Colby College
Coach: Jason Cohen (2nd season)
Location: Waterville, ME
ITA Ranking: UR nationally, #14 NE
Blog Power Ranking: UR…but ranked #39-40 by several bloggers including ASouth, NE, West, RegNEC, and yours truly
Power 6 Rating: 65
Twitter Handle: @ColbyCoachCohen, excellent updates
Twitter Hashtag: Scrolled back all the way to September on their Twitter, not much in the way of hashtags
Overview:
Before I begin, a brief aside. The Colby athletics site is much improved from years past where I could not even find box scores. However, after minutes and minutes of searching, I can’t seem to find results from past years, making this preview quite tricky. Luckily, we have the good old ITA site, but come on Mules, get this fixed!
Way back in 2013-2014, the Mules had one of their best seasons, getting a big upset over Bates, 6-3, basically the only time that I remember the Mules beating their big Maine rivals. They also had a 5-4 win over UW Whitewater, and tight losses to Tufts (5-4), Wesleyan (6-3), DePauw (6-3), and Brandeis (6-3). Anchored by freshmen Carl Reid and Vlad Murad at the top and at #1 doubles, and with veterans like Jack Bryant and Matt Carroll lower down, Colby was suddenly a very solid team with little weaknesses that was starting to make their name on a national stage. However, over the next couple of years, the Mules had trouble maintaining the depth to go along with Reid and Murad, and they ultimately struggled and fell out of the top 40. Last year, they finished with a record of 5-12, with no wins against ranked teams and tough losses to #31 Pacific (OR), #32 Lewis and Clark, and #29 Trinity (CT). The Mules, a team looked to be on the upswing, was suddenly regressing back into anonymity, especially with Reid and Murad entering their senior seasons.
Enter the ambitious Coach Cohen, who is now in his second season at the helm of Colby. The Mules have two talented 3-star freshmen this year in Scott Altmeyer and Zale Shah, giving the Mules much more depth, and already have a 3-star and two 2-stars on the horizon for next year. Let’s learn some more about these revamped Mules.
Keys to the Season:
Senior Leadership
Carl Reid and Vlad Murad will likely anchor down the lineup at #1 and #2 singles, plus #1 doubles. It doesn’t really matter which one of them plays #1 and which plays #2, all that really matters is that these two guys will give the Mules three excellent chances to win points every match. Also not to be overlooked is senior Cam Hillier, a guy who played #6 on that solid 13-14 Mules team, moved up all the way to #3, and now looks to be slotted in at #5 or #6. Don’t doubt his leadership and how valuable he can be helping to mentor the younger guys.
Freshmen development
Speaking of younger guys, the Mules have five of them, with Scott Altmeyer and Zale Shah the two who are likely to play in the middle of Colby’s lineup this year. Luis Kompalic also looks like he could very well get some time in the doubles lineup. This is a big year of development for the Mules to teach these freshmen what college tennis is all about, especially with several more freshmen looking like they will join the Mules next year.
Depth
Shaw Speer and Cam Hillier look like the likely guys to fill in somewhere between #4-6 in the Mules’ lineup. Both of these guys have lots of match experience and should provide Colby with a ton more depth than they have had in the last couple of years. Last year, although Speer had a lot of tough losses to the top NESCAC schools, he had some solid wins at #4, winning against #32 Lewis & Clark, #31 Pacfic, and falling in a super breaker to Timo Van Der Geest of Midd. Colby should definitely be eyeing the top 40 this year, and Speer and Hillier are the right guys to help get them there at those spots.
Key Additions: Scott Altmeyer (3 star/11.23 UTR), Zale Shah (3 star/10.18 UTR), Luis Kompalic (8.41 UTR)
Key Departures: Mark HoSang (#3 singles, #2 doubles), Douglas Mo (#4 singles), Matt Martin (#3 doubles)
Projected Lineup:
#1 singles: Carl Reid (SR – 12.02) – Reid has played #1 all three years for Colby. He had an absolutely terrific year as a freshman, going undefeated in dual matches. Though he hasn’t been quite at that level his sophomore and junior years, he was still very solid, beating Kevin Wang (MIT), Nik Telkedzhiev (Tufts), Rex Glickman (Trin CT), and Anton Zykov (Amherst) last year.
#2 singles: Vlad Murad (SR – 11.73) – Vlad has had some injury concerns throughout his career, but when he has played, he has been very good, playing #2 pretty much all three years. With wins over Ford Traff (Trin CT), Chris Ellis (Bates), Chad Stone (UCSC), and Iasaac Thylen (Babson) last year, and a run to the semis of the NE ITA this year (wins over Brian Grodecki and Sachin Raghavan of Williams), Murad should continue to be an excellent #2.
#3 singles: Scott Altmeyer (FR – 11.23) – The freshman Scotty hasn’t gotten a ton of match play this year, with a win at #3 over Babson and a second round exit in the B flight singles at the Wallach Invite to Lucas Pickering of Skidmore (10-8 in a super).
#4 singles: Zale Shah (FR – 10.18) – Shah won a tough super breaker over Ben Roque of Babson in their dual match and lost in a super to JT Wynne of Skid in the first round of the C flight singles at Bates.
#5 singles: Shaw Speer (JR – 10.32) – Blog favorite Shaw Speer is now an upperclassmen, and should play somewhere between #4-6 in the Mules’ lineup. He was a good #4 last year, so playing at those spots should be a solid fit for him. He won 0 and 0 at #6 against Babson to start the year, then lost first round in the B flight at the Wallach to Eliot Rozovsky of Bowdion. We at the Blog love Mr. Speer and will continue to follow him day-in and day-out, always looking forward to the quick Like or Retweet of random articles that we post.
#6 singles: Cam Hillier (SR – 9.61) – I think the senior Hillier will likely play at #5 or #6 this year. After not playing in the spring at all last year (abroad?), he played #2/3 the year before, getting one really good win over Adam Schwartz of Bates (7-6 in the third!), but struggling against the top 30 NESCAC schools. He had a nice year at #6 as a freshman and a return to that spot would be a very nice match and give the Mules the depth they need.
#1 doubles: Vlad Murad/Carl Reid – Murad/Reid have played #1 doubles for three years and I doubt that will change this year. They got to the quarters of the NE ITA and won the Wallach A flight, already starting their year off very well.
#2 doubles: Shaw Speer/Cam Hillier – Speer and Hillier played together a bit two years ago, but not last year. With their experience, they should be a good #2 team. They won a round in the Wallach B flight and also won against Babson.
#3 doubles: Scott Altmeyer /Zale Shah – I could see these young guns playing anywhere from #2-4. They did not start against Babson but then played in the A flight at the Wallach (lost first round to Chris Ellis/Pat Ordway of Bates), so it’s anyone’s guess where they will play in the spring.
#4 doubles: Jeremy Mendoza (JR) /Luis Kompalic (FR) – Also in the mix is the junior/freshman combo of Mendoza and Kompalic, who started against Babo and won a round at the B flight at the Wallach over Skidmore.
Schedule Analysis:
Much nicer looking Colby schedule located here: http://gocolbymules.com/sports/mten/2016-17/schedule
Colby is already off on the right foot with their season this year, with an 8-1 win over Babson, a team they lost 7-2 to last year, though Babson is admittedly depleted from past years. Starting in early March (classic NESCAC), the Mules will get into their spring season.
To be perfectly honest, I really like the looks of Colby’s schedule this year. They always have the NESCAC matches, where they will play Tufts, Bates, Conn College, Hamilton, Midd, Bowdoin and Williams this year, always giving the Mules a difficult slate of matches. However, Coach Cohen really went above and beyond this year with his other matches. Starting on 3/11, the Mules will go on a weekend NYC/NJ trip where they will take on TCNJ (#39 ranked nationally), Goucher, and NYU, who is not ranked but very close to ranked and will have a chance to get some UAA wins that will help out Colby if they were to beat the Violets.
A week after TCNJ and NYU, the Mules will head out to Cali for a Spring Break trip where they will play Chapman, Chicago, Cal Tech, St. Lawrence, Tufts, and Occidental. This is a nice group of matches ranging from ones where Colby will be favored (Chapman, St. Lawrence, Oxy) to Cal Tech which should be even, to Tufts where the Jumbos will be favored but Colby will certainly have chances, to Chicago where the Maroons will likely be heavily favored. The Mules actually will be playing 6 matches in 5 days out there, which will be a big grind but one that will prepare the Mules for the difficult NESCAC season to come.
Starting in early April, the Mules will really begin their NESCAC season (other than the Cali match vs. Tufts). They will take on Bates on 4/5, followed by Conn Coll, Hamilton, Bowdoin, and Williams.
In a solid season, the Mules take out TCNJ, NYU, Cal Tech, Chapman, and all the other matches where they are favored. TCNJ is the only one of these schools that is currently ranked (#39), and it’s possible that just winning all of these matches would get Colby in the top 40, though it does depend on how other schools fare. If Colby could also upset a Tufts or Bates, they will certainly break into the top 40 and maybe even the top 30.
One of the ultimate goals for Colby would be qualifying for NESCAC’s, which is very difficult every year given that only six teams qualify. Amherst, Bowdoin, Middlebury, Wesleyan, and Williams likely will grab 5 of those 6 spots, and it really is between Tufts and Bates for that 6th spot, with Colby on the outside looking in. However, they do play both Tufts and Bates this year, so they are very much in control of their destiny for this last spot.
I think Colby is on the upswing this year and for the future, with a new, motivated coach and revamped recruiting classes now starting to come in. With the seniors Murad, Reid, and Hillier, this is a year that the Mules could certainly surprise some people with some upsets. However, even though Colby does have these talented seniors, they should also use this year as a building block for the future, looking to develop their freshmen and establish a pipeline to ensure continued success year after year. That will take Colby to the next level and truly allow them to start competing for national rankings and NESCAC tournaments.