Quick Intro – Hope you are all having fun. Jemison and Levine are playing right now and I want to get back to watching. West and I are doing this preview. Okay, awesome. Here we go.
5th Place Match: Trinity TX vs. Pomona Pitzer
D3West: After a disappointing Day 1 of Indoors for the West region, both of my teams bounced back this morning with some solid victories to salvage the trip. Only one team, however, will leave Cleveland with a winning record, as they will be playing each other this afternoon. On the whole, I would say Trinity has been the more impressive of the two teams thus far. Paxton has shown himself to be among the better players in the country; whereas, it looks like Krull will be a dominant #2 singles player all season. As we always predicted, Trinity’s relative weakness comes at #3 and #4 singles, as they have 4 or 5 guys who are about the same skill level after their two bigs.
Pomona-Pitzer, meanwhile, won this morning by doing what they did last season: win where their opponents are weak and playing well in the clutch. Against Kenyon, they won all of the close sets up until the point when they clinched the match. They’ll have to step it up a bit if they want to get another win against Trinity, because the Tigers are looking quite a bit better than the Lords, and the Hens are still looking for answers in the doubles lineup. Somehow, their #3 doubles team hasn’t picked up a win so far (and hasn’t been particularly close) with a combo of three guys who’ve all been successful at #1 in the past (Bello, Yasgoor, and Chadalavada).
#1 Doubles: Krull/Tyer vs. Kim/Maassen – Here’s a match of two doubles teams with very similar styles. All four players have good but not enormous serves, very solid hands, and consistent returns. Ultimately, I think Krull and Tyer are going to win a close one here, as their service games are a little bit safer. 8-6 Trinity
#2 Doubles: Deuel/Niess vs. Simonides/Mandic – Simonides and Mandic are coming off of back-to-back tiebreaker victories, and I see no reason why they couldn’t do it again. Both guys have very solid service games, and Deuel and Niess looked a little bit more vulnerable (though they responded well in their second match). I’m going with P-P 9-8.
#3 Doubles: Lambeth/Guin vs. ???? – Pomona-Pitzer has obviously struggled here in the last couple matches despite seeming to be so loaded with doubles talent that they can’t fit it all in the lineup. I’m just going to go with the guys that have already won a couple matches with their big serves indoors. Trinity 8-4.
#1 Singles: Deuel vs. Yasgoor – If Yasgoor has anything going for him in this match, it’s the fact that he should be considerably better rested after two short singles matches and one doubles proset. Unfortuantely, Deuel just looks too solid so far this tournament. I think he’ll win this one in two close sets 6-4, 7-5.
#2 Singles: Krull vs. Maassen – I am absolutely loving the way Maassen is playing this tournament. Him against Krull is probably the silkiest possible singles match in this whole tournament. We all know I’m going with Krull, so let’s just move one. Krull 6-3, 7-5.
#3 Singles: Lambeth vs. Kim – Lambeth played a great match this morning, but it might actually cost him in the afternoon. On the other side of the net is a senior who will be able to neutralize his serve and grind him down if he has tired legs. I think that’s what happens. Kim in three sets.
#4 Singles: Tyer vs. Bello – Tyer is obviously struggling in singles this tournament, and Bello is playing some good clutch singles, winning a huge tiebreaker this morning before clinching the victory against Kenyon. I think he’ll win this one in straights.
#5 Singles: Mayer vs. Mandic – Here are two guys that could easily be undefeated in the tournament, but both lost matches that they probably feel they should have won. Since both are playing so well, it seems unfair that one of them will have to walk away from the tournament with a 1-2 record. If it has to be someone, I think it will be Mandic who will be a little more fatigued after two exhausting doubles prosets and a LONG singles match this morning. Mayer in 3.
#6 Singles: Niess vs. Gearou – I’m guessing the Hen freshman will be re-inserted in the lineup after Simonides had his chance to shine. Expect an absolute grind of a match at #6. Niess quietly came back for a very nice victory this morning. I think if the match isn’t decided, his experience will lift him to victory. As I’m guessing the match will be decided by the time these guys get deep into a second set, I think Gearou will pull through in a 10-pointing
Overall: TU 5-4
7th Place Match: Kenyon vs. Wash U
D3AS: I’m taking over for D3Central in this one because for some reason he’s out of the retirement home on this beautiful day, and I’m in bed watching the matches. Kidding, Central. You’re the man. What we said at the beginning of today was that it would be crazy that either Trinity TX or Wash U would be in the 7th place match, and it’s still just as crazy. This is a match that features two teams who have started their seasons extremely poorly, but one team needs this win more than the other. You know what’s crazy? Neither of these teams have won a match in DIII this year. How crazy is that? If Wash U loses this match, that would mean that UW-Whitewater has an indirect over Wash U. The Bears absolutely need this match and I think they’ll get it. I’ll get more into the general stuff at the end of the tournament so I’ll just go match by match for this preview.
#1 Doubles: Cogan/Kratky (Wash U) vs. Geier/Kaye (Kenyon) – Big match here for both teams and I think this is one of Kenyon’s best shots at winning in a romp. The way Geier has been playing has been absolutely unreal at this tournament, so I expect a lot of balls to be coming Tristan Kaye’s way. Cogan and Kratky have been simply blown out this tournament and they need to salvage it. Unfortunately, the streaking Geier will be too much for them. Kenyon, 8-6
#2 Doubles: Bush/Kozlowski (Wash U) vs. Roberts/Turlington (Kenyon) – Bush and Koz have been Wash U’s saving grace this tournament and I think they will finish off the tournament with a great win against Roberts and Turlington. The Kenyon duo hasn’t won a match yet this year and I don’t think it begins now against Wash U’s most consistent team. Wash U 8-3
#3 Doubles: Berman/Vishnubolta (Wash U) vs. Liu/Paolucci (Kenyon) – Kenyon switched up their doubles teams for this reason, to get Paolucci at the #3 spot with his huge serve and forehand. It worked against Pomona and that smart coaching move will work here again. Berman and Vish have simply been bad at Indoors. Good move by Kenyon gives them the 2-1 lead. Kenyon 8-5
#1 Singles: Bush (WU) vs. Geier (Kenyon) – I tweeted that Sam Geier might be the best player in the nation when playing Indoors, and Bush hasn’t won a match this tournament. Geier is going to continue his hot streak by blowing Bush off the court. Kenyon 6-1, 6-2
#2 Singles Wu (WU) vs. Liu (Kenyon) – With Bush finishing quickly, Wu is going to have to step up. Luckily, he is going to be playing what seems to be a worse version of himself in Liu. Liu has been a great addition to the Lords lineup but this is the bigtime, and Wu is going to be fit and ready. His match against Krull was great tennis and I expect him to continue it later in the day. Wash U 6-3, 6-2
#3 Singles: Kratky (WU) vs. Turlington (Kenyon) – This is a match that is going to go either way. Kratky has the advantage on paper, but at this point in the day I think he can tire and get ground down a bit. Turlington brings that type of game to the tournament and this is his opportunity to get the Lords a HUGE point. I have no idea who’s going to win this so I’m going to go with Kenyon 3-6, 7-5, 6-2
#4 Singles: Carswell (WU) vs. Paolucci (Kenyon) – While Paolucci has impressed me this tournament, Carswell has impressed me more with his play. I made an effort to point out that Carswell was one of my most likely candidates to have a great tournament and he is making it hard for Coach Follmer to keep him down at #4 singles. He will take this one over the young Paolucci, 6-3, 6-3
#5 Singles: Klein (WU) vs. Kaye (Kenyon) – This is a pretty even match here at #5 and will be one of those toss-ups that decide the overall score. One thing is this – Kaye had a tough match this morning against Mandic, coming out with the victory, but that might be his downfall in this one. Klein is fresh simply because he got beaten routinely in his first two matches. While I think this would be a 50/50 match, I’m going with the fresher legs in Klein. Wash U 7-5, 6-1
#6 Singles: Kozlowski (WU) vs. Roberts (Kenyon) – If you’re counting with me, that mean’s it’s 4-4 going into the final #6 singles match. These are two very inexperienced guys that will get tight and make this an ugly one. If it were Berman in here, I’d probably go with Roberts, but Kozlowski is a highly touted recruit and didn’t play the first round either. He’s got fresh legs and an advantage in talent. While there will be some nervous moments for the both of these guys, Wash U will come out with their one win at Indoors to preserve some hope this season. Wash U 7-6, 7-5
That’s all we got folks in this microwave preview for the consolation rounds. I’m back to watching the matches. ASouth, OUT.