Now I know what you must be thinking, oh no, not another season preview. Well believe me, boys and girls, I feel the same way. This might or might not be the last season preview for 2018, and it comes with an unproven team that probably has more hype surrounding it than any other program outside of Middlebury, VT. When D3AS is on the Williams bandwagon, you know people are seriously hyped. The Ephs doesn’t play their first spring match until March 19th, so the hype will last at least until then, but people are excited, and with good reason. Williams is all the way up at #4 in our most recent power rankings, which is probably a little high given we haven’t seem them play, but that’s what Power Rankings are for! The Ephs weren’t hit as hard by graduation as other teams in the region, and although losing hometown hero Rohan Shastri hurts, they seem to have reloaded and then some with big fall performances from diaper dandies like Austin “Lil” Barr and Calvin “CC” Chung. Perhaps even more importantly, Brian Grodecki looked like one of the five best players in the country this fall. With all due respect to Shastri, Raventos and Micheli, Williams has not had a TRUE stud up at #1 since the days of Trey Meyer, and we should remember how that turned out! CHOO CHOO…ALL ABOARD!
Location: Williamstown, MA
Conference: NESCAC
Coach: Dan Greenberg (9th season)
Asst. Coach: None? Tough to replace #OldManWootton
ITA National Ranking: 8th
ITA Regional Ranking: 4th
Blog Power Ranking: 4th
Twitter Handle: @EphsTennis. Very good for in-match updates if they are giving them. Solid nickname work. I say it every year, but the absolute best use of a Twitter Profile pic in all of DIII tennis.
Key Losses: Rohan Shastri (#1 singles/#2 doubles) & Alex White.
Key Additions: Austin Barr (5 star from Ohio, UTR=12.74), Calvin Chung (4 star from New York, UTR=12.65), Arturo Kam (from Mexico, UTR=11.65), Noah Reich (3 star from New Jersey, UTR=12.10).
Realistic Best Case Scenario: Williams wins their second national championship in the past six years, and the Ephs establish themselves as one of the best programs of the decade.
Realistic Worst Case Scenario: The hype train derails, crashes and burns to a crisp. Williams loses to Chicago and a SCIAC team, putting themselves behind the Pool-C eight-ball, and can’t overcome it, finishing 5th in the NESCAC and missing the NCAA tournament.
POSITIVE BOLD PREDICTION: Austin Barr challenges Jack Katzman for our Freshman of the Year award. Barr was just plain filthy this fall, but he didn’t win the ITA, and his last name isn’t Finkelman, so he’s flying a little under the radar in the NE. I will save his wins and losses for the lineup projection section, but how do wins over William DeQuant and Steven Chen grab ya? This kid is going to be REALLY REALLY good, and while Katzman looked incredible at Indoors, I believe Barr will be right there with him all year long.
NEGATIVE BOLD PREDICTION: The bottom of Williams’ lineup will have its struggles and maybe even see some changes. One of the best problems to have as a DIII coach is when you have too many good players. That being said, it can actually be a problem. Williams has some excellent options for the bottom of their lineup including Taylor, Indrakanti, Chung, Raghavan, Sadowsky, and maybe even more depending on the other freshmen like Kam and Reich. Barring injury, no pun intended, there are only three singles spots up for grabs, and I believe that Taylor should have a solid grasp on a fourth. Given the talent, there may be some rotation at the bottom of this lineup, which can really weigh on a young player fighting to remain in the lineup.
POSITIVE NOT-SO BOLD PREDICTION: The Williams seniors are here to ball out. Brian Grodecki, Sachin Raghavan and Jordan Sadowsky are all going to contribute to the Williams lineup this year. All are very good doubles players, and both BG and the elder Raghavan have been playing pretty stellar singles of late. Williams has a history of seniors playing their best tennis, and that’s due to both the character of player and the coaching process. I would be very surprised if we don’t see all three seniors in the doubles lineup, and there’s a real chance that Sadowsky sticks his landing at the #6 singles spot as well.
NEGATIVE NOT-SO BOLD PREDICTION: We will be denied the glory of a brothers doubles team. We were tantalized with a brothers doubles team at NCAA last year, when the Raghavani beat Wilkes 8-0 and then fell 8-5 to Amherst and 8-2 to Emory. I love the idea of a brothers doubles team, but I don’t think we’ll get to see it this spring. Sachin didn’t play any dubs this fall, and Ananth played sparingly (both this fall and during his entire freshman year). Lil’ Raghavan has a real shot to make the singles lineup, but there are just too many guys in the running for doubles spots (Kam/Lebowitz/Chung/Barr/Sadowsky/Indrakanti/and maybe more). Given all the possible mixes, it seems unlikely that we will get a Raghavani pairing.
Lineup Prediction
#1: Brian Grodecki, senior, UTR=12.44, range: #1-2. The number three player in the country. Grodecki was SO good this fall, that he’s currently ranked #3 in the entire damn country. Not too shabby. He’s also ranked #11 in the country in doubles and is coming off an appearance in the NCAA Finals. He beat Farrell (projected Midd #2-3), Finkelman (projected Wes #2), and his teammate Lil Barr en route to winning the New England ITA. In case you were doubting those wins, “ohhh BG didn’t even beat a #1 mrraaahhhhhh”, at Small College Nationals he beat Jemison (Emory #1) and Lipscomb (Redlands #1) and lost to Levine (CMU #1) 7-6 in the 3rd set. Grodecki had a truly studly fall, but he will need to keep his star shining this spring as he takes on the likes of Cuba, Chen, Tercek/Urken, Wei, Gupte, Rosen and the other studs that comprise the top of the NESCAC, not to mention Parodi, Chua, Lipscomb (again) and Kronenberg out west.
#2: Austin Barr, freshman, UTR=12.74, range: #1-3. As I said above, one of the most pleasant surprises of the fall was the success of Lil’ Barr. We always knew he was gonna be good, but the dude’s only loss during his freshman fall was to the champ of the ITA, 6-4 in the 3rd set. Oh yeah, he’s also ranked 8th in the country right now. You know how high I am on this kid, so I won’t go on too long, but much like his brother he’s also one of the best people out there too. I expect Austin to not only have great success this year, but consider him a contender for individual glory in years to come.
#3: Sachin Raghavan, senior, UTR=12.65, range: #2-4. The 2nd of Williams’ trio of captains, Sach has been a lineup mainstay during his career in Williamstown. The elder Raghavan had a solid fall, with wins over Das (Deis #5) and Glickman (Trinity Ct projected #1), and also had an easy win over TVG (Midd projected #5). He rolled past his opponents at #2 for Springfield and Vassar in the Ephs’ two fall matches, and was an astounding 16-1 at #3 singles during last year’s regular season, including going 7-1 against teams RANKED IN THE TOP 10. He should be a rock for the Ephs during his swan song.
#4: Alex Taylor, sophomore, UTR=11.74, range: #3-6. Now we start to get a bit more into the unknown. Taylor had his ups and downs last year, posting a 7-7 singles record and eventually not playing singles at NCAAs. However, the lanky sophomore showed why some were so high on him last year when he took out Ethan Hillis and Zach Bessette (both projected Amherst top 4 players) at a tournament this fall. He is known for his doubles prowess, and he and BG are one of the three favorites to be the #1 team in the region (along with Bowdoin and Midd’s top pair). If Taylor has stepped up his singles game, and can produce wins against the rest of the NESCAC at #4, it elevates the Ephs to a totally higher level.
#5: Deepak Indrakanti, junior, UTR=11.59, range: #3-7. Deepak was a stellar bottom of the lineup guy during his freshman year, but took his lumps at #4 as a sophomore. He didn’t play at all this fall due to being abroad, which always yields the same question, did he pick up a racquet while traveling? Most guys don’t train too hard while abroad, so if Deep stayed in shape, he will undoubtedly shake off the rust at some point, the only question is can he do that before his spot is taken by a younger player? At his best, Indrakanti should slot in at #4 for Williams this spring, but I’m not sure that’s where he is right now.
#6: Calvin Chung, freshman, UTR=12.53, range: #4-7. Another very talented freshman with a high UTR, Chung could provide the Ephs something they’ve were missing last year, stability at the bottom of the lineup. Chung has a win over Kaplan (projected Amherst #3-6) and Wolfe (projected Bowdoin #3), which are great wins, but also lost to Bessette and Chen (projected Wes #1), so he’s not infallible. I think the upside is too high for him to play behind Lil’ Raghavan, and if Williams is at its best he could slot all the way up to #4 ahead of Deepak and A-Tay. However, if the freshman struggles a bit in his first tight dual matches, there are others waiting with more proven track records.
Also in the mix: Jordan Sadowsky (senior, UTR=12.02, range: #6-7) Ananth Raghavan (sophomore, UTR=11.96, range: #5-7), Arturo Kam (freshman, UTR=11.65, range: #6-7/doubles), Ben Lebowitz (sophomore, UTR=11.14, range: doubles). Let’s start off with one of the aforementioned proven track records. One happens to be the 3rd and final senior captain of this Eph team. Sadowsky was abroad this fall (unusual for a senior, but so be it), but when his team needed him most last year he stepped up, getting a massive win at #6 against Amherst at NCAAs to propel the Ephs back to the NCAA Quarterfinals. That’s big time in my book, and the fact that you can be counted on in that type of situation is enough to warrant lineup consideration. Lil’ Raghavan played lots of #5/6 last year with varying success. He did have wins over Midd and Bowdoin, but also went 3-6 against top-20 teams. He didn’t have a great fall, but if he’s playing well he’s another excellent option for the Ephs at the bottom of the lineup. Finally we have the duo of Kam and Lebo. The underclassmen played doubles together this fall, and were slotted in the #2 spot for both fall dual matches. After Taylor and Grodecki the rest of the Williams doubles was wide open, so these two have as good a shot as any to become specialists for the year.
Schedule Analysis
Williams starts their spring season in California with a couple of warm up matches against non-DIII competition. They play at Pomona-Pitzer as their fourth match in three days, then play Chicago (@ CMS) as their sixth match in five days, travel to Redlands to their seventh match in six days, and end their trip with CMS as their ninth match in nine days. While this break isn’t quite at the same degree of trial by fire as Wesleyan, it’s a lot of tennis in a very short amount of time, especially considering that the Ephs will likely not have hit a ball outdoors since October. The four matches I mentioned: PP, Redlands, Chicago & CMS, are the barometer for the trip. A win over PP is necessary, and given what we’ve seen so far a loss to the Hens would be very disappointing. Redlands appears to be a small step up from that, but given all the loses the Dawgs have taken, a loss to them would be trouble for Pool-C. The Chicago match could be EPIC. Once we have a better idea of the Ephs’ lineup, D3Central and I will be back with a match-by-match preview for that one, as it will be HUGE for Pool-C. My instinct now is that Chicago ekes it out, as they have the big advantage of having played over a month of tennis. However, I would then hope we saw a rematch for a chance to flip the script in May. If the Ephs can pull out their match against the Maroons, their battle with CMS will become (and already might be) must-see Live Stream. Early edge to the Stags as they matchup well with Williams (both stronger at the top and deeper, which are two of WIlliams’ strength).
You’d think after Chicago and CMS that the Ephs’ schedule would get easier, but they host Middlebury and Wesleyan the following weekend. Nice for the Ephs that they get to play those matches at home, but they will technically be underdogs in both. I know that most people have Williams ahead of Wesleyan in the power rankings, but until we actually see it from Williams they are not the favorite, and I see it as a tossup. The following weekend brings Trinity and Tufts, but the Ephs host Tufts and should be able to take care of the feisty Jumbos on their home courts. Next, Williams takes a swing through Maine to battle Colby and Bowdoin. The Bowdoin match will undoubtedly be a big one, although both teams are hoping it will only matter for NCAA seeding purposes. Finally, the Ephs host Amherst and Hamilton to close the regular season. No matter how good Amherst and Williams are, those matches are always barn-burners, and there’s a real chance that at least one of those two teams will need a win to solidify their NCAA resume.
It’ll be a quick turnaround as Williams heads to Amherst the following week for NESCACs, assuming they qualify. As of now, the bloggers seem split on who will be the #2-4 seeds in the NESCAC between Bowdoin, Wesleyan and Williams. If all three of those teams are as good as I think they can be, then they will be challenging for a top-3 seed at NCAAs and hosting their own NCAA regional. I am trying to stay a little more reserved about Williams, but I will admit that it’s easy to get swept up in the hype. They are strong at the top, are full talent throughout the lineup, have NCAA experience, play good doubles, and have excellent coaching. This might anger some fans in Georgia or Southern California, but I believe that come May this team has as good a shot as any not named Midd to make the final four!