Welcome to another central weekend preview this time featuring help from (the people)! This weekend Chicago, Denison, and Kalamazoo are idle – do I cover Denison now that they’ve beaten Kalamazoo, is this how this works? Anyway, most of the teams in the region are coming up on spring break, and as a result we find many of our teams away from home this weekend. Wash U starts off the weekend by playing Carnegie Mellon in a match with massive UAA implications before their Stag-hen journey starts on Monday. Gustavus travels to Wisconsin to play UW-Whitewater and while this would’ve been much more interesting match a couple years ago; I think that this match will be much closer than their respective rankings would indicate. Lastly, Kenyon begins their spring break with the newly ranked Millsaps who are coming off an 8-1 drubbing to Emory, both teams handled Depauw similarly, so I expect this match to be a tight affair.
March 11th 9:00 AM #7 Wash U vs. #12 Carnegie Mellon (California)
Since this match has very important UAA, Pool C, and Individual implications it will be getting the full match by match preview experience. Both of these teams have a loss to Chicago, and are hoping to avoid an 0-2 UAA hole to start the season. Carnegie Mellon’s gauntlet of a week features Wash U, Amherst, Bowdoin, and Wesleyan over a five day stint in California – if you’re peeping ITA rankings that’s the seventh, ninth, fourth, and fifth ranked teams in the country. A big start against Wash U would give the Tartans immense confidence going forward, and a win for Wash U would snap their two-match skid and possibly propel a big time performance at Stag-hen.
Matchups: Wash U vs. CMU
1 Doubles: Konrad Kozlowski & Daniel Li vs. Daniel Levine & Kailas Shekar
newCentral: If only for the narrative, I think that Daniel Levine begins one the GOATiest weekends of all time (GWOAT) and steals a point for CMU here at 1 doubles. As the OGCentral has pointed out, “good teams serve well, great teams return well,” (Central 2018) and I think that it isn’t an overstatement to say that Levine has one of the best returns in the country, so I’ll bet on the backhand of Levine to win this one for CMU. CMU 9-7
2 Doubles: Johnny Wu & Bernardo Neves vs. Jeffrey Chen & Robert Levin
Wu and Neves showed their quality at Indoors and I think that they’ll sneak this doubles point out in a tight affair. Wu and Neves both play like physical manifestations of PONG, and luckily for Coach Follmer he gets to put two PONG boards out at two doubles. I think that Wash U will force CMU to hit one ball too many and take this point. Wash U 8-6
3 Doubles: Benjamin van der Sman & JJ Kroot vs. NIcholas Calzolano & Chaz Downing
Wash U has both the best player on the court in van der Sman and the best doubles player on the court in Kroot. That combination will prove too much for CMU down here at three doubles. I think that Kroot and vdSman get the Bears going with the first and loudest point of the match. Wash U 8-4
1 Singles: Johnny Wu vs. Daniel Levine
I stated earlier in this preview how I think that Levine is going for the GWOAT and it begins with a 2-0 start against UAA rival: Wash U. Johnny Wu isn’t a slouch by any means…he did give Parodi his toughest match of Indoors… but more than that,Wu has proven that he’s a tough out irregardless of occasion because of his ability to compete. This match will be a clinic in directionals and I expect the average point length to be in the double digits. Levine brings a little more firepower to this matchup of Individual Qualifiers and I think that will be the difference maker. CMU 7-5 3-6, 6-2
2 Singles: Benjamin van der Sman vs. Chaz Downing
I said earlier that van der Sman was the best player on the court at three doubles, and I think that Ben will back that up here with a Wash U victory. Downing is incredibly talented, but I think that he isn’t as comfortable being aggressive as van der Sman, which will make closing points outside of the a forehand winner much more difficult. If the forehand isn’t landing for Downing then it could be a quick day at the office. As long as van der Sman can adjust to the conditions smoothly then I predict a Wash U point here. Wash U 6-4, 6-4
3 Singles: JJ Kroot vs. Ray Boppana
If CMU is going to win this match then it’s going to start here with Mr. Bopanna. Bopanna showed up at Indoors and showed why he’s been slotted at three for a top 15 team. However, Kroot also came up big at Indoors with an amazing individual performance. This spot is a strength for both teams, and could go either way depending on how the wind is blowing. The transition from indoors to outdoors will be a factor, and I’ll say for closeness’ sake that the bigger hitter has a tougher time adjusting. CMU 6-1, 1-6, 10-3
4 Singles: Daniel Li vs. Kailas Shekar
I think that Shekar has the firepower and guile to take the racket out of Daniel Li’s hand. Li is solid – clean off both wings and clearly savvy enough to be slotted at 1 doubles – but I still don’t think he’ll be able to overcome a Shekar that I have a feeling will be coming into California…HOT CMU 6-3,7-5
5 Singles: Bernardo Neves vs. Robert Levin
I wouldn’t be surprised to see Neves higher in the lineup, but I’ll keep him here for now. Neves is one of the best fives in the country and I think that he grinds down the massive hitting Levin – especially in the Cali heat. I think Neves shows his class and gets Wash U’s first singles point of the day. Wash U 6-1, 6-3
6 Singles: Koki Takabatake vs. Joshua Pinckney
I’m not sure if we’ll be seeing Takabatake, Wu, Engel, Berman, or someone else at this spot for Wash U. I don’t think that it matters all that much however, Wash U will be favored here and I think that the bottom two spots help secure this too close for comfort win. Wash U 6-2, 6-4
PREDICTIONS
newCentral; Wash U: 5-4
OGCentral: Wash U 6-3
ASouth: Wash U 5-4
D3NE: Wash U 6-3
March 11th 10:00 AM #10 GAC vs. #40 UWW (Wisconsin)
newCentral: I think that Gustavus is a team that is not only really good now but they’re still trending upwards. Their promising performance at Indoors only added fuel to the hype train, and I think that momentum continues in their match against the Warhawks. Gustavus should be favored handsomely at every position and I think that this match will eventually end 8-1 or 9-0. However, that doesn’t mean that the matches themselves will be one-sided, I can easily see two of these matches going three sets but ultimately falling GAC’s way. Look for a GAC doubles sweep with three doubles being the the tightest affair, and two of the bottom three singles matches going the distance. In the end, Gustavus will leave Wisconsin with another victory over a regionally ranked team. GAC 8-1
March 12th 8:00 AM #22 Kenyon vs. #37 Millsaps (Florida)
newCentral: I think that the team that’s been a constant fixture in the rankings over the past decade will show precisely why against a team that’s rejoining the national conversation for the first time in decades. People are sleeping on Kenyon this year – they graduated next to nobody and their best players are underclassmen that are only going to get better with experience. Simply, I think that Kenyon is better than they were last year. Millsaps lost 3-6 to CNU who I don’t believe is as good as Kenyon. I think that Millsaps wins a doubles point and then a singles point between 3-6 singles. I don’t think that the adjustment from tempermentally cold Ohio won’t be too much for Kenyon and they begin Spring Break in Orlando with a win over the Majors of Millsaps. Kenyon 7-2
Stag-hen WEEK!! The blog will be wildin’ with content for Stag-hen and the abundance of midweek matches thanks to Spring Break, keep checking for content !!
If you have any comments, questions, or concerns comment below or tweet/email me: @newD3central / newd3central@gmail.com.