Spring Break Part Infinity: CMU Pre-Cap and Emory Preview

D3AtlanticSouth

This is a week of excitement. This is a week of MADNESS. It’s a week of a lot of Spring Break matches. What a week it already has been, with the Stag Hen completing and a new champion was crowned. We’ve had upsets, more upsets, and even a social media uproar about a certain program’s lack of dignity as a host. But, all of those things do not matter here in the microcosm of this article, as I will be going pure ASouth for this one. That’s right, it’s time for a CMU break update and a preview to Emory’s Spring Break in California, which they actually haven’t done in a while.  First, let’s take a look back and ahead on the team that is the Tartans.

Carnegie Mellon Spring Break

I made some comments about CMU’s Spring Break in a previous article, and I mentioned that a successful Spring Break would mean 1 win against one of their NESCAC foes. That still has not happened yet, and I am yet to determine that CMU has had a successful Spring Break. They’ve had a good one, but not a success just yet. The reason for this, despite their win against Wash U, is that they will most likely play Wash U again at UAAs, where the late season formula will value that outcome much greater than the one that happened this past Sunday. However, from a confidence perspective, CMU comes out of this past weekend feeling pretty good about themselves.  This tweet also makes them feel pretty good.

This one probably does too.

CMU currently finds itself in a Pool C spot based on the above, but lots of matches left to play. If you’re looking for a recap for what CMU did the past few days, you’re not going to get it here. Here are their results, however:

CMU def Wash U 5-4

Amherst def. CMU 7-2

I am sure NE will touch on Amherst’s run this week in one of his posts, so I won’t really touch on either match here. Basically, CMU has a really important match against Wesleyan on Friday, which I will get into more detail. But first, let’s look at another match that CMU will be playing in about 6 hours.

Bowdoin vs. CMU, Wednesday, 6PM ET @ CMS

I’ll write a quick blurb about this – Bowdoin is in a different tier than CMU and really any other Tier 2 or Tier 3 team that we have this year. Hence, the tiers. Bowdoin is coming off a 7-2 beatdown of CMS on their home courts. Both the top and the bottom of their lineups are playing lights out, and the top is most surprising. This spells bad news for CMU because their only way of beating Bowdoin was a Levine for 2 scenario while they grind out 3 random matches. I just don’t think this will happen against such a strong team in Bowdoin. However, keep in mind Bowdoin has played 3 matches in the past two days and will be returning to the court today. This could be the only reason why CMU has a very, very outside shot in this one. If they can make the Polar Bears work in doubles or even catch them sleeping after their big Stag Hen win, then we have a match. My prediction, Bowdoin def. CMU 7-2.

Wesleyan vs. CMU, Friday, 2:30 PM ET, @ the Claremont Club

As I mentioned earlier, this is the biggest match of the trip for CMU now.  Wesleyan is reeling after a 4th place finish at the Stag Hen, and will be playing Emory the day before this match. They’ve got an injury to last year’s #3-4 singles player Joachim Samson, who we haven’t seen on the trip. Cameron Daniels (#5-6 singles) left a match with an injury and didn’t play Day 2 Stag Hen. However, Friday is two days away and can absolutely change a lot of things for the Cardinals. They know how important this match is. Wesleyan is backed into a corner with a loss to a UAA team (and not a top one) in Wash U and can’t afford another loss to a middle of the pack UAA team in CMU. This is going to be an all out war in what will be CMU’s last Spring Break match. Win, and feel good about yourself. Lose, and put all your eggs in the UAA tournament basket once again. That formula has not worked more often than it has for CMU, so I’d suggest winning on Friday. But, that’s just me. My prediction, still unknown.

Emory Spring Break

The Emory Spring Break is actually quite boring, as the Eagles seem to think that they have enough matches later in the year that they don’t have to jam pack their Spring Break schedule like most of the NESCACs do. Given that Emory will be traveling to play both Middlebury and Amherst later in the year, Browning is more or less correct about this and the Eagles will get to enjoy their time in California as more of a team bonding trip. This makes the Spring Break preview for Emory quite easy, as they really have two big matches:

  • Emory vs. Wesleyan, Thursday, 5:30PM ET @ Claremont
  • Emory vs. Trinity TX, Friday, 7:00PM ET @ Los Angeles

That’s all! That’s literally all Emory has to do over this break other than play Asuza Pacific, who obviously is a good school but that’s more for practice than anything.  Given Wesleyan’s struggles at the Stag-Hen, Emory is the heavy favorite going into the match tomorrow. There’s really only a few things to watch in this match, and as always it will start with the doubles. If you remember correctly from Indoors, Emory held doubles leads against both GAC and Chicago, two teams touted as great doubles teams this year. They fell behind against CMS, which was surprising given the strength of all of the Emory teams. I fully expect them to come out ahead against Wesleyan. All their teams should have built solid chemistry by now and who knows what teams Wesleyan is going to throw out there. If Emory comes out focused and sharp, a sweep is not out of the question. Remember, CMS swept this team and Wash U led 2-1. Anything less than that is an obvious failure for a team that fancies itself the national championship frontrunner.

In singles, it totally depends on the lineup Wesleyan throws out there. Don’t look now, but Hayden Cassone has finally been moved up to #2 singles, where he replaces Alec Josepher, who struggled at the #2 spot. Cassone will be tested immediately as he’ll play another freshman in Finkelman of Wes, who has carved himself out a pretty damn good reputation thus far. This match will say a lot about Cassone’s ability to play at the #2 spot behind Jonathan Jemison. I’d also like to keep an eye out for Adrien Bouchet, who has been playing doubles but been getting pulled from singles. My gut says he’s dealing with some type of physical ailment as it is quite curious that he keeps getting pulled in particular. Add that to the fact he doesn’t seem to be playing up to his standards, and you get a potential injury conversation. He’ll be in the singles lineup, but don’t be surprised if he struggles against Eusebio despite being at a higher tier than him when they are both playing to their norm.

After Wesleyan, Emory will probably breeze through a Trinity TX team that just isn’t the same as years past. Doubles might get interesting, but I seriously doubt it. I expect Emory to blank the Tigers and finish off their Spring Break with a nice win and maybe a trip to Indian Wells to catch some more tennis action.

Onto the next article! NE has been on my case about writing more for good reason, and I’m happy that I get to give you guys some content about the few teams I even cover these days. Shoutout to UMW and Hopkins, I haven’t forgotten about you either. Expect some Power Rankings tomorrow before some of the big matches, along with other articles to come out! Spring Break is upon us and we are in full fledged blog mode. ASouth, OUT.

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