Small College Nationals Day II Singles Preview

Small College Nationals Round 2 Singles Preview

Hello again, boys and girls! I hope you enjoyed a wonderful morning of tennis from South Carolina, and I hope you are looking forward to hearing us talk some more about it. The singles portion of the morning featured 3 upsets, including one that not a single writer picked in Al-Houni (GAC) over Alla (CMU)! Here are the full results from this morning:

#1 Skyler Butts (CMS) def. Kai Yuen Leung (Skidmore) 6-3, 6-4

Noah Farrell (Middlebury) def. #2 Nicolas Chua (Chicago) 6-2, 6-2

Mohanad Al-Houni (GAC) def. #3 Abhishek Alla (Carnegie Mellon) 6-1, 7-5

Rafe Mosetick def. #4 Paxton Deuel (Trinity Tx) 6-4. 6-3.

As you can see, only one seed survived the morning session, and the Al-Houni match ended all of our quests for a perfect bracket. Tomorrow morning’s semifinals will feature: #1 Skylar Butts (CMS) vs. Rafe Mosetick (Emory) and Mohanad Al-Houni (GAC) vs. Noah Farrell (Middlebury), while the back-draw will have Paxton Deuel (Trinity Tx) vs Kai Yuen Leung (Skidmore) and #2 Nicolas Chua (Chicago) vs. #3 Abhishek Alla (CMU). Instead of simply recapping today’s matches, here is a look ahead to Round 2’s singles clashes. I have D3AS and D3Central here with me to give some thoughts on the next round.  

SEMIFINALS

#1 Skyler Butts (CMS) vs. Rafe Mosetick (Emory)

D3AS:  

When the horse is feeling dark #battle

— Rafe Mosetick (@RafeMosetick) October 15, 2015

Rafe might be the #2 player in the country right now behind Butts. But I’m still picking him. Mosetick, 7-5, 5-7, 6-3.

D3NE: How could anyone not be pumped for this match? We all knew the Deuel/Mosetick match would be a good one, and that whoever won it would likely pose a bigger threat to Butts than anyone else in the field. Mosetick has labeled himself a dark horse, and seems to be motivated by anything and everything thrown his way. What’s a blogger to do but pour more fuel on the fire? Butts is the #1 seed for a reason, and I think he can match Mosetick where Rafe is strongest (the mental game). Whoever wins this matchup should be the favorite in the finals, and I think it will be Butts, 7-6 (4), 6-2.

Mohanad Al-Houni (GAC) vs. Noah Farrell (Middlebury)

D3Central: All praise Mohanad! Not sure anyone expected this one as Alla is a former champion and his sleepy style of tennis can really get to your head. Now I wasn’t in attendance so I am unsure if this was the Alla that barely hits the ball or the Alla that slaps forehand winners for days, but either way Al-Houni came up with the goods to take down someone that no one wanted to play at anytime in this draw. I would expect a much more conventional match against Farrell so all of the people watching in the morning can realize D3 isn’t all about hitting ugly shots to win points. Not sure I can really put any limits on Al-Houni right now because he has a ton of big wins going over last season. He can be streaky and that might help him finish this off. I am really high on Farrell right now as he is probably the hottest thing since Hansel in Zoolander (so hot right now!). With that I am sticking with my guy moving Farrell into the finals 6-3, 6-2.

D3NE: Let’s gooooo #FarrellFever. Props to D3Central and myself (and D3AS) for picking the Farrell upset, which just shows you how cynical D3Central has become in his old age. Farrell must have played very well today, but just because he doesn’t play a seed tomorrow doesn’t mean that it will get any easier. For me, the long and the short of this match is that Farrell is just playing at a different level. I don’t believe he’s lost a DIII match all fall, including wins over the #1’s from Amherst (Yaraghi), Middlebury (Smolyar), Williams (Raventos), Brandeis (Granoff), and RPI (Grimes). Add Chua to that growing list and you can see that Farrell is putting together one of the best falls in NE history. I will admit that I don’t know a ton about Al-Houni’s style (that’s why D3Central also gets paid the big bucks) but from what I’ve heard about his match with Alla it was a pure junk-fest. Moonballs, slices, drop shots, basically the game plan Warren Wood switched to when he was down at NCAAs last year. Props to either Al-Houni, Coach Valentini, or whomever developed what proved to be a very effective game plan. Unfortunately for Al-Houni, but fortunately for all those in attendance, that plan won’t work against Farrell (it’s really just the plan for Alla anyways). He simply moves too well, and is willing to sit back and grind with you for ever if he must. I hate to jinx my guy, but I see this as a relatively straightforward 6-3, 6-1 win for Farrell.

BACK-DRAW

#4 Paxton Deuel (Trinity Tx) vs Kai Yuen Leung (Skidmore)

D3NE: From the scoreline, it appeared that Kai hung tight with Butts this morning, even if the Stag won in straight sets. Don’t let the somewhat weak nature of the Northeast ITA fool you, Leung is really good. His slap forehand is nasty, and he will run down most balls. That being said Leung does have a slight tendency to get down on himself, and if Deuel is properly motivated tomorrow that’s how I see this match going. Leung has the unfortunate opportunity of going head to head against the #1 seed, #4 seed, and either the #2 or #3 seed in his three rounds in South Carolina. Tough way the draw worked out, but each of those matches is just another opportunity for Kai to prove something. As Coach Tee (or whoever was running the UChicago Twitter this morning) said, “welcome to D3 Nationals, where all 8 guys are good.” Deuel wins it: 6-3, 7-5.

#2 Nicolas Chua (Chicago) vs. #3 Abhishek Alla (CMU)

D3Central: Sigh, I predicted Chua to fall to Farrell and unfortunately it came true. I think it had a lot more to do with how good Farrell is playing and not Chua struggling. Coach Tee hit the nail on the head when he said that all 8 guys are good in Sumpter. I predicted Chua to take out Alla if he got passed the Middlebury Madman so he will get his chance to do so, just in the backdraw. Chua 7-5, 3-6, 6-4

D3AS: This is a rematch from last year UAAs where Chua took out Alla in a three set battle.  One can only assume that Chua has figured out how to play against Shek, and I would take Chua here.  Both guys must be disappointed by the result, especially with both being previous winners of the tournament.  Either way, I like Chua in straights.  Chua, 6-4, 6-4.

Like I said, quick and to the point. I know D3West and D3Regional want to get in on the action, so look for something else from the team before the tournament ends. Enjoy your Thursday