It has been almost two months since I have last written an article for this fine division three tennis blog. Life has taken lots of crazy turns since I last emailed D3Northeast my thoughts on the Wallach Invitational, but I guess if you take into account me taking five minutes out of my day to text D3AS my favorite TV shows, then it’s been about ten days since my last article, so I give myself a pat on the back! Despite my slow start to the off season, I am ready to go, and what better way to start than with the team that I would likely name the most improved from last season, the Southwestern Pirates. Let’s kick it off with some quick facts on the boys from Texas.
2018 Season Preview: #36 Southwestern (TX) Pirates
Location: Georgetown, TX
Coach: Billy Porter (5th year)
ITA Ranking: #36
Blog Power Ranking: #32
Power 6: 65
Twitter: @SUPiratesTennis
Hashtag: #besouthwestern
Overview
The Southwestern Pirates burst on the d3 tennis scene last year out of relative anonymity. Looking back at their results the two years before this, they had strong winning percentages above .700, but they simply won all of the matches they should and lost badly to teams like UT-Tyler and Trinity (TX). Going into the 2016-17 season, Coach Porter brought in two very strong players in Alexis Dimanche and Dean Dulthmmon, and the Pirates had a very consistent top 40 season with by far their strongest schedule. They had wins against Whittier, Cal Lu, Occidental, and Linfield, and also fell 5-4 to UT-Tyler and 6-3 to Gustavus. They ultimately lost 5-1 to Trinity in the SCAC Championship match, but this was a massive step forward for an extremely motivated Coach Porter. The Pirates do lose their #1 singles player in Niko Snovely, but the Pirates have a lot to look forward to with a big sophomore class, a solid freshman recruit in Alec Baskerville, and another really deep schedule. Let’s learn some more about the Pirates!
Key Additions
Alec Baskerville – 3 star / 10.90 UTR Rating
Key Losses
Nickoloz Snovely – #1 singles/#1 doubles, Austin Moninger – #6 singles/#2 doubles, Haluki Nakayama – #5 singles
Nakayama was a sophomore last season and Moninger was a freshman, but both players are off of the 2017-18 roster, which would be a tough loss for the Pirates given their spots in the singles lineup
Projected Lineup
#1 Singles: Alexis Dimanche (So) – 11.86 UTR – Dimanche was an excellent #2 for Southwestern last season, getting wins over Wilson Lambeth (Trin), Kyle Schlanger (Midd), Vinicio Hadlich (UT-Tyler), and Patrick Whaling (GAC). He’s ready to take the next step to #1 for the Pirates.
#2 Singles: Grant Gideon (Sr) – 10.56 UTR – I could see things switching around a little after Dimanche for the Pirates, but there’s no reason why it shouldn’t start with Gideon, who is the most experienced player that Coach Porter has
#3 Singles: Alec Baskerville (Fr) – 10.90 UTR – Baskerville is the lone freshman for the Pirates, but he should be a great addition. He won a couple of rounds at the Southwest ITA this fall before losing to Daniel Rodriguez of UT-Tyler in 3 sets
#4 Singles: Dean Dulthummon (So) – 10.90 UTR – The sophomore Dulthummon won a ton of matches at #4 last season for the Pirates, getting wins over UT-Tyler, GAC, Linfield, Whittier, and many others, and went three sets with Liam Crawley of Trin twice. He could play anywhere from #2-4 and should provide a lot of good depth and consistency
#5 Singles: Tyler Norman (So) – 10.10 UTR – Norman didn’t play a lot in his freshman season, but he got one heck of an upset over Jordan Pitts of Trin in the first round of the SW ITA, winning 10-8 in a breaker. He lost 10-5 in a breaker in round 2 to Jose Currea of UT-Tyler, but this win shows Norman’s improvement and that he should be a great option this year
#6 Singles: David Strong (Sr) – 9.78 UTR – Strong has played sporadically throughout his career, but this could be his chance to go out with a bang and be that rock at the bottom of the lineup that the Pirates need. He won a round at the SW ITA before falling to Arthur Fagundes of Trin.
#1 Doubles: Alexis Dimanche / Grant Gideon
#2 Doubles: Alec Baskerville / Dean Dulthummon
#3 Doubles: Tyler Norman / David Strong
Schedule Analysis
I am always a fan of when teams switch up the typical southern California trip, and that is exactly what Coach Porter is doing this year, with a Northwest swing planned in March. The Pirates will head to Linfield, Lewis & Clark, and George Fox. I would have loved to have seen a match vs. Whitman, but it looks like Whitman will be down in California for at least some of that time. The Pirates will also host Pacific (OR) a couple of weeks later. Here are some of the key matches for the Pirates this year:
- 2/10 @ #23 UT-Tyler – SW fell 5-4 to UT-Tyler last year after losing 2 of 3 doubles
- 3/11 @ Lewis & Clark – Southwestern is one spot behind L&C in the West ITA rankings, and it’s great to see this one on the schedule
- 3/12 @ George Fox
- 3/27 vs. Pacific (OR)
- 3/28 vs. #33 Colby – Colby currently sits at #33 nationally, so this represents a great chance for SW to take out a Northeast team and move up in the rankings at the same time
- 3/30 vs. #26 Kalamazoo
- 4/14 vs. #13 Trinity (TX) – The battle for SCAC supremacy 2018 edition will take place towards the end of the regular season. Trin won 7-2 in season last year and SW will be trying to turn this around
Conclusion
Last year was a great season for the Pirates and it really put them on the map in D3 tennis. They played four nationally ranked teams and competed well in every match. This year, Coach Porter and his squad will look to continue their momentum. They have four great chances to get nationally ranked wins, and will have several other great matches besides those. In 2016-17, most of their matches were either matches they won very easily, or matches against teams well above them. This year, with matches against several teams in the 25-50 range, I predict Southwestern will have lots of marathon matches. Their season will be determined if they come out on the right or wrong end of those 6-3 or 5-4 matches. I look forward to following it!