipotle. Here are Midd’s upcoming matches.
Midd @ Pomona Tuesday at 7 p.m.
The Panthers get the opportunity to take on America’s DIII Darlings and the hottest team in the country not named CMS. The Hens have actually had almost a week since their last match, and might actually be the fresher of the two teams for once. At this point Midd is well adjusted to the weather, so the only issue I foresee is the tennis. Although Midd’s doubles is usually some of the best in the NE, this year’s doubles teams seem slightly suspect. Arguably Midd’s top 3 doubles players graduated last year, and none of these teams have seen much (if any) action before this season. Given how well the Hens have been playing doubles of late, I think Midd will be lucky to stave off the sweep, and head into singles down by just one point. In singles, there are a couple of stellar matchups. Smolyar vs Hudson at #1 should provide some big groundstrokes, and while Yaz is certainly favored over Noah Farrell at #2, I’m excited to see how the diaper dandy handles himself in his first big time dual match. At #3, Palmer Campbell has been a bright spot for the Panthers, turning his fall woes into early spring break successes. Campbell ran past Richter earlier today, and I’m predicting that he take out Mr. Kim in 3 sets (or a super). Maassen has been playing better for the Hens, but I’m going to assume that Josh Kim slots in at 4 and takes on Frons. This is a toss-up match, that I’m giving to Midd simply so the score will be closer at the end! When in doubt, always take the region. Maassen at #5 should be very tough for Mountifield, who has been struggling more than any other Panther so far. Finally, we have none other than Alan Jackson (omg) anchoring the bottom of the Panther lineup. As much as I’d like to shy away from further Jackson comments, I think he takes down Malech, Mandic, Low, or whomever gets the nod at #6 for the Hens tomorrow. 2 out of 3 doubles matches, plus wins at #1, #2, and #5 amount to a 5-4 Pomona win. As much as I’d like to pick inside the region, I see this as being closer to a 6-3 Hens win than a 5-4 Panthers win.
Midd @ Redlands Wednesday at 5 p.m
When will Redlands make their Pool C statement? They had a real shot against Bowdoin, but couldn’t hold a 3-0 lead. The Dawgs’ win over Wesleyan will continue to improve as the Cards do, but it won’t be anywhere close to enough to vault the Desert Dudes into the at-large discussion. Midd plays better doubles than Bowdoin, and while a Redlands sweep is still a possibility, I’m going with 2-1 Redlands headed into singles play. However, if Redlands can somehow get yet another sweep, I think they’ll be able to close this one out. From there, I tend to like Midd at all of the bottom four spots. Suchodolski and Mountifield is just begging to go 3-sets, but I like Midd to take 3/4/6 with relative ease. Even if Lipscomb takes down Smolyar, that match will be a battle as will the duel between Farrell and Cummins in the #2 spot. All in all, i see Midd up 4-2 with #1/#2/#5 all going 3 sets. Midd only needs one of them, and I think they’ll get it. I’m taking the Panthers to bounce back with a necessary victory, and escape the desert with a 5-4 win.
Midd @ CMS Friday at 5 p.m.
You’ll notice that my mini previews get shorter as the article goes on. That’s because A) I’m getting tired, B) I think the Midd/Pomona match is the most interesting, and C) I just don’t think this match will be that close. CMS looked to be in fine form on their East Coast trip, and I see no reason as to why that might end. Midd’s strength of a strong middle lineup is totally negated with Marino and Dorn slotting in at #’s 3&4 for the Stags. I see a couple of close doubles matches, with a CMS sweep basically putting the match out of reach. I probably should pick Smolyar, because he’s too good a player not to get one win out of these three matches, but I’ll go with Wood in a super. Butts will show the freshman Farrell a thing or two about tennis and quite possibly the meaning of life. Even though Campbell and Frons are strong Marino and Dorn should roll. Mork has come a long way from his NCAA benching, and grown into one of the better bottom of the lineup players in the country. I like him to dispatch Mountifield, and possibly send Courtney from the lineup all together. Finally, our hero, General Jackson holding down the fort for the Panthers at #6, and I’ll say this one goes to 3 sets or a super. All in all, a dominant performance from the Stags as they cruise to an 8-1 win.
That’s all for the Precap. There has been a lot of great content from all the writers over the past 36 hours (2 regional updates and the POTW), and we have a ton of awesome material coming at you over the next few days as well. Please check back later today for our weekly Power Rankings, but also a couple of different pieces as well! Until next time, @Mistazain take us out
I sincerely hope you all have a satisfying day job.
I too believe in the man, myth, and/or legend that is Allen “Laser” Jackson but at least spell the kid’s name right. The vaunted anchor of the Panther line-up deserves better than that.
You’re very right, Stonewall does deserve better. Must be my country loving heart. Sorry
“Pacific might not be as good as some of our readers would have you believe.” By “our readers” I believe you are just referring to me.
Yes, Pacific lost 9-0, to Midd but one singles match, at #3, and three other singles matches in one set Middlebury had to stretch to win in seven games. So the match was relatively close 9 – 0 loss, although I guess that sounds a bit strange. Still, always best to check the box score before anyone starts making remarks about how a team did. Unless you do, you never know how close individual or doubles matches were.
Today, Pacific went on to beat a not so good Cal Tech team and a decent RPI team, both 8 – 1. I’ll guess you experts wouldn’t have picked Pacific to beat RPI so soundly. The true test for Pacific comes in the next two days, when they play teams somewhere in the middle, in terms of caliber, between Midd and the teams they beat today — Redlands, tomorrow, and Cruz, in three days. Probably will be losses, though there is a chance against Cruz. Wishing the best for the Boxers, and if they lose, I hope they make both matches close, so at least they will get more ink and respect when they come south, probably next year.
Mr. LoveD3, it’s best you check the box score before making such remarks about how Pacific “soundly” beat RPI. By simply looking at the scores of the individual or doubles matches, you’ll see that this was a painstakingly close 8-1 victory for Pacific, much like their narrow 9-0 defeat at the hands of the Panthers. We here at division3tennis.com never check box scores and thank you for pointing out this flaw in our thinking that we will now rectify immediately
Yes, the box score is important, which I failed to check on the RPI match because it was about 1 a.m.. Didn’t express myself well and failed to mention that one of the Middlebury – Pacific 9 – 0 matches went three sets (three other matches had a set going to seven games).
The Pacific — RPI match box score was similar to the Pacific — Middlebury match. RPI lost one singles match in three sets (won their sole point in three sets), took a set in another to seven games, and a lost doubles match to nine games. Again, Pacific lost one match in a fairly close three set tie-breaker, lost three two set matches to Midd with one set in each at seven games, but their three lost doubles matches weren’t as close as RPI’s versus Pacific. So I’d say their win over RPI was about as close is their loss to Middlebury, even though the point scores were not the same.
It’s nice to know you are on board in looking at scores to determine the closeness of matches and not just look at who won or lost and what the score was in points to see how good a team is, though I admit that takes time and is not reasonable to do in most cases if you are attempting to rank forty or so teams. But looking at the box scores reveals a lot about how good or not so good a team really is.
Again, it will interesting to see how Pacific does against Redlands and UCSC, where they will be favored to lose, and I will be sure to check the box scores for both matches.
“Again, it will interesting to see how Pacific does against Redlands and UCSC, where they will be favored to lose,”……not sure how someone can be favored to lose. This may qualify as an oxymoron. Or just gibberish.
“Favored to lose” is not gibberish. That is how that concept is expressed in the English language, and when terms become common in that language they become a part of it.
Since you’re apparently an expert in the English language, how would express that concept? Saying “they are predicted to lose” might be a bit better, but not much. Really, a team can be favored to win or lose as the word “favored” is not used in the English vernacular in just one direction (i.e. in the direction of who is supposed to win). “Favored” is just a synonym for “likely,” but does not bring into play the fact as some unnamed group has a belief as to what is likely to happen. “Favored” brings in that indirect reference to that outside group.
When you go to Vegas, and see the spread on the sports betting wall, people will say that the team getting points to determine who wins the bet is favored to lose, if the point spread is not taken into account. Bottom line — if one team is favored to win their opponent is correspondingly favored to lose and that is how the word “favored” is used in referring to who is predicted win as well as lose in the English language.
Favored implies favorite. Yes, if you are not favored, you are expected to lose, predicted to lose. You are the “underdog”. You are not ever “favored to lose”. Merriam Webster is an “expert in the English language. See below:
given special advantages over others : preferred over others
: considered most likely to win
Full Definition of FAVORED
1
: having an appearance or features of a particular kind
2
: endowed with special advantages or gifts
3
: providing preferential treatment
See favored defined for English-language learners
Examples of FAVORED
She enjoys a favored position in the company.
The team is heavily favored to win the championship.
Have a nice day.
We actually do check the box scores of every match, put them in our latest results, while also doing the power rankings. We additionally write various articles throughout the week previewing matches with this knowledge, while also producing other fun articles for everyone to read and also give our national level thoughts. We also try and provide live tweeting for big matches and any matches we can. So, overall, we spend a large amount of time on this and have built a good basis of knowledge for not only a team-by-team level but a national level.
Before you tell us to do something – “Still, always best to check the box score before anyone starts making remarks about how a team did. Unless you do, you never know how close individual or doubles matches were.” – please make sure you do that practice yourself. I am routinely up until 1AM writing articles for you to read by just clicking on our site. We’d appreciate if you respected what we did before accusing us of things that simply aren’t true. Thanks, and as always, appreciate your following.
hatesgibberish,
Even an eight year old knows that when you put a “not” in front of a word, it means the opposite of its meaning without the word “not” in front of it.
So, using that rule, and applying just the first definition you provided, “not favored” means not having an appearance or features of a particular kind. I trust you are smart enough to try out the word “not” in front of the remaining definitions you provided to see if you can understand how the “not” rule works.