Small College Nationals Preview

2015 SMALL COLLEGE NATIONALS PREVIEW

Tomorrow is a big day in DIIITennis-land as Small College Nationals are scheduled to start on Thursday morning at 8:30 a.m in South Carolina. This would usually be D3AS’ bag, but he’s freakin out about playoff baseball and the meaning of life (but mostly baseball) this afternoon, so I’m pinch hitting (see what I did there?) Small College Nationals is the best that the fall season has to offer, and this year is no different. 22 really talented guys (Chua and Leung play both singles and dubs), all of whom believe they will be the ones to outlast the field and advance to the Super Bowl (yes, that Super Bowl). Considering just how talented this field is, I’m not going to bore you by breaking down the field into different categories (don’t worry, predictions are coming at the end), because I’d have just a good a shot at picking simply by flipping a damn coin. You know what, that’s a good idea. That’s exactly what I’m going to do. At the end of the article I will compare my picks to the random picks from my magic flipping coin to show just how damn difficult this tournament is to predict. In order to show all 22 participants some love, we’re going to go region by region and take a BRIEF look at everybody involved. 

NORTHEAST REGION

Singles Competitors: Noah Farrell (Middlebury), Kai Yuen Leung (Skidmore),

Doubles Competitors: #1 Aaron Revzin/Michael Solimano (Amherst), Nick Tong/Kai Yuen Lueng (Skidmore).

Brief Preview: This is what happens when D3NE writes a national preview, the NE gets prime billing. Arguably no one has had a better fall than Noah Farrell. Middlebury’s #2 has distanced himself from the field by winning the Middlebury invitational, and the New England ITA en route to earning his bid to Small College Nationals. The diminutive Panther strikes the ball extremely well, and seems to get to just about everything.

Similarly, Kai Yuen Leung never gives up on the ball. The lefty has developed his serve, but his forehand remains his biggest weapon. He’s very comfortable at the net, as evidenced by his doubles prowess, and can beat you in a variety of ways. Leung’s partner, Nick Tong is yet another pint-sized NE player with hands quicker than…well they’re quick, ok? Tong is a monster at the net, and don’t let his stature fool you because he’ll get to just about any overhead on the court.

The Amherst pair of Solimano and Revzin are the #1 seeds for a reason. When Solimano is on, there is no better doubles player. Filthy fast hands and a penchant for swinging volleys, Solimano has the experience necessary to bring home the hardware. He’s playing with Aaron Revzin, like everybody else in the NESCAC, Revzin is from just outside of Boston (Needham, MA). Aaron has a booming serve that allows Solimano to own the net, and the two have been playing together for the better part of 3 years now. The biggest issue here is Solimano’s health. Mike was pulled from the Dartmouth Invitational last weekend, and will need to be fully healthy if the Jeffs are going to win it all.

ATLANTIC SOUTH REGION

Singles Competitors: #3 Abhishek Alla (Carnegie Mellon), Rafe Mosetick (Emory)

Doubles Competitors: #2 Mike Buxbaum/Emerson Walsh (Hopkins), Eric Roddy/Jack Gray (Sewanee)

Brief Preview: Sup playas. Since I don’t get to do the intro or the conclusion to this I’m a little bit upset, but I’ll go ahead and preview my competitors anyways.  I’ve got two of my favorite players (one of them being myself) in the singles draw while I have two opposite ends of the spectrum in the doubles draw.  Let’s start with singles, where the man named Abhishek Alla (CMU) has come to play.  He dominated the ITA that he was in, taking out Buxbaum in the finals with ease.  Remember, Buxbaum is a top 10 player in the nation.  Alla also has a solid draw with Al-Houni first. The key for him is for Farrell to beat Chua, because I think if Chua wins then he will beat “Shek.”  I have Alla winning the whole damn thing.  On the other side, I have Rafe Mosetick (Emory) representin.  I personally don’t think Mosetick has the goods to win the three matches in a row to take this, especially with Deuel in the first round.  His grinding style will get him 5th in the tournament and he could pose a threat to Butts if he happens to beat Deuel, who is my favorite to win the tournament.  We all know about Rafe’s heart and desire, but the other guys he’s playing are pretty damn good players too.

In doubles, I’ll start with my dudes Buxbaum/Walsh (Hopkins).  These guys have made this tournament three years running and have to be one of the favorites going into it, despite playing at #2 doubles at the end of last year (lol).  They have a good draw in the Skid team at #1 with their seed being the UWW team, and they will have to firepower their way to the finals.  The UWW team poses a threat due to their quick hands and great fundamentals, but I just like the experience here.  Also, they won’t have to travel back to Hopkins for a match against Amherst this year and default out of the tournament, which is a plus.  Look for “Peaches N Cream” to take their tournament to the finals, at the very least.  My other team is Roddy/Gray (Sewanee) where they will be the first representatives from the USouth in a long time, I believe.  This team is going to be at a disadvantage from a talent perspective and have a very tough first round matchup in UWW.  I don’t see them winning the first round but they can absolutely take the backdraw first round.  They are lucky the top half of the draw is the way tougher one. I’m predicting a 6th place finish for the Sewanee team, which is more than you can ask from such a small school.

CENTRAL REGION

Singles Competitors: #2 Nicolas Chua (Chicago), Mohanad Al-Houni (Gustavus)

Doubles Competitors: #3 Jake Humphreys/Michael Treis (UWW), #4 Nicolas Chua/David Liu (Chicago)

Brief Preview: No real shockers in terms of the singles competitors as both Nicholas Chua and Mohaned Al-Houni were my picks to win both of their ITA draws. Chua clearly has been here before winning the whole thing last year as a freshman which was quite the accomplishment. He again is amongst the favorites as the #2 seed. There is no such thing as an easy match though and he starts off with a hot player in Farrell. I actually have Farrell winning this match, but in a very close one. If Chua gets through the first, I see him beating Alla as he will be able to hit through him which puts him into the finals once again.

As for Al-Houni, he follows in his brother’s footsteps from last season and hopes to make a name for himself. The big question for him is which game shows up. Last season he had some big wins throughout the year and he will need some more magic to do it again. I don’t want to count anyone out in this field, but I see Al-Houni getting his only win in the 7th place match.

The doubles tandem of Jake Humphreys and Michael Treis are a bit under the radar in my eyes even though they received the 3 seed. Both players are accomplished in doubles just haven’t played all that much together. When they did last season they were really good with some top results. Because doubles is anyone’s game a nice first round match is a bonus and I think these two got that playing the weakest team in the draw (in my opinion) from Sewanee. Bux and Walsh are likely to be waiting for them which will be a huge match. Not sure what my real expectations are for these guys, but I am setting the bar high picking them as my runner up.

Finally we have Nick Chua and David Liu from Chicago who have secured the four seed. This team was virtually unbeatable last season, but at 3 dubs. David Liu has been here before last season with graduated teammate Deepak Sabada so that experience squashes any nerves that may be there. I still remember the sick between the legs shot from last season! I will be interested to see how these guys do because neither has a big serve and that is always a nice weapon to have in doubles. If they return as well as they are capable, then that won’t matter. The top half of the draw is brutal and they get the red hot team from Santa Cruz in the first round. I am picking that match to not even be close, but I don’t know which way. If Cruz continues the magic they could run over the Maroons. If Cruz crumbles in the big moment, Chicago should take it.

WEST REGION

Singles Competitors: #1 Skylar Butts (CMS), #4 Paxton Deuel (Trinity Tx),

Doubles Competitors: Kyle Richter/Adrian Sirovica (UCSC) Adam Krull/Matt Tyer (Trinity Tx)

Brief Preview: In my head, Butts very legitimately deserves his #1 seed, and is the odds-on favorite to win the whole thing. He got a relatively easy first round match, but everything else will be brutal. Deuel’s match with Mosetick will be an absolute grind. It’s hard to say who will win it, but Mosetik doesn’t lose often, so I’m gonna go against my region there.

Doubles is always an absolute crapshoot in this and any tournament. That being said, the top half of the draw is absolutely loaded, and I think it might have the four best teams in the draw. Tough luck for everyone involved, especially Richter/Sirovica who may end up in the 7th place match despite being a very, very good team. Side note: I wish they wouldn’t have put my two regionals teams on the same half of the draw in both singles and doubles. We did monopolize the doubles final last year, after all.

PREDICTION TIME!!!

D3AS’S Singles Predictions: 1) Alla 2) Deuel 3) Farrell 4) Butts 5) Mosetick 6) Chua 7) Leung 8) Al-Houni

D3Central’s Singles Predictions: 1) Butts 2) Farrell 3) Alla 4) Deuel 5) Chua 6) Mosetick 7) Al-Houni 8) Leung

D3West’s Singles Predictions:  1) Butts, 2) Chua, 3) Mosetick, 4) Alla, 5) Deuel, 6) Farrell, 7) Al Houni, 8) Leung

D3Regional’s Singles Predictions: 1) Butts 2) Chua 3) Mosetick 4) Alla 5) Deuel 6) Farrell 7) Leung 8) Al-Houni

D3NE’s Singles Predictions: 1) Butts 2) Alla 3) Farrell 4) Deuel 5) Chua 6) Mosetick 7) Leung 8) Al-Houni.

Magic Flipping Coin’s Singles Predictions: 1) Chua 2) Butts 3) Mosetick 4) Alla 5) Farrell 6) Leung 7) Al Houni 8) Deuel

D3AS’S Doubles Predictions:  1) Krull/Tyer 2) Buxbaum/Walsh 3) Richter/Sirovica 4) Humphreys/Treis 5) Revzin/Solimano 6) Roddy/Gray 7) Chua/Liu 8) Leung/Tong

D3Central’s Doubles Predictions: 1) Richter/Sirovica 2) Humphreys/Treis 3) Buxbaum/Walsh 4) Krull/Tyler 5) Revzin/Solimano 6) Leung/Tong 7) Chua/Liu 8) Roddy/Gray

D3West’s Doubles Predictions: 1) Buxbaum/Walsh, 2) Krull/Tyer, 3) Chua/Liu, 4) Humphreys/Treis, 5) Revzin/Solimano, 6) Leung/Tong, 7) Richter/Sirovica, 8) Roddy/Gray

D3Regional’s Doubles Predictions: 1) Buxbaum/Walsh 2) Revzin/Solimano 3) Richter/Sirovica 4) Humphreys/Treis 5) Krull/Tyer 6) Roddy/Grey 7) Chua/Liu 8) Leung/Tong

D3NE’s Doubles Predictions:1) Buxbaum/Walsh 2) Krull/Tyer 3) Humphreys/Treis 4) Richter/Sirovica 5) Revzin/Solimano 6) Leung/Tong 7) Chua/Liu 8) Roddy/Gray.

Magic Flipping Coin’s Doubles Predictions: 1) Richter/Sirovica 2) Buxbaum/Walsh 3) Roddy/Gray 4) Revzin/Solimano 5) Leung/Tong 6) Chua/Liu 7) Kryll/Tyer 8) Humphreys/Treis.
Well that was fun. I for one welcome the reign of our magic coin overlords. We will have some sort of preview, recap, or update article(s) during the tournament, so check back in the coming days. Also, the writers absolutely crushed the twitter game during ITAs, so expect more of the same starting bright and early tomorrow. At the very least we know @CMUtennis is on point with the updates. Enjoy the tennis.