ITA Central Region Championships Recap

Here are my top 10 takeaways from the ITA Central Region Championships. The great D3Central has added some commentary as well (in bold).

1. Chicago is ridiculously good (stolen from D3Central’s recap last year). Alright, the Maroons love this tournament. For the past three years, Chicago’s won both singles and doubles. Something about this year’s dominance is just a little more admirable. This stat is telling – Chicago was a combined 33-0 through the first few rounds of singles and doubles. You know things are going your way when your first loss comes in the round of 16 against a teammate. Moving on…4 singles and doubles quarterfinalists, 3 singles and doubles semifinalists, and all-Chicago finals in singles and doubles is just flat out ridiculous! The Maroons need to continue to work hard in the offseason because even after last year’s dominating performance at ITAs, the season had its ups and downs. Something seems different about this Maroon team, though.

There isn’t much more that I can add here other than Coach Tee is going to have a terribly tough time deciding who will make the NCAA tournament roster. If Hawkins and Raclin do end up playing #3 doubles, then either Sven Kranz and Luke Tsai don’t make the final cut. That is crazy to me, but when you have an embarrassment of riches like the Maroons, it’s a good problem.

2. David Liu is a warrior and one of the great mental giants in D3. He first showed this two years ago when he went nearly undefeated at #6 singles as well as #3 doubles and pulled off the miraculous victory while cramping against Amherst in the NCAA Elite 8. Last year, he was down a set and 4-1 against Chas Meyer of Trinity TX at ITA Indoors, but rallied back to win in three. This year, the man was down 5-2, two breaks, against top-seeded Branden Metzler on the Hornet’s home court in the singles semis and came back to win 7-6 (2), 6-1. It wasn’t just his performance against Metzler that was impressive. The junior beat a reenergized John Carswell in straight sets in the semi and routinely knocked out his teammate Peter Leung in the final. I said in my kickoff article that David Liu is the Chicago player to watch this year, and despite Nick Chua’s successful collegiate career, Liu could play the 1.

I agree with Midwest here in saying that I wouldn’t be surprised if David Liu plays this year at #1. He has ascended up the Chicago ladder and will be a formidable top player for the Maroons. Does Chicago have a Top 5 individual in the country?!? I am not so sure, but considering the rest of the roster would play #1 on most every team outside of the top 10, I think they will be just fine.

3. Chicago could finally be strong in doubles. I never thought I’d say that, but as I mentioned above, all four Chicago teams qualified for the quarterfinal, and the only pair not to qualify for the semis was last year’s #1 of David Liu and Nick Chua. What I’m most impressed with is the ability of Chicago’s freshmen in doubles. Three of the four finalists were freshmen. Coach Tee tweeted that the winning pair of Max Hawkins and Tyler Raclin was his #4 team, but I’m thinking that’s going to change now. If Chicago can take 2-1 leads against top teams, they’re lethal.

My negative self might come out on this one, but I am not on the Chicago doubles bandwagon just yet. What they did was beyond impressive so I am going to give all the props they deserve for their tournament performance (in singles as well). The reason why I am not convinced has more to do with the Central region as a whole and less to do with Chicago. Kenyon’s doubles took a hit, Case’s doubles too a hit, Depauw and Denison are just above average. With all that, the talent that Chicago has was clearly going to be stronger. I do think they are going to be a good doubles team this year, but not elite.

4. Branden Metzler is still a stud. I said in my preview that I thought Metzler was going to pack it in for his senior season, but that wasn’t based on any evidence; I just assumed he accomplished all he wanted to at Kalamazoo. Not the case. Metzler looked like he was ready to compete for a national title, and the guy loves playing in front of the home crowd.  The two most impressive wins in singles for the Hornet were in the round of 16 against Wash U freshman Bernardo Neves and in the quarterfinal against Chicago’s Charlie Pei. While it was only Neves’ second collegiate tournament, the rook is immensely talented, so a straight set win is no small feat. Charlie Pei looked like his early last season self throughout ITAs, but it wasn’t enough for Metzler’s nasty forehand. I’m sure he would’ve loved to have finally won an ITA Regional, but making the semis is no small feat. Plus, the Hornet made the quarterfinal round of doubles. Looking forward to another fantastic season.

Kalamazoo is a team that could be extremely dangerous this coming year and it starts with Metzler. He proved he has the stamina to make a deep run last spring which no one saw coming. He clearly does well on his home courts so I am sure he is hoping that Kzoo might host again this year as the North Carolina site is no longer happening. The only question that remains is will Kalamazoo (and Metzler) be eligible for post season play this year? If you don’t know why this could be, google it. Admissions and financial aid made a big oooops last year.

5. Case and Kenyon are fighting uphill battles. There were rumblings from some Kenyon players that we treat the Lords unfairly on the blog, and frankly, I’m stunned. Although I’m new at this, it seems from my five or so years of reading this site that the blog has been overly nice to you all, so calm down, and let the racquets do the talking. Anyway, neither Kenyon nor Case had enviable results. The farthest a Kenyon team advanced was to the round of 16 (Peter Hazlett and Jake Zalenski) in doubles and the round of 32 (Nicholas Paolucci) in singles. While freshmen Austin Diehl’s and Zalenski’s back draw runs in singles were impressive, overall, Kenyon’s showing wasn’t great. Case had no doubles teams advance to the round of 16 and only one singles player (Josh Dughi) advanced to the round of 16. Luckily, these teams are led by coaches who are known for developing players, so I’m looking forward to January. As a quick note, there are several guys from Case and Kenyon who I think we should watch out for come winter. The first is Sam Concannon. D3Central has been talking up the Case freshman for some time, and the dude knows how to grind, giving Johnny Wu the fits. Josh Dughi is also a successful grinder, forcing a third set against Nick Chua. Kenyon’s Peter Hazlett almost upset Chicago freshman Ninan Kumar in the first round as well, and of course, Jake Zalenski could be a monster.

It seems to be a yearly thing questioning both of these programs because they always lose a big talent and seem to replace them with lesser talent. This year is no different as Sam Geier and CJ Krimbill don’t come around very often. The good news is that these two teams will work hard, will likely have an upperclassman ready to step in and make the lineup stronger, and really only needing one freshman to make an impact. Zalenski (Kenyon) and Concannon or Rajupet (Case) look to be those guys. I am very interested in who will hold down the top spot for both teams as that will be a tough thing to do. Fojtasek undoubtedly will be back in the spring and will be decent, but I don’t see Kenyon having the stud at the top to carry them.

6. Wash U is in a better place than this time last year. Last year, the Bears advanced nobody to the quarters. However, we saw the traditionally strong Wash U team this past weekend that we typically expect to see. Sure nobody made a final, but you’ve got to be pleased with several players. I’ll start off with doubles. Konrad Kozlowski and Jason Haugen continued the late season success of last year into ITAs, besting top-seeded Nick Chua and David Liu in the quarterfinal. I really think that this is a team with great potential to qualify for NCAAs. In singles, Johnny Wu continued to impress me by reaching the quarterfinal, and John Carswell looked incredible (more on that below)! Jason Haugen didn’t get the benefit of the draw, facing Luke Tsai in the first round but advanced to the consolation final. Freshman Bernardo Neves defeated Kenyon’s Nicholas Paolucci and held his own against Branden Metzler. This is a really good team all around, and after ITAs, I can confidently say Wash U will still be a top-10 team.

This has almost everything to do with John Carswell being back to good form. Since the graduation of Putterman, Wash U has struggled to compete at the top of the lineup. If Carswell continues to progress in his senior season and becomes a good #1 player, Wash U will be a team to stay away from. Neves will fill the role left behind by Tyler Kratky and Jeremy Bush (didn’t play singles) will be very comfortable playing #4 or 5 singles in a deep lineup.

7. John Carswell is back! After being upset the past two years of ITAs in the first round, Carswell looked good, really good. While he had a couple close sets in the first few rounds, the senior took care of business when he needed to. And, he showed a lot of mental strength coming back from a set down against Chicago’s Erik Kerrigan in the round of 16. After watching both Carswell and Johnny Wu play this weekend, my advice about Wu playing #1 was not accurate. Wu plays like a solid #2 and Carswell has the potential to be a solid #1.

See above. I agree that Carswell should play #1 and Wu #2.

8. A doubles team from an unranked school has the potential to qualify for NCAAs. A lot of strong doubles players from the central region have graduated — Andres Saenz, Jake Humphreys, Michael Treis, CJ Krimbill, Louie Stuerke to name a few. Looking at the ITA results, it seems like a pair from a smaller school can qualify for nats. Teams that looked quite good this weekend included Patrick McAuley and William Reifeis of Wabash, Eric Pohl and Sam Totten of Augustana, and Jack Buchan and Davis Elkins of Wooster.

Ah an opportunity to plug the little guys (including my Alma Mater Wabash)! I am going to take this even a step further and say that the national qualifiers will be extremely interesting in both singles and doubles. The ranking committee will never send the actual best 8 (now 7) players to nationals because they refuse to look at overall talent and give precedent to #1 singles players over #2 and #3 from the top schools. Realistically, Chicago should probably have 3 players, Wash U 2, Metzler, Al-Houni, and Anderson/Ancona/Fojtasek. But that won’t ever happen. I think there absolutely will be a surprise team in doubles and Midwest mentioned a few potential ones. The key for these teams is you have to eliminate the bad loss of the season because it will cost you. They likely don’t boast a tough schedule on the national scale so big in region wins will carry you a long way, but one bad in region loss will drop you quickly. Wooster showed some promise at the end of the year last year. I think Augustana is good, but not quite there yet. This is Refeis (Wabash) second trip to the quarters, but with his former high school state doubles champion partner in McCauley. He was the first Wabash doubles player to reach the quarters since some guy with the last name of Van Zee in 2006. Carthage’s top team could also feature in doubles. The bottom line is there are 3 guaranteed spots for the Central in doubles. A lesser known team like the one’s mentioned above better be in the top 3 because I would doubt they get an at-large bid without national level wins. So for you coaches out there that are reading this, a little last minute scheduling to play a top team from a different region wouldn’t hurt!

9. There are a good amount of freshmen that will contribute to their respective programs this year. Bernardo Neves of Wash U, Daniel Henry and Noah Karoub of Kalamazoo, and Erik Kerrigan and Ninan Kumar of Chicago all advanced to the round of 16 in singles, while Jake Zalenski and Austin Diehl of Kenyon did well in the backdraw. I can see each of these players start in singles for their respective squads, and I’m excited to see if the Kalamazoo freshmen can help the Hornets move up the ranks. I mentioned earlier that three freshmen from Chicago (Erik Kerrigan, Ninan Kumar, and Tyler Raclin) were in the doubles final, so we should see them in the doubles lineup for the Maroons. Of course, we can’t expect too much from freshmen, regardless of how highly-ranked they were in juniors, because again, they’re freshmen. Like I Tweeted a few days ago, if they work hard and stay motivated, they’ll do well.

I am extremely high on Kerrigan as you could all tell with my prediction he would win the whole thing. Sadly I was wrong on this, but the rest of my predictions were darn good. I think Concannon from Case is the likely star of the group who could feature in the top 2 or 3 of that lineup. Kerrigan and Kumar are the talent of the group, but Concannon and Zalenski are the potential.

10. Thank goodness the tournament directors moved the draw back to 128 singles competitors and 64 doubles teams. I understand the logistical nightmare posed by the draw given the tournament Western Michigan University was hosting, but I’m glad that the Kalamazoo coaching staff was able to make it work. It’s not fun if every player that should be competing isn’t (although there were still a few good players that weren’t there). If the original 64 singles and 32 doubles draws were kept intact, we would have had a different doubles champion, singles runner up, and many fewer upsets.

Bottom line of the Kalamazoo regional is that it was an absolute mess. The fact that they almost went to a draw of 64 would have been a travesty. My prediction of Peter Leung making at least the semis or Luke “Giant Killer” Tsai wouldn’t have ever happened. These guys deserve to be in the tournament and proved why the 128 draw is necessary. But that was a problem that was avoided. The organization of the tournament seemed extremely sub par and things could have been done a whole lot better. Yes it rained on day 1 and that is the worst possible outcome for so many matches needing to be played. There were also two fire alarms that happened. Those are things you can’t control, but I have heard multiple reports of courts being empty for no apparent reason when matches were ready to go on. This is inexcusable and causes for a lot of headaches for the players and coaches. Kalamazoo hosting is somewhat of a nightmare as it is with the different sites, but being organized and on top of the things that you can control should be expected. I don’t know if the people running the tournament were just tired from hosting NCAAs, followed by USTA Boys Nationals, and then these ITAs or what. Either way, I fully expect this tournament to be done well at a different site next year. St Louis is a logistical nightmare, but they have an amazing tournament director that everyone knows will keep things moving. Indianapolis is a great option as well because the whole main draw can be held at one site. Wherever it is, we will all promise to play Blind Melon’s “No Rain” for the first day and all will go smoothly.

That’s enough from us!