Central State of the Region

The Central region is in a pretty big lull the last few weeks which means I was able to sort of disappear as a blogger and somehow manage to pick a player from Bethel as my POTW. Sadly Greek continuously reminds me that he is there to take my job when I pass away and after some twitter banter today with ASouth, it is my turn to do the state of the region. So here goes nothing with some grades for each team and a little talk about how the individuals are faring.

University of Chicago: B+

Some might think this is a pretty tough grade to give a team that is in the top 5 of the country, but with all that talent comes a lot of expectation. Chicago did what they needed to do at Indoors to take down Trinity in the first round and beating Case Western to make the finals. Those are two great wins that will carry them most of the year. Losing to Emory is not a bad loss especially after Emory has shown they are the clear favorite to win it all right now. What concerns me with Chicago is they have shown that there are definitely weak points within their lineup. I knew doubles was going to be an issue heading into this season and that has been relatively true. Third doubles is the biggest issue and the top two tandems haven’t been rock solid either. While that was expected this year, the singles hasn’t been lights out like we all thought it would. I am not going to say any #1 player is under performing because it’s such a competitive position so Chua is off the hook. The middle of the lineup still has some work and some recent shifts seem to be addressing them. David Liu has been absolutely lights out and if he continues that success now playing 3 or 4, even better. I am not sure how much longer Kranz will find his way into the starting 6 and Peter Leung has to be better especially if he is playing 5 or 6. One thing is certain, Chicago is damn good, but susceptible to a loss. CMS is Friday….

Washington University: C-

The Bears had a terrible start to the year placing 7th at Indoors after coming in as the top seed. I don’t think anyone at the blog believed that Wash U was going to be the powerhouse of years past, but we also didn’t expect the early season stumble. Their hasn’t been much happening since then as the only other match Wash U has played was a solid 7-2 win over Depauw. The biggest concern continues to be the lack of a top player to anchor the lineup. Bush is a great player as is Johnny Wu, but those guys would be a whole lot better at 2, 3, or 4. John Carswell seems to have found his confidence and getting some solid wins in the middle of the lineup. Wash U’s depth has been weaker than expected, but with Coach Folmer at the helm, I expect that to get better. With a schedule that is heavily back loaded, there is a lot of opportunity for them to steady the ship. They are on the outside looking in in terms of a Pool C bid and they must avenge the Case Western loss and have a solid UAA tourney to get themselves out of the potential of missing the tournament.

Case Western: A

Case Western is everyone’s favorite team right?!? The brass tax is this team has had an amazing season this far and overachieved on almost every level. Case has two losses to D3 competition and those were to Chicago and Emory which both are great teams. Picking up wins against conference foes Wash U and Carnegie Mellon was huge at Indoors and they added a win over Gustavus at Stag Hen. I am also quick to point out that Krimbill lost both of his matches in a 6-3 loss to Emory. So clearly the potential is there. Yes, Krimbill is not superman, but for Case to get higher than their #6 ranking, he is going to need to be. The back half of the lineup has been a revelation which is where this team has taken the step forward. Doubles is a strength as it typically is at Case, but it also is a point of interest of mine. #3 doubles of Fojtasek and Gruber are 11-1 on the season and #2 doubles is a combined 6-7 while being 0-5 against top 20 programs. I just wanted to point that out for you all to see. The bottom line is Case Western continues to overachieve and no matter what you think of them, I will never deny that they have the biggest desire to win at all costs.

Whitewater: A-

Whitewater finally got their premier win that they needed to when they took out Kenyon. Was it a perfect storm for them to take out a top program from year’s past? Probably, but the Warhawks continue to squeak by and hold their ranking. They also solidified that win by taking out nemesis Gustavus. They about lost everything when they beat Kzoo 5-4. That loss would have been more than detrimental although Kzoo is trying to upstart the tradition of winning. Whitewater also beat Depauw today in a 5-4 match that may have not been as close if they played out third sets, but that’s the rule in Hilton Head. Whitewater has managed to get away from the Spring Break Slump of years past (Colby 2014 and Stevens 2015), but the question marks are still there. Jake Humphreys has taken a few tough losses which is a bit of a surprise and Treis hasn’t been a stud like I expected. But guys like Ramen, Thompson, Navritil, and Bisbee have been awesome and keep this team winning. The big match left for them is against Wash U next week. It’s going to be tough and they need wins at #1 singles or to take a lead in doubles. Both are doable and it should be an awesome match. Don’t overlook Coe either!

Kenyon: C+

I could probably be a lot harder on this team if I chose to be, but they really have done what I expected they would this year. I knew this wasn’t going to be the team of the last few year’s because they have lost a ton of talent and not really replaced it. The reason why I have given them such a good grade so far is because of Sam Geier and the fight this team has shown in the face of adversity. Put this in perspective, Kenyon has three 4-5 losses to top 10 teams in the country (Pomona, Wash U, and Trinity TX). Just one more individual win and they would have a season defining team win. Yes they have the loss to Whitewater and sadly it will weigh on them the rest of the way, but I wouldn’t sleep on Kenyon just yet. They play Carnegie in a week in Pittsburgh which gives them a shot and they should win their conference easily. The Case match from Stag Hen was canceled and I wish it would be replayed, but I am guessing they (Case) have no interest in making that happen because why would they? Sam Geier has been an absolute beast this season and currently the top ranked player in the country in my opinion. He is undefeated in D3 play with wins against Paxton Deuel, Nick Chua, Jake Humphreys, Daniel Budd, Rafe Mosestick, and Jeremy Bush. He has only dropped one set and that was to Deuel. If he gets past Alla from Carnegie, he will be ranked #1 heading into individuals. Pretty impressive stuff.

Gustavus: C

Again, my expectations for Gustavus weren’t all that high going into this season as they just don’t have the same talent as some of the other teams. The loss to Whitewater hurts them the most as it will likely keep them away from being a #2 seed come tourney time. They always compete well and do year after year and took Case Western to a 6-3 decision, but that’s not enough in this day of age. What have you done for me lately? The win over Tyler was good for them, but still not enough. That was more an opportunity lost by Tyler than anything gained for Gustavus. They will get another shot at them down in Texas as that rematch is going to be huge for both teams. I don’t see Gustavus beating either Wash U, Trinity, or Chicago, but I am sure the scores will be close. Gustavus needs to beware of the Kalamazoo match at the end of the year. Kzoo will match up well if they can avoid the doubles sweep and might surprise them. Should be an interesting match.

Depauw: D

Depauw missed their chance to put up a great win by losing to Whitewater this morning 4-5 down in Hilton Head. They haven’t really competed all that well with easy losses to Chicago, Wash U, and Gustavus. My favorite team Oberlin even put a little scare in them after they took 2 of 3 doubles from the Tigers. Like in year’s past, there really is only one match that matters when all is said and done and that is against Denison. They typically play twice a year as they will meet in the semis of the NCAC tournament too. Depuaw has won those matches and will look to again this year. They need to get healthy as Kaczkowski is hurt and I don’t know how long he is out. Dan Rodefeld has been a surprise with two good wins at the top spot against Humphreys and Al-Houni. With his only losses against Chua and Wu (Wash U) this spring, he is a likely top 8 guy in the region at the moment. Depauw plays Coe later this season and Coe will be chomping at the bit to get a big win for their program.

Denison: C

I don’t have much to talk about in regards to Denison because they really don’t have many significant matches to discuss. They were fortunate to get Pacific to travel all the way to Ohio to play which gave them a good early season win to build the season on. Because Denison went to Puerto Rico for spring break and chose the tropical climate over getting quality matches, the only other match that matters thus far is their 5-4 win over Kzoo. I wish I would have seen this because it came down to #6 singles in a third set tiebreaker which is pretty awesome. They had to have that win and hopefully will use it to their advantage moving into their two big conference matches left on the schedule. Oberlin could challenge this team and Depauw will be slightly favored. Oberlin is a must win and Depauw would be a victory that has evaded the Big Red over the last few years.

Ok I promised to do individuals too, but my brain hurts. So I lied, but I promise to do a separate article next week that will talk about singles and doubles rankings. I love doing all the work for the ranking committee anyways.