2015 Wallach Tournament Recap

2015 Wallach Recap

Hello again, boys and girls, and welcome to one of our last regional tournaments of the fall. Last weekend eight NE teams got together up at Bates and played a little ditty known as The Wallach Tournament. This tournament field has gotten progressively stronger with each passing fall, and this year could have been the best competition yet. The field was comprised of Amherst, Middlebury, Bowdoin, Tufts, Trinity, Skidmore, Brandeis, and Bates, seven of the top eight teams in the region, and eight of the top 11. It has kind of become the diet coke (just one calorie) of the New England ITA, however there are still certain parts missing. For example, while Amherst and Middlebury sent higher parts of their respective lineups this year, each team was still missing at least its top two guys (with Amherst missing its top 4). This is really important to note, because of how much both Amherst and Middlebury struggled in this tournament. While bumping everybody up a flight is certainly a big deal, both the Panthers and Jeffs have dominated this tournament in the past, and the fact that neither team did this year is really a testament to the rising strength of the middle of the region. As showcased in my latest power rankings, I didn’t drop Midd or Amherst from this weekend, but I did raise teams like Bowdoin, Tufts, and even Skidmore and Bates based on this weekend’s performances. As is my way in the fall season, here is a (likely too long) recap of the tournament (complete with grades) broken down by team.

MIDDLEBURY Regional Ranking: 1^st. Power Ranking: 3^rd. Tournament Grade: C-.

Not the best tournament for my national championship favorite, although the main reason they’ve looked so good this fall (Noah Farrell) was missing. The Panthers were also without Ari Smolyar, just your average, run of the mill top-20 player in the country. Behind the eight ball from the start; however, usually Midd’s depth comes through in these non-ITA fall tournaments and this weekend it was left wanting. In the A-Flight, Palmer Campbell was knocked out in the 1^st round (his 2^nd loss to Tercek this fall), De Quant had a nice win over Gupte (Tufts #2) and pushed Trinka (Bowdoin #1 and eventual champion) to a super.

In the B-Flight Timo Van Der Geest fell in the 1^st round to Jacobson (Tufts #4) and Allen Jackson lost in the 2^nd round to Jiang (Bowdoin #4-6). Jackson and Van Der Geest were the front-runners for Midd’s #6 spot, but after this weekend it seems like Schlanger may have thrown himself back in the mix as well. The Panther’s lone bright spot of the weekend, Schlanger made the finals of the C-Flight but lost a one-set lead to Gil Roddy (Bowdoin #6) and left Lewiston with the silver plaque. Schlanger did beat Swerdlick and Carstens who are in the running for Skidmore and Bowdoin’s #6 spots respectively. Even in the D-Flight, where the Panthers usually find success, Midd was left without a finalist (Sutton and Welch both made the semis and were beaten handily there.) The doubles was equally as disappointing, as Sutton/Welch was the only of Midd’s four teams to win a match (they fell 8-1 in the 2nd round).

It’s a testament to just how important Smolyar and Farrell are to Midd’s lineup. While this is a Wallach Recap, I’ll give you just a taste of the Dartmouth Invitational as well. Smolyar and Farrell won the back-draw of the B doubles, and Farrell took home a nice 2&3 win over Yaraghi in one of the singles back-draws. I’m not worried about their spring status, but hopefully the results from the weekend will be an extra push of motivation for what should already be a hungry Panther squad.

AMHERST Regional Ranking: 2^nd. Power Ranking: 5^th. Tournament Grade: B-.

Like Middlebury, Amherst was without its top players. Yaraghi, Solimano, Fife, and Revzin were all otherwise occupied with the Dartmouth Invitational, and Zykov is abroad this fall. Having your top-5(ish) out basically means everybody was bumped up a full 2+ flights. Given this fact, the Jeffs certainly have some positives to take away from Maine. Justin Sun and Zach Bessette both won a round in the A-flight, and Bessette pushed Tercek (Bowdoin #2) to a super in the 2^nd round. Levetin and Birkenfield also both won their 1^st round matches (in the B-Flight), and Levetin pushed Jacobson (Tufts #4) to a super in the 2^nd round. I think Bessette is the frontrunner for the #6 spot, and possibly even the #5 spot eventually, but Sun and Levetin both made mini pushes this weekend as well. The doubles, not so good. Again, Amherst’s top two teams were gone this weekend, and Birkenfield/Riglin pushed Tong/Leung (Skidmore #1) as much as they’ve been pushed all fall, but 1-4 on the weekend is nothing to brag about.

As for a few words on the Dartmouth Invitational, Yaraghi and Fife won the back-draw of their doubles flight, and Yaraghi and Revzin both won at least one singles match. Something must have been up with Solimano, because the ITA champ withdrew in singles and then he and Revzin withdrew in doubles. Let’s hope it was just precautionary because Mike and Aaron are the #1 seeds at Small College Nationals which begins tomorrow.

BOWDOIN Regional Ranking: 3^rd. Power Ranking: 7^th. Tournament Grade: A.

If you had any doubts about Bowdoin’s depth after a mediocre showing at ITAs, those doubts are long gone. The Polar Bears swept, that’s right SWEPT, all four singles draws, and had six of the eight singles finalists. It has to be the best Wallach tournament showing of all time (no idea if this is actually true). Trinka regained his form, and won four very tight matches en route to some golden hardware. Trinka beat Traff (Trinity Ct #1), De Quant (Midd #4), Rosen (Bates #1) 7-6, 7-6 in the semis, and Tercek (Bowdoin #2) in yet another super. Tercek also found some superbreaker skill/luck, taking down both Palmer Campbell (Midd #3) and Bessette (Amherst #6) in supers before rolling Battle (Tufts) 1&1 in the semis and pushing Trinka to 10-8 in the super. A great A-Flight tournament was matched only by Bowdoin’s B-flight, where Kyle Wolfe took down freshman Jerry Jiang in a second all-Polar Bear finals. Wolfe’s only lost set was to freshman Josh Quijano (Bates #3-6?) in the first round. After the superbreaker win, Wolfe beat Saal (Brandeis #3-5) and Jacobson (Tufts #4) in straight sets before beating his teammate in the finals. Jiang had two nice superbreaker wins in the first two rounds, but his best performance was 3&3 win over Ali (Tufts #3-5) in the semis. Good to see Jiang perform at the level Bowdoin will need from him.

Bowdoin failed at the lower singles flights because they did not manage to get two guys to the finals, only one. Roddy took home the C-Flight and freshman Urken rolled through the D Flight. Roddy is a known commodity, but seeing Urken demolish the D Flight (the dude never lost more than 2 games in a set), has to be invigorating for Coach Smith. Bowdoin’s issue in years past (besides doubles) was that they didn’t have much of a bench. With Carstens, Urken, and Jiang this year, they were able to roll through this tournament without even a whiff of Chase Savage. The only reason Bowdoin doesn’t get an “A” with like 12 pluses next to it is because of the doubles. The Polar Bears went 2-4 on the weekend, and frankly I was expecting more of Trinka/Tercek and Jiang/Wolfe. If doubles was played second, I understand the fatigue factor, but it sounds like dubs happened first? Somebody (if any non-Bowdoin people are still reading) tweet at me, but either way Bowdoin’s doubles need to step up. Their singles are ready to challenge for a NESCAC title, but that’s only 2/3 of the battle.

TRINITY CT Regional Ranking: 5^th. Power Ranking: 37^th. Tournament Grade: C+.

Thank goodness for doubles, said no Trinity Ct team ever until now. The Bantams were absolutely abysmal in singles this weekend, pulling off one single win (Skattum in the first round of the D-Flight). Traff pushed Trinka (Bowdoin #1) to 13-11 in the first round super, but there were only a couple of other singles sets won throughout the whole tournament, and nobody saw any main draw singles action on the tournament’s second day. We know this is going to be a down year for Trinity. They graduated a ton a guys, and Rutendo Matingo (their #1-3?) is abroad. Traff, Glickman, and Matingo will be able to get wins every now and again, and Trinity’s #3 spot should be their best as all three of those guys are about the same level, but the worry of a severe drop off seems all but confirmed.

That being said, the doubles was a breath of fresh air for the Bants this weekend. Smith/Ferreyros won the B-flight, and Glickman/Traff made the finals of the A-Flight. I really believe Glickman/Traff have a pretty good shot of being a top-4 team in the region by the end of the spring and qualifying for NCAAs. Trinity’s best/only shot to stick with the top/middle of the NESCAC this year will be taking a lead going into singles. As evidenced by our Blog Power Ranking right now, it doesn’t seem like we think they will. However, a couple of my colleagues don’t have Trinity ranked at all, and that is just plain silly. An A for doubles, a D for singles, that comes out to about a C+ in D3NE-land.

TUFTS Regional Ranking: 6^th. Power Ranking: 21^st. Tournament Grade: B+.

Believe it or not, Tufts was the most balanced team in the whole field this weekend. I know that Bowdoin destroyed the singles draws like Tom Brady is destroying the NFL right now (obligatory Pats mention, no they will not stop), but Bowdoin didn’t have any doubles teams make the second day. Tufts had five singles guys make the semis, and two doubles teams. They had the same number of semifinal entries as Bowdoin did. However, they did not capitalize on their Sunday opportunities like Bowdoin did. Tufts ended up going 1-6 in semifinal matches, and their lone win (Chris Jones in the D-Flight semis) was beaten handily by Urken (Bowdoin #5-8) in the finals. However, in addition to talking about their troubling Day 2, we must also give props for their tremendous Day 1.

Tufts was playing without their #1 singles and doubles guy in Nik Telkedzhiev, and the rest of the team performed quite well in his absence. Although Gupte lost to De Quant (Midd #4) in the first round of the A-Flight, Battle beat Fergus Scott (Bates #2-3) in straight sets in the first round and then “battled” back from a 0-6 first set vs. Leung to win the match in a super. He was throttled by Tercek in the semis, but still a good result for the generally streaky Battle. In the B-Flight, both Jacobson and Ali had a couple of nice wins (Jacobson beat Van Der Geest (Midd #6-8) and Levitin (Amherst #5-9) while Ali beat Ordway (Bates #5-6) and Birkenfield (Amherst #6-9)) before eventually falling to Wolfe (Bowdoin #3-4) and Jiang (Bowdoin #4-6). In addition to Chris Jones’s (freshman from Texas who apparently sports some rad flowing locks) run to the D-Flight finals, we also had a Jay Glickman sighting this weekend. The elder Glickman, who also made the semis this weekend, has had an on and off again relationship with the bottom of the Tufts lineup over the past year, but he seems to be playing decent tennis once again. If he is properly motivated, he will be a very tough out at #5 or #6 this year for the Bo’s.

SKIDMORE Regional Ranking: 7^th. Power Ranking: 24^th. Tournament Grade: C+.

Similar to Trinity, but simply a stronger version of the Bantams, Skidmore was shut out of the singles semifinals but took home the A-Doubles Flight and made the B-Flight finals. The Thoroughbreds will have a really solid three doubles teams, anchored at the top by Leung/Tong who backed up their ITA win with another win this weekend. The duo is undefeated this fall (they played with different partners at Middlebury) and seem to have a good thing going. Coach Simms knows how to teach doubles, and Skidmore has had some pretty solid doubles in the past. If Leung/Tong can continue to play at this level they should be tough to beat through the entire season.

Unfortunately for the T-Breds, DIII tennis isn’t entire comprised of doubles. Skidmore’s singles was iffy at best at the Wallach, and while they certainly have more talent than a team like Trinity Ct, it didn’t seem to shine this weekend. The only Skidmore player to win a set in the second round was Leung, who pushed Battle to a super before succumbing to the upset. Kai Yuen has a chance to prove he absolutely belongs with the best in the country when he takes on Skylar Butts in the 1^st round of Small College Nationals this weekend. Really, winning just a single match in South Carolina should be enough to prove he can play with the big boys, but he’s going to have to do more than just hang with the top dogs if Skidmore is going to upset a NESCAC rival in the NCAA tournament in May.

BATES Regional Ranking: 8^th. Power Ranking: 22^nd. Tournament Grade: C.

Like most teams, Bates was missing a solid chunk of its starting lineup this weekend. With Ellis and Feldman abroad (and Planche lost to graduation), it seems like the Bobcats have had trouble sorting out their fall doubles teams. Luckily for them, it is only the fall, because Bates had another less than stellar doubles performance this weekend. Scott and Rosen made the A-Flight semis, but both Bates’ A-Flight teams fell to Skidmore. Bates B-Flight teams both lost in the first round. For a team that usually prides itself on doubles and top of the lineup strength, the Cats will need to shore up their doubles through the offseason.

One of the things that I’ve consistently heard from the Bates camp is that they should be “deep” this year. It’s tough to believe in that after this weekend. Bates’ C and D Flight guys all lost in the first rounds with only Josh Leiner taking a set off of Jonah Epstein (Skidmore #5-7). In addition to Feldman and Ellis there seems to be no sign of Schwartz anywhere. Let’s hope it’s just a minor injury, because Adam was key to the Bobcats’ early success last spring and needs to play a significant if Bates is to succeed this year. That being said, Bates’ A and B draws were more encouraging. Ordway went down to Ali in straight sets, but Josh Quijano (another Cali freshman) was the only one to take a set from Kyle Wolfe (Bowdoin #3-4) in the tournament. The A-Flight is where the Bobcats performed best, and that’s because of Ben Rosen. Rosen dismantled former NCAA qualifier Brian Granoff 3&0 in the first round before working Justin Sun (Amherst #6-9) 2&0 in the second round. Rosen was the only player not to take a set from Trinka, but he did force two different tiebreakers. Rosen played #5 last year, but he has clearly established himself as the Bates #1 and someone who won’t be a pushover at that spot. Coming into the fall I figured Bates would be solid in the middle and bottom of their lineup, but very weak at the top, but with Rosen having made the leap to #1 they could actually be a dangerous team in the spring.

BRANDEIS Regional Ranking: 11^th. Power Ranking: 29^th. Tournament Grade: D-.

Two doubles wins and Ethan Saal keep this from being a totally failing grade. I know that Brandeis is the weakest team in the field, and I know that Arguello and Bunis both weren’t playing, but something tells me Coach Lamanna won’t see that as any sort of excuse. This Judges team is one that most consider to be on the rise, but the fall has clearly shown just how much work is still left to be done. Granoff going down 3&0 to Rosen (Bates #1) was a surprise, as is Lubarsky’s fall in the lineup. Saal and Ng seem to show a little promise, Saal beat Schaeffers (Trinity #4-7) and pushed Wolfe to a 2^nd set breaker, while Ng took a set from Jiang (Bowdoin #4-6) and won a round of doubles. Obviously hope remains, but I’m afraid Brandeis may be treading back towards D3Regional territory, and nobody wants that!