Like clockwork, Power Rankings are here and ON TIME this week! I, ASouth am not known for my punctuality, but I guess I am a lucky guy this week. Actually, that’s not true considering we are all waiting on an article from me that was supposed to be posted yesterday. But, you guys will get that when it comes around. This week in DIII, there were more upsets than I’ve ever seen in my years covering and playing DIII. This year might just be the year of the unranked team. Or just not the year of any ranked team outside the top 15. That could be it, too. The discussion about Power Rankings this week was a tough one. Mostly because we didn’t really know where to put a ton of teams, but also because D3ASW joined this week and he’s a lot to handle. At least we didn’t have to deal with D3West in the chat this week. Give and take folks, give and take. Anyways, here are your rankings.
Notable Movers
Williams, up 2 spots to #6 – Here’s a move I don’t really understand. Williams moves ahead of CMU for really, no reason whatsoever. But, these are power rankings and that means the bloggers go with their gut. Both these teams basically have the same wins and losses so it will be interesting at the end of the year to see where Pool C/seeding comes out to be if we get to it. I personally think the blog has a bit of an affinity towards Williams (outside of me, who has the opposite), but they are a historically solid team who should always be considered in it. I reference their random beatdown of Middlebury last year to give them a shot at the NCAA Tournament despite a lackluster season. However, they have to survive the NESCAC which always seems to give us some fireworks at the end of the year. Those damn fast indoor courts.
Wash U, up 3 spots to #10 – This is what all the UAA teams did not want to see. Wash U seems to be finding it’s form as D3West has continuously reminded me to be aware of. They came off this past week with a 6-3 win over Trinity TX, an 8-1 over UT-Tyler, and a 7-2 over GAC. Those are some solid results against mid-tier teams. That being said, none of those teams are top 10 teams, so it should be interesting this weekend when Wash U plays Case and Chicago. The Bears have gotten Jason Haugen back and it’s go time for them. They have basically made the rest of the season the beginning of their playoffs. That’s when Wash U shines. Let’s see if it happens again this year.
Amherst, down 6 spots to #12 – An out of nowhere loss to the Selena Gomez loving Tufts team has dropped this previous national power all the way down to #12. We can talk about talent all we want, but something is missing right now in Amherst (other than the word “Lord”) and it’s really affecting their season. Amherst now needs some BIG wins to erase the bad taste of the Tufts loss in their mouths. It’s going to take a lot of effort to get those. These Amherst seniors need to step up (you’ll see in my article) and now is the time to do so. Time is running out…
Stevens, up 4 spots to #20 – Stevens and the Resident Pest Matt Heinrich haven’t really done much to notice this year, but they also have avoided any ridiculous losses like Hopkins, UMW, NCW, and others. That keeps putting them higher and higher by default. Stevens has done a great job developing what was previously thought as a mid to low tier talent team and kudos to them for continuing to work. It will be interesting to see where they are come tournament time, because they simply have not shown the ability to pull an upset. However, top 20 in the Power Rankings is a good start.
Whitman, down 6 spots to #21 – Honestly, Whitman is lucky that they didn’t move down any further. After taking an inexplicable loss to unranked Lewis & Clark, they are now treading water on their wins over Redlands, Swarthmore, and others in the beginning of the season. This is a team that is always ripe for an upset depending on the day. Without much upset potential themselves, look for Whitman to play out their season around this power ranking. Unless of course, they somehow lose again to an unranked team….
Brandeis, up 5 spots to #22 – Congrats Deis #dropdemgavels on a big win against Bates the other day. Brandeis has always been a dangerous team to anyone in the 20-25 area, because they have a few spots they perform really well at and play decently good doubles. Bates was probably their last chance to get that win that would move them into the top 25 (despite randomly moving below #30 in the ITA rankings last week) and they delivered in a 5-4 thriller. I’ve always been a big fan of Deis, mostly because I am a big fan of the UAA. Who doesn’t love a team with a lot of heart and big dreams?
Johns Hopkins, down 5 spots to #27 – Amazing. Hopkins started the year at like #11 and two losses have sent them tumbling down to almost out of our top 30. Buxbaum has been far from an MVP this year, their freshmen haven’t made a big impact, and their bench guys that haven’t been in the lineup prior to this year simply haven’t been able to perform. Everyone is always scared of what Hopkins can do when their heads are on straight but at this rate, this is a lost season for the Bluejays. How sad for ASouth.
Lewis & Clark, debuting at #35 – I have to give a shoutout to Lewis and Clark who obviously took out Whitman this past weekend. Their first ranked win in like, ever, has allowed them to climb into our power rankings. Now, they might ask why they aren’t in front of Whitman, but we judge based on your whole season as well as your perceived talent level. L&C has done a great job getting a signature win, but consistency is what builds a top 25 program. Let’s see if they can build off this momentum.
As I mentioned, lots of moves and lots of things to discuss this week. Watch out for more articles from the blog about random things this week and a huge weekend coming up. I said this would be posted 15 minutes ago so here we go. ASouth, OUT.
CNU still holding it down! This Mary Wash match is going to be a big one. Interested in everyone’s thoughts and predictions? Will weather and the potential of moving indoors play a factor?
We will have a preview of it in Regional Roundup, don’t worry.
Christopher Newport is riding one big win over hopkins when in reality they aren’t great. I am not saying they arent good, just not great. Reed is an erratic one who is a solid player and Cerny is a solid two but after that they are weak. Boslet is a very average three with a loss to Chapman, who is struggling, and bad losses to Yeh. I dont think they are a bad team, just overhyped.
Maybe a poor showing but can you wait until Coe loses before dropping them out of the top 40.
Only have losses to #5 Chicago and an NAIA school.
If we were the ITA, you make a valid argument. However, this is the power rankings so therefore we are able to take into consideration close wins. Coe’s narrow 5-4 win over Grinnell is more than enough to drop them a bit in the rankings. If we go on the premise of not dropping a team because they don’t have any losses to justify it, Coe would be top 20 because they don’t play anyone in the 25-40 range that would allow them to stay where they historically have been. Personally, I don’t think Coe is a top 40 team and they are in the rankings based off of their past few year’s reputation. Other than my disdain for the NCWes coach (he has been much better of late), I have NCWes out of the rankings altogether because they have zero wins of significance. Coe will have their shot at Depuaw this weekend and they need to win to prove they belong in these rankings at all. I don’t expect them to be able to do it.
So which team outside top 40, or just in is better? (In that 37-40ish range) Just curious. Coe beat Rochester, Wheaton, Carleton, Oglethorpe. And the ITA has Kalamazoo at #34 with close losses and although Coe doesn’t play them this year, they swept them 9-0 last year and lost only Sprinkel. I’m not saying they’re amazing but they hardly ever get any love. And you’re right with DePauw so I guess we’ll see.
It’s hard to pick a specific team as just about anyone could make a case at this point. I agree that Kzoo getting so much love is unjustified because they have zero wins as well. Their close losses to Whitewater 5-4 and Denison 5-4 are why they have risen and close losses really shouldn’t be considered by the ITA, but should be by the blog. I personally would love to see the Kzoo vs. Coe match this season. Losing Sprinkel is a big deal and instead of having a guaranteed two wins, Kzoo takes advantage at those two spots as Metzler is a stud. The other in region match that I would love to see would be Coe vs. Oberlin. Again, it won’t happen this year, but I think the two teams are very similar and it would be a great battle. Coe’s wins over Rochester, Wheaton, Carleton, and Oglethorpe are nothing too great. Solid in region wins, but again, none of those teams are national caliber. Coe needs to make the Depauw match no worse than 6-3 for me to consider them around #35 or better. The biggest knock on Coe has been a weak schedule. Coach Rodgers has changed that by adding many Top 20 teams over the last few years, but there are zero matches against teams in the 25-40 range. That’s the next step for them. Schedule them and then get a key win to justify where they are.
They should try playing someone.
I mean they play Chicago, Case, Whitewater, Washu, DePauw, and usually GAC. So they don’t schedule 100% stiffs
Not related to rankings, but this was just posted on the College Tennis Talk blog:
“The worst crowds – players, parents, and students are at D3 Emory closely followed by Kenyon. The parents will yell insults at the players and the players are obnoxious. Kenyon – members of the team were trying to spit on the other teams players and the coaches will yell and talk to their players opponents during matches. Emory is/was so bad that other teams would give up their officials when someone had to play them because one would not be enough.”
Appreciate the find and forwarding it over. This comment will probably ruffle some feathers. As someone who has played multiple times at both places, I think this is totally dependent on the players playing there at the time. I believe nowadays, playing at Emory is nothing of the sort. It’s an intense, college atmosphere match. While it may have been different maybe 4 years ago, it is not the case now.
Regarding Kenyon, there have been certainly times where I’ve been yelled at. Again, college atmosphere type match. There are always some bad apples that ruin it for a team’s reputation – Case Western at indoors (whether it was them or not) is a recent example. We’re trying to do better in not judging the whole team based on a few instances, but making some call-outs and hope they improve. Overall, I wouldn’t say that Emory and Kenyon are overly disrespectful. Loud, yes. But, this is college tennis. You live with some things.
The stevens ranking is getting absurd.. 1-6 record against ranked teams and their ranking still jump weekly just because of the love from bloggers
1) Stevens’ 5 losses against ranked teams came against those who are either in the top-15 of our Power Rankings (#5 Chicago, #14 Tufts, #2 Bowdoin, and #9 PP) or were ranked that highly at the time of their match (Mary Washington). Yes, UMW has struggled recently, but they are a totally different team without their top player (who was playing at the time of the Stevens match).
2) Stevens also has 2 ranked wins, one against Swarthmore and one against Brandeis. Both those wins continue to look better and better as Swat took down Hopkins over the weekend and Brandeis did the same to Bates. These also happen to be two of the three teams ranked directly behind Stevens.
3) I will admit that I do like Stevens. It’s hard not to like a team that interacts and has fun with a group of anonymous tennis bloggers simply because they share a common interest. However, and D3AS and others can attest to this, it’s taken time for them to earn that so called “blogger love.”
4) The Ducks still have plenty of chances to “let the rackets do the talking.” They play Skidmore on Sunday, host CNU in 10 days, and travel to TCNJ before their regular season ends. If the Ducks win all three of those matches (and don’t slip up in conference play), I see no reason why they should not remain in our top-20.
I’m curious who you think should be ahead of them. I clearly agree about two teams that I believe should be ahead of them, but there aren’t many other teams out there with multiple top 30 wins.
I would definitely put Whitman, UT-Tyler, on top of Stevens
Whitman indeed had a 4-5 loss to L&C, but had also handled Cal Lu and Swarthmore (which Stevens struggled) and went 4-5 with a heating up Tufts team. Also Whitman has traditionally been a top 15 program which Stevens has not.
UT-Tyler had 4-5 losses to Kenyon, Redlands, Gustavas which are all top competitive teams in the country. Yes, UT-Tyler do not have a season-defining win but neither do Stevens. Beating Brandeis and Swarthmore which were not ranked most of the past years do not indicate much.
True, Stevens had close losses toward Chicago, PP, Tufts, but both Chicago and Tufts were clinched at 5-2. I just simply don’t see reasons support Stevens moving up 6 spots after beating Alfred University and Houghton College. I mean, Tufts moved up 2 spots after beating Amherst…. dude.. its freaking Amherst!
We will keep an eye on the Skidmore and TCNJ matches. I will pick Skidmore on Sunday since I think they match up well against the Ducks. However Stevens will handle TCNJ even though the Lions always bring the fire.
My apology. I meant Stevens moving up 4 spots but not 6.
Interesting argument. I’ll address both teams.
UT-Tyler – while they may be talented, they have so many losses this year that it goes back to your argument about Stevens. UT-Tyler is like 0-8 against ranked teams this year. Can’t say that Stevens is 1-6 then turn around and say UT-Tyler is awesome.
Whitman – yes, Whitman might be slightly ahead of Stevens, and I actually ranked them ahead. However, consistency and recent results are very important. What we knew at the beginning of the year should not translate to things we know now. Fact of the matter is, Whitman might be getting worse. Losing to L&C is absolutely inexplicable. Argument on both sides and I can see why certain bloggers put them below. Stevens has been a fairly consistent team.
Also, I would advise against comparing the amount of spots moved up in the rankings. Moving up 2 spots in the top 15 (Tufts) is way harder than moving up 4 spots in the mid-20s. Especially this year. Teams in the 20s are losing to everyone. If you survive the week, you get rewarded. Like I said in the post, Stevens has basically moved up by default. Definitely will be an interesting match with Skidmore coming up.
Oh, and to address the “Stevens bias.” I like Stevens as people. Fun dudes. I don’t necessarily like their chances against top teams, as I mentioned in the post as well.
Where’s the 1-6 number coming from? Wins over Brandeis, Swat, and NC Wesleyan are 22, 23, and 36 Blog. Maybe this record is for top 30 at the time of the match?
Swarthmore got wrecked by bates….
I can’t speak for the rest of the bloggers, but I personally had forgotten about that result, and agree that Bates should probably be ahead of both Swat and Hopkins. That being said, I would hardly call a 7-2 victory with four three-setters a wrecking
This is what happens when D3West misses our weekly ranking session. I can’t speak for D3AS, D3Central, or D3ASW though…
Great call. I got blinded by the Hopkins result. I’ll make sure I fix that in the next Power Rankings.