Back in my journalism days, I covered both men’s and women’s D-III tennis. So, when D3AtlanticSouth enthusiastically tweeted that he would start writing articles as D3CentralWomens, I gladly offered to help out. It looks like I’m turning into the pinch hitter of the blog. Anyway, DePauw:
Head Coach: Scott Riggle (16th season)
Location: Greencastle, Indiana
Preseason ITA Ranking: 14
Twitter Handle: @DePauwTennis
Overview: The Tigers are coming off of a historic season. In 2015, they matched their best finish at NCAAs, falling to eventual champion Williams in the quarterfinal. Seniors Maggie MacPhail (doubles) and Claire Marshall (singles/doubles) qualified for individuals, and as usual, the Tigers won the NCAC tournament.
This is a team that is traditionally successful. Since its move to the NCAC after the 2010-2011 season, DePauw has won every single conference tournament title. Just as impressively, after Scott Riggle took the head coaching position in the summer of 2000, the team from the Hoosier state has made 13 NCAA tournament appearances, never missing out since 2005.
Ah, so it’s smooth sailing again for the Tigers, right? Wrong. Graduation hit the Tigers hard, and they are returning practically no starters. Seriously, the only returning starter is Maddie Lee, and even she switched off at No. 6 with a senior. That said, Coach Riggle has brought in a large recruiting class that includes 1 3-star and 3 2-stars. While that doesn’t sound all that glamorous, nobody in the class that just graduated for DePauw was over 3-stars. Still, only MacPhail and Marshall consistently started in singles their freshmen seasons.
Riggle has proven himself a premier coach, but can he get Ws from players that have barely seen any match time? Could this be the first year the Tigers do not win the NCAC tournament? Let’s find out:
Key Losses: Claire Marshall (No. 1 singles/No. 1 doubles), Maggie MacPhail (No. 2 singles/No. 1 doubles), Taylor Mahr (No. 3 singles/No. 3 doubles), Julie Wittwer (No. 4 singles/No. 2 doubles), Kaitlin Pickrel (No. 5 singles/No. 2 doubles), Carolyn Huerth (No. 6 singles/No. 3 doubles)
Additions: Ali Bush (3-star), Megan Galle (NR), Emily Hupalo (NR), Colleen Morris (2-star), Nicole Pamphilis (2-star), Jordyn Scruggs (2-star), Sarah Wilder (NR)
Lineup Analysis
#1 Singles: Maddie Lee (Jr.) – As I mentioned earlier, Lee is the lone starter returning for the young Tigers. Last season, she split time at the No. 6 singles spot, so asking her to play No. 1 is just slightly undesirable. However, this fall, she has gotten a wealth of experience at the top spot through both the Indiana Interdivisional Invitational and DePauw Fall Invitational. In the latter, she made the final before falling to a top player from D-II Grand Valley State. In the former, against D-I Butler and Indianapolis, she won a combined 3 games. There isn’t too much to take from those losses since they are to D-I teams. What is more telling is her performance at ITAs. Lee made the round of 16, impressively defeating Kenyon’s projected No. 1 Diana Aboubakare in three sets along the way. Understandably, the same day, right after the marathon win, Lee fell to Denison’s projected No. 3 Meg Chiumento routinely 6-3, 6-4. That result is of note because Denison could spoil the Tigers chances at a fifth consecutive NCAC tournament title. As the only experienced member of the lineup, it’s imperative that Lee does well this season.
Rather than waste your time attempting to analyze players that haven’t had much playing time, I’ll provide you with the rest of the projected singles lineup based on the seeding/flights in the invites the Tigers participated in during the fall. I’ll also add a couple of results.
#2 Singles: Alyssa Seneviratne (So.)
- Took 5th Place at No. 1 singles at the DePauw Invite
- Fell to UIndy No. 2 at the Indiana Interdivisional Invitational
- Fell to Kate Lee of Wash U, 6-0 7-5, in the round of 32 at ITAs
#3/4 Singles: Colleen Morris (Fr.)
- Took 5th place at No. 2 singles at the DePauw Invite
- Fell to a UIndy player but beat a Butler player at No. 3 singles at the Indiana Interdivisional Invitational
- Fell to eventual champion, Chicago’s Ariana Iranpour, in round of 64 at ITAs
#3/4 Singles: Ali Bush (Fr.)
- Took 2nd place at No. 2 singles at DePauw Invite
- Fell to a UIndy player but beat a Butler player at No. 4 singles at the Indiana Interdivisional Invitational
#5 Singles: Megan Galle (Fr.)
- Took second place at No. 3 singles at DePauw Invite
- Defeated both Butler and UIndy at No. 5 singles at the Indiana Interdivisional Invitational
#6 Singles: Nicole Pamphilis (Fr.)/Sarah Wilder (Fr.) – Right now, Pamphilis and Wilder appear to be the top two contenders for the No. 6 spot. Pamphilis played No. 6 at the Indiana Interdivisional Invitational while Wilder played No. 7. Yet, Wilder played in the No. 3 flight at the DePauw Invite while Pamphilis played in the No. 4 flight. Personally, I want to see Pamphilis start. It’s not because she’s Greek….ok, it is.
Doubles – DePauw has traditionally been a strong doubles team. Given their youth and inexperience, the Tigers need to have at least 2-1 leads going into singles in order to win big matches. Expect to see Lee and Seneviratne at the top spot, Galle and Morris at No. 2 and a rotation between Libby Grant/Wilder and Bush/Pamphilis at No. 3. The Tigers are fighting an uphill battle if ITA results are a projection of what’s to come. Only the top tandem made it to the round of 16 while everyone else fell in the round of 32 or the first round.
Schedule Analysis
http://depauwtigers.com/sports/wten/2015-16/schedule
I’m pretty pleased with invites the Tigers were a part of in the fall. Since I’m projecting four freshmen in the starting lineup, getting them accustomed to collegiate tennis early on is a must. So, at least they have a very small amount of experience heading into February.
However, the Tigers are the underdogs for much of the spring season. They ease their way into duals by playing both Centre and Wooster on February 20, and I don’t see any reason why they should lose either match. DePauw doesn’t have the talent to take out Wash U the next day, but it will be nice preparation for ITA Team Indoors, which the Tigers are hosting the following week. I don’t see DePauw taking any matches at Indoors or against any top nationally-ranked opponents for that matter. The likes of Carnegie, Chicago, Emory, Williams (all on the schedule) just have too much firepower against the young lineup.
But there is still something to look forward to – NCAC matches, especially the big one against the Big Red (Denison) at home on April 16. In recent years, the two have had some epic 5-4 results, but keep in mind that Denison returns most of its lineup. In order to defeat the Big Red, DePauw will need to have a 2-1 lead after doubles and take wins at 4-6 singles. The top of Denison’s lineup is very good and had a solid fall season.
Conclusion
Having never played collegiate tennis, I’m in no position to put a player or team down. But, I need to keep things real. DePauw is in serious danger. It could lose its first ever NCAC title and fail to qualify for the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2005. I’m going to use the dreaded phrase that I know everyone hates – rebuilding year. This is clearly a rebuilding year for the Tigers. And that’s not all that bad. With four freshmen, one sophomore, and one junior projected to start, the Tigers will be primed to do big things next year. For now, they should take each match as a learning experience.