2016 Season Preview: #6 University of Chicago

Coach: Jay Tee (4th season)

Location: Chicago, IL

Preseason Rank: #6

Twitter Handle: @UChicagoTennis

Overview: Well I wasn’t planning on writing my last preview until the last minute because I thought Chicago deserved the cliche of saving the best for last. But a slow day at work and the sudden realization that the Maroons play their first match on January 24th has me wanting to get this out. It’s no secret that I am very high on Chicago. Why shouldn’t I be? This team took a giant step by making the final four last season upsetting Amherst along the way. With such a feat last year, a great recruiting class coming in, and retaining the majority of the starting lineup, expectations have skyrocketed for Chicago. When I say skyrocketed, I mean people are talking about national championship potential! I personally have Chicago slotted as the second best team in the country behind Middlebury, but the talent is there to go all the way and anything less than a return to the final four would be disappointing. I have been looking forward to writing this preview for quite a while, but now I find myself in a predicament. Do I make the lineup how I think it should be or do I make the lineup how Coach Tee will likely have it? These decisions are what keep me up at night. At this point, with the crazy amount of depth on the roster, I am not sure even Coach Tee knows what it will be. Because of that, I think I am going to give him some assistance and provide my thoughts on how I would make the lineup if I were in charge of the Maroons.

Lineup Analysis:

#1 Singles – Nicolas Chua (So.) —  The only easy choice for the lineup is at the #1 spot. Nicolas Chua returns after an extremely impressive freshman campaign. He stormed onto the scene by blazing through the Central region ITA last year and followed it up by becoming a national champion at Small College Nationals. While his spring had some bumps along the way, he still was a force and he will continue to be one this coming year. He once again won the competitive ITA Central Regional, but couldn’t repeat as champion at Small College Nationals. I am not at all worried as the #1 singles spot is super competitive and deep and Chua will come out on top more times than not. With his crazy looking backhand leading the way, Chua will hit through most, if not all, of his opponents.

#2 Singles —  Charlie Pei (Fr.) — This is where things get a bit jumbled as anyone else on the roster could realistically find their way into the lineup. Pei has the pedigree to be one of those guys to step in early and make a huge impact for this team. I don’t honestly think he will start the year at #2 because he is a freshman and he will need the dual match experience to learn how intense it gets and gain some confidence to be able to perform at a high level under those circumstances. The reason why I would put Pei this high in the lineup is because he’s played in big matches before in junior tennis. He knows what it is like to face the pressure. I don’t think freshmen at his level need to be coddled at all. This fall, Pei took Krimbill from Case to three sets losing a very close third set tiebreaker. Krimbill is a top 4 player in the nation. Pei is good enough to be there as well. Again, I don’t see him starting this high, but believe this is where he will be by year end.

#3 Singles –   Peter Leung (So.) – Another extremely talented sophomore who had a great season is up next. I believe that Peter Leung has the biggest upside out of anyone on the roster. He is a guy that can beat anyone on any given day when he is playing his A game. He has a massive forehand and uses it to blow guys off the court. The flip side of that is when he has off days, he can be an easy win for someone who is more consistent than he is. I like him at #3 because he is good enough to play #1 and likely would play bigger hitters like him higher in the lineup. Playing in the back half of the lineup could have him up against more grinders and backboards that might give him trouble. With a year of college tennis under his belt, I look for Leung to have a big year this season.

#4 Singles –  Sven Kranz (Jr.) – Ah, I know Sven has been dying to read this preview as he is a die hard blog reader. Last season Kranz played #2 and I could easily see him playing there again this season. I truly believe that Chicago is just as good of a team with him playing that high in the lineup because it bumps everyone else down a spot. If he plays #4 like I have him here, Chicago has zero weaknesses in the lineup. That would give them an advantage at every spot against the majority of teams on the national level. At #2, I think Kranz was a little over matched. He is a great player don’t get me wrong and competed well at the position, but didn’t have the fire power to win against the best teams. At #4, I see Sven winning a lot and being a rock in the lineup. Again, if he plays #2, Chicago is still very dangerous.

#5 Singles – Luke Tsai (So.) — Luke Tsai “Walker” was the biggest surprise of last season. I didn’t expect him to come in and absolutely dominate like he did. He showed signs of things to come at the fall ITA as a freshman knocking off Wade Heerboth (sorry Wade!) and continued to be a mainstay in the Maroon lineup the rest of the way even climbing a spot or two as the season progressed. Tsai is just a winner through and through and will be as close of a lock at the #5 position as anyone in the country. The only more dominant position will probably be whomever plays #6 for this Chicago team. Tsai beat teammate Leung and Kenyon #1 Geier before falling to Chua in the semis this fall further proving how good he really will be playing this deep in the lineup.

#6 Singles –  David Liu (So.)  —  David Liu would have been my top pick in the fantasy draft had I been able to get him, but he didn’t fall very far as I believe he was picked second or third. Another absolute stud playing low in the lineup, Liu is the perfect #6 player. He doesn’t have a big penetrating game, but his baseline prowess is flawless. He is quick off the ball, smart with his placements, and rarely makes an unforced error. I am a huge fan of Liu and I cannot imagine him not playing in the lineup, but what is crazy is the thought that it is possible. The Chicago bench is so good and you never know who could step it up. Either way, #6 singles is going to be downright dirty.

The DEPTH – The depth of this team cannot go understated. I am going to talk about most of them here, but I can’t go any further without talking about the biggest wildcard of them all in Max Liu. Max Liu is the guy that could screw everything up, but obviously in a good way. His fall was fantastic and included a finals berth in the ITA regional losing to Chua badly. I could definitely argue that Max had the easiest draw because he really did. His first two upsets over seeded players were against guys who were seeded high only because they play #1 for a lesser team. His two big upsets were against teammate David Liu and Kzoo standout Brandon Metzler. Those are big wins, but I will also point out that they were over guys coming off of three set marathons. Again, big wins nonetheless. So I am hesitant to put Max in the lineup because I really don’t know where he would be and have a hard time taking David Liu out. If Max ends up being the real deal, my oh my this team is crazy. I am not over reacting (thanks Stevens Ducks!) when I say that Chicago’s next 6 would probably be a top 20 team themselves. Other than Liu, another freshman coming in highly touted would be Jonathan Li. The funky game of junior Max Hawkins can cause everyone fits. Mike Selin continues to put up big fall ITA tournaments ousting Carswell from Wash U and Fojtasek from Case this year. Brian Sun is downright dirty and he likely won’t even sniff the full lineup. I can go on and on and on, but I won’t. Either way, I would love to just sit and watch this team practice. Everyone is that good.

Doubles —  Chicago took a big step forward when it came to their doubles play last season and you have got to give Coach Tee some credit for making those strides. You can tell that they work hard on it and are more than just ball strikers who happen to play doubles. At the top, it will likely be the duo of Chua and David Liu. Last season they played #3 doubles which they dominated. They took the fall ITA regional beating a lot of the top teams from national powers including Wash U’s Bush/Kozlowski and Case’s Krimbill/Stuerke in the final. I am still a bit on the fence to how good they can really be only because they are not your typical doubles power game players. Neither have massive serves, but both have deadly returns. That is going to put a lot of pressure on opponents to play well or else they will run away with it. Max Hawkins will likely find his way into the doubles lineup somewhere. He and Tsai were really good together last year and I can see that partnership paying off this season. Pei and Max Liu are another likely pair, but Leung and Selin also were featured this fall.

Schedule Analysis

http://athletics.uchicago.edu/sports/mten/2015-16/schedule

I really love the schedule that Chicago has put together and that is because there isn’t a single cupcake match on it. Why waste your time and talent when you should be playing the best of the best all the time. This will build match toughness for May and will benefit the team in the long run. They start the season early with their typical match with a D1 school close to home. This year that team is Chicago State. I would love to see the Maroons take them down and they probably will. Coe on the road the following weekend is a good match to get a regional win under their belt and get used to traveling.

The first weekend of February is a nice home stretch to warm up for National Indoors as both Kenyon and Whitewater come to Chicago. I really wish I could be there to see these matches, but more so for the Lord/Warhawk matchup. I think Chicago should handle each team fairly easily. At Indoors the mother of all match-ups happens in the first round which is a bit unfortunate because I think the two favorites are probably Chicago and Trinity TX. I am hoping to make it up to Cleveland to see it, but I might not be able to get there until Saturday. Either way, the defending indoor champion Trinity will have their hands full and that could be an epic match. If Chicago wins, I like their chances over Wash U and then probably Emory in the final. If they lose, they will have to settle for 5th place.

The rest of the schedule has teams like Denison, Depauw, Stevens, Tufts, Santa Cruz (according to their webpage), CMS, Case Western, Wash U, and Gustavus all getting their shot to take out the young guns of Chicago. Everyone of those teams is good (ok most!) and will make sure Chicago is ready to go come tournament time. I really hope CMS is streamed and Quazzo at the helm for commentary because that could be a fun one to watch as well. The UAAs will be interesting and depending on how well they do in the season will depend on what seed they will be heading into it. I expect Chicago to be a top 2 seed which is beneficial in that they won’t have a tough first round match and hopefully have some legs left for the final.

National tournament time should give these guys a top seed and hopefully a relatively easy road to the elite 8. I would expect it to include Whitewater and Gustavus, but you never know what could happen with the committee.

Conclusion

All in all, I am not only drinking the Chicago Kool-Aid, I am making my own batch of it. The talent this team has is out of this world and I am doing my best not to get ahead of myself, but it will only get better as these guys get more experience not to mention what the future recruiting class has in it. There are zero seniors in my projected lineup and more studs in the pipeline. Life is good for Coach Tee and he has the hair to prove it. So stop pacing on the sidelines, and be confident that you have a badass team that is going to do some amazing things!