Regional Roundup – Conference Championship Edition!

All right folks, we’re getting down to the end of regular season play here. I’ve got my normal previews and recaps, but we’ve also got conference tournaments starting up this weekend! Most notably is obviously the UAA tournament, which started today on the women’s side, and starts tomorrow for the men. Under the radar, however, is the NWC tournament, taking place at Whitman this year. Whitman is the favorite, but the Pacific Boxers would love nothing more than to steal that NCAA bid at the last minute. I’ve got a preview of that tournament, as well as previews of some other dual matches going on, as teams finish up their regular seasons. Let’s do it!

The Week That Was (Last week’s power rankings):

Friday

#26 Tufts def. Colby 7-2:

Carl Reid (Colby) had another great day, getting two wins including another big NE win over Nik Telkedzhiev. Reid is currently #4 in the NE singles rankings, so he is in excellent shape to make nationals. Vlad Murad / Carl Reid also won big at #1 doubles, securing their #4 spot in the doubles rankings. Despite these two wins, there wasn’t a whole lot to write home about for the Mules. Murad lost in 3 sets at #2 to Rohan Gupte, and #4 singles was sort of close, as Cameron Hillier (Colby) lost in two tight sets to Zain Ali (Tufts). As good as Reid is, Colby is still 2-3 consistent players away from even having a shot at making NESCAC’s. Colby will head to Middletown on Saturday to play Wesleyan, where #3 ranked player Michael Liu of Wes will battle with #4 Carl Reid. Should be a terrific match!

#42 MIT def. NYU 6-3:

MIT got a big northeast win by winning at the spots where they are strong and NYU is weak. It started with doubles, where I wouldn’t necessarily call MIT strong, but NYU certainly is weak, and MIT pulled out two of the three. In singles, MIT is strong at the top (Kevin Wang and Eugene Oh have both had nice seasons) and deep at the bottom (Jeffrey Sperling and Kristopher Bronner). Oh won in a three-setter over CJ Leong at #2, but Wang (#1), Sperling (#5), and Bronner (#6) all won in straight sets. For NYU, one positive is that Ian Combemale (#3) and Samuel Khoshbin (#4) each had good wins. Both of these guys are freshmen, so this is a good sign for the future. MIT has the NEWMAC tournament next week, where they will be the #2 seed, and will look to get some revenge on Babson. NYU has the UAA tournament this weekend, where they are seeded #8, meaning a first round date with #1 seeded Emory.

Saturday

#7 Wash U def. #36 Coe 8-1:

Excellent win for Noah Sprinkel (Coe) over John Carswell at #1 singles, but Coe could not compete with the Bears at the other spots. #4 singles was relatively close, where Kevin Chu (Wash U) defeated Ryan Hickman 3 and 6. Besides that, Wash U was simply the deeper and stronger team, but nice resume-boosting win for Sprinkel, currently #5 in the Central! Speaking of resume-boosting wins, Sprinkel will have a shot for another one on Sunday, when Coe takes on Wisconsin-Whitewater, and Sprinkel will play top-ranked Central player Jake Humphreys. I’m not sure which match is better, Humphreys v. Sprinkel or Mike Liu vs. Carl Reid. Either way, should be fun!

#31 Brandeis def. NYU 6-3:

Brandeis finished off their regular season with a solid win over NYU to ensure themselves the #6 seed at UAAs. The Judges won at #1 and #2 doubles, but lost yet another match at #3, continuing that revolving door. Brandeis played excellent at #1 and #2 singles, with Brian Granoff (Deis) at #1 getting up 6-1, 3-0 on Sidd Thangirala before Sidd retired. At #2, Michael Arguello (Deis) continued his great year with a solid straight set win over CJ Leong. Danny Lubarsky (Deis) also had a solid three set win over Ian Combemale. One bright spot for the Judges is the #5 singles spot, where Ryan Bunis played for the first time since the Brandeis v. Bates match back on 3/28. He did lose in three sets to Matt DeMichiel, but he definitely helps out Deis’ singles depth. Brandeis is the #6 seed at UAAs this weekend, which means a date with Carnegie Mellon.

#41 RPI def. Vassar 5-4:

Huge Liberty League win for RPI, giving them the #2 seed in the Liberty League tournament. RPI once again played great doubles at #2 and #3, getting the advantage going into singles. Although Vassar won at #1 and #2 (Nick Litsky at #1 singles is having a very nice season for Vassar), RPI took #3 and #4. Sherman Uyeno at #4 continued his excellent year, with a 11-2 record overall, 9 straight wins, and a promotion to #4 singles. RPI and Vassar could very well play again next weekend at the Liberty League Tournament, taking place in Ithaca, NY this year. Currently, RPI is looking like the #2 seed, and Vassar is at #4, though they would likely move into the #3 spot if they beat Hobart College this Sunday.

Sunday

#26 Tufts def. #34 Washington & Lee 8-1:

This match was much closer than 8-1, featuring five three-setters in singles, although Tufts did only play half their lineup in singles because of the Williams match. The Jumbos swept three tight doubles matches, allowing Coach Gregor some freedom to get other players some matches in singles. Michael Holt (W&L) took out Zain Ali at #1 (typically #3 singles for Tufts) in a super breaker, but that is all the Generals would get, losing in three sets at #2, #3, #5, and #6. Tufts is an extremely deep team, and many guys who used to play high up in the Tufts lineup (Rob Jacobson, Jay Glickman) play towards the bottom now, so Tufts didn’t send scrubs out there. However, W&L sent out a much more experienced team, and I would have expected them to be able to take some of those third sets. Regardless, W&L should be able to roll through the ODAC conference tournament, which starts on Saturday, and get another bid to NCAAs.

#22 Trinity (CT) def. Colby 7-2:

This match featured an excellent matchup at #1 doubles, between Ford Traff/Musyoka Mbithi (Trinity CT), currently ranked #2 in the NE, vs. Vlad Murad/Carl Reid (Colby), currently #4. This match was a battle, with Trin taking it 9-8 (4) to back up that #2 ranking. Besides that, not a whole lot else to write home about. Dan Carpenter (Trin) got a terrific win over Carl Reid, continuing his excellent year. Carpenter is currently #12 in NE as of 4/9, but should move way up after recent wins over Michael Liu (Wes, #3), Brian Granoff (Deis, #7), and Carl Reid (Colby, #4). Vlad Murad of Colby got a nice win over Moose, but Trin rolled at #3-6 singles.

Tuesday

#11 Bowdoin def. #34 Washington & Lee 6-3:

W&L played better in this match against a full Bowdoin squad. Michael Holt (W&L) had the win of the day with a 1 and 4 victory over Luke Trinka. Jordan Krasner (W&L) also continued his fine season with a straight set win over Kyle Wolfe. The last win that the Generals got was at #1 doubles, where Chris Hu/Michael Holt took an 8-5 victory over Team Luke. Bowdoin got easy wins at every other spot to take the 6-3 win rather convincingly.

Thursday

#19 Wesleyan def. #34 Washington & Lee:

Wesleyan dominated this match pretty much from start to finish, not losing a set. This was a disappointing way for W&L to end their NE trip after battling Bowdoin pretty well a couple of days earlier. W&L will likely still win their conference and make NCAAs, and they are a good team, but they are a long way away from being a consistent top 30 team.

What to Watch for this Weekend (Updated power rankings):

We have a few nice regular season matchups, but we also have conference tournaments! Let’s start with the regular season gems:

Saturday

Colby @ #21 Wesleyan:

I’m most excited for the Michael Liu vs. Carl Reid matchup, but I’m not really excited for anything else. Like just about every match where one team is a big underdog, Colby will absolutely need at least 2 doubles matches, but preferably 3. Colby has a great chance at both #1 and #2 singles, though at #2, I really like how Steven Chen (Wes) is playing and it is a tough matchup for Vlad Murad. Another big matchup with NCAA implications is at #1 doubles, Carl Reid/Vlad Murad vs. Zachary Brint/Michael Liu. Besides these matchups, Colby has struggled all year, and Wes is very deep. Reid vs. Liu is the tossup of all tossups, but I’ll go with Liu in the home match.

Prediction: 8-1 Wesleyan (Colby win at #1 doubles).

#29 NC Wesleyan vs. #12 Johns Hopkins (@ Mary Washington):

This match features one HECK OF A MATCHUP in Robert Kjellberg (#2 AS) vs. Mike Buxbaum (#1 AS). For those who need help with the math, that’s just about as good of a match as there can be! Believe it or not, I think NC Wes is playing some great doubles, and I’m taking them to take a couple going into singles. I also am loving some of these singles matchups, and not just at #1. #2 (Sebastian Sikh, NCW vs. Jeremy Dubin, JHU), #3 (Fabio Pereira, NCW vs. Ben Hwang, JHU), and #5 (Andres Gomez, NCW vs. Jensen Reiter, JHU) are all matches that NCW has a great shot at taking. However, I don’t think they will take all of them, and I like Hopkins at the other spots, but I am going Kjellberg over Buxbaum!!!

Prediction: 5-4 Johns Hopkins (wins at #2 doubles, #2, #4-6 singles)

Sunday

#36 Coe @ #25 Wisconsin Whitewater:

This is an excellent central matchup, but Coe is going to have to play well in doubles and at the top in singles to get a win, because I don’t believe they have the depth to compete with Whitewater. Doubles is obviously huge, and it would be big for Coe to take a 2-1 or even 3-0 lead. Even bigger though is #1-3 singles, where for Coe, Noah Sprinkel, Riley Galbraith, and Brady Anderson are all capable of a win. However, I think Whitewater is just too deep, and they also play good doubles, so I’m going with UWW in a close one, but I am picking Sprinkel over Humphreys at #1.

Prediction: 6-3 Whitewater (wins at #2-3 doubles, #2, #4-6 singles).

Conference Championships:

UAA Tournament (Altamonte Springs, FL):

I’ve got three UAA teams, Brandeis, Rochester, and NYU, starting bright and early tomorrow morning! Check out our preview of UAAs right here.

NWC Championships (Walla Walla, Wash.):

All right!!! This is the best tournament for regional fans this weekend, as Whitman has played some tight conference matches so far, defeating George Fox 5-4 and Pacific 6-3 on two occasions. The NWC tournament only includes the top 4 teams, so all the matches should be good ones. Live stats look like they should be available on the Whitman website, at this link.

Saturday @ 1 p.m.:

Semifinal #1: #1 Whitman vs. #4 Lewis & Clark:

L&C has had some very tight matches this year, losing 5-4 to GFU, 6-3 and 5-4 in two matches vs. Pacific, and 7-2 to Whitman. Whitman is certainly the favorite, but if L&C can take a couple doubles matches, they actually have the depth to battle with Whitman, especially if Colton Malesovas (WC) is banged up. My player to watch is Gordon Barrows of L&C. This guy has played GREAT at the #6 singles spot, with an 11-2 record, though one of those losses was to Brett Buford of Chapman at #3 singles, where Barrows was forced to retire after actually winning the first set. Anyway, Barrows did actually win against Whitman in their dual match, defeating Gary Ho in a super breaker, who is not the true #6 for Whitman but is still a good player. Anyway, I am leaning Whitman, especially on their home courts, but I do think L&C will keep it close.

Prediction: 6-3 Whitman (wins at #2-3 doubles, #1-4 singles)

Saturday @ 4 p.m.:

Semifinal #2: #2 Pacific vs. #3 George Fox:

I know Pacific really wants that rematch against Whitman, but they cannot overlook George Fox, who can play doubles with anybody and definitely has the singles strength in the middle to take 2-3 matches against the Boxers. These two teams have played twice this year, with Pacific winning both times, 6-3 and 7-2. In the 6-3 match, Pacific actually took 2 out of 3 doubles (unlike the 7-2 match, where GFU took 2 of 3) but George Fox played good singles, winning in straights at #2 and #4, and falling at #3 10-8 in a super. The singles was much closer in the second match compared to the first, and I expect this trend to continue. The big spots for GFU will have to be #2-4, as I think Giancarlo Battaglia (Pac) will win again over Andrew You, and I see Josh Bernstein and Reuben Mulhern (Pac) both winning once again. I definitely think the Boxers come out a little hesitant and lose 2 of 3 doubles, but they’ll rebound and win a tight semifinal.

Prediction: 5-4 Pacific (wins at #1 doubles, #1, #3, #5-6 singles)

Sunday @ 12 p.m.:

Finals: #1 Whitman vs. #2 Pacific:

So if all goes according to plan, the Boxers will get one last crack at Whitman in their hopes at making NCAAs. Whitman will be awfully motivated as well, as I don’t see a Pool C bid in their grasp. Last time around, Pacific battled really well against Whitman, taking 2 doubles matches, but they lost killer third sets at #1, #3 and #5 singles. Colton Malesovas did not play singles for Whitman, but Brennan Faith, the #2 for Pacific, did not play at all, definitely a big loss for the Boxers. He was back in their in Pacific’s most recent match against Lewis & Clark, so I’m going to work under the assumption that he is playing. On the other hand, Malesovas has not played since the Paciifc match, so I’ll assume he is out. Advantage, Boxers. I do think Battaglia will take down Zach Hewlin this time around, and I like Grayson Frazier (Pac) at #3 against Chase Friedman (WC). However, though the last match featured three three-setters, Whitman won very easily at #4 and #6, and I don’t expect this to be any different. I’ll take Whitman, but it will be closer than either of the two previous matches.

Prediction: 5-4 Whitman (wins at #2 doubles, #2, #4-6 singles)

Everything Else:

What else is going on this weekend?! The answer is not a whole heck of a lot, unless you consider the opening round of the ODAC Tournament, aka #1 seed Washington & Lee vs. #8 seed Shenandoah, a must-see match. The NEWMAC Tournament is set for next weekend, 5/2-5/3, where MIT will look to get some revenge on the Babson Beavers, and I’ll have a nice old preview for you all before that one.  Oh, and we also got the Liberty League Tournament coming up, where RPI or Vassar will attempt to take down Skidmore.  Right now though, D3Reg is OUT.