NE Weekend Preview — With a little help from my friends

NE Weekend Preview – with a little help from my friends

Happy March Madness, boys and girls! The Blog has been crushing it this week as we roll through a heavy spring break period. The Stag Hen, individual match-by-match previews, and so much more! There are so many matches this weekend, that I’m about to go into blurb-overdrive. However, luckily I don’t have to do it all on my own. DIIIWest has kindly agreed to give his take on the West Coast teams, and D3RegAS might even take a celeb shot at the end of the article! As I write this Trae Young is both single handedly keeping Oklahoma alive and giving the game to Rhode Island. It’s going to be a fun weekend…

#2 Bowdoin vs #12 Whitman, Friday 12:00 p.m.

NE: While the rankings on this match suggest that this should be a great matchup, I will be surprised if this match is closer than 7-2. Bowdoin is stronger where Whitman is strong (doubles and the top of the lineup), and significantly stronger at the bottom of the lineup. If Bowdoin rests a guy or two considering they are playing two matches on Friday, we could see it get a little closer. Wolfe and Jiang have been “struggling” (note those are some heavy quotes) as compared to the rest of the team, so it would be nice to see either of them bounce back and have an easy win. If Urken can take care of Hewlin, he will have capped off a ridiculous week including wins over Parodi and Levine. I, along with others, am extremely impressed with the junior and he’s quickly becoming a candidate for player of the year.
DIIIWest — Why Whitman will win: Whitman is one of the better teams out West and they’ll try to prove that when they take on the Polar Bears in CA. The Blues got absolutely smacked against Amherst this past Tuesday; rest assured they’ll put this disappointing loss on the backburner and come out to their match against Bowdoin amped up and ready to go. Whitman has a deep team and we saw their potential this past February when they took out Redlands and Trinity(TX) at ease.
DIIIWest — Why the won’t: Bowdoin is a damn good team and we saw their depth and talent on full display this past week in Stag Hen. If they can take out CMS on their home courts in the manner in which they did, they should be able to take care of business against Whitman. Bowdoin is too talented on both the singles and doubles court for the Blues… I’m predicting a 7-2 win for the Polar Bears.

#10 Wesleyan vs #8 CMU, Friday 2:30 p.m.

NE: Wes got worked by Emory today, 7-2, winning both of their matches in superbreakers. After a doubles sweep it looked like Wes waved a little bit of a white flag pulling both Daniels and Roji from the singles lineup. If those guys can play against CMU on Friday, that was a brilliant move by Coach Fried. Although Wes’ break has been somewhat underwhelming so far, a win over CMU would make up for everything (to this point), and totally WASH out the loss to the Bears the other day (see what I did there?) There is a ton on the line for both teams here, as a Tartan win would basically keep them feeling good about their NCAA chances (barring a big upset) until UAAs. Doubles will play a big role here as neither team has played amazing dubs to start their years. Whichever team takes a lead should feel good about their chances, as CMU should win at 1 and 3, but Wes should be favored at the bottom of the lineup if healthy. Finkelman vs Downing could also be a deciding match. D3AS talked about this match in his preview this year, so take a look at that.
AS: http://www.division3tennis.com/spring-break-part-infinity-cmu-pre-cap-and-emory-preview/

#2 Bowdoin vs #26 Skidmore, Friday 7:00 p.m.

NE: Before the Polar Bears’ trip, I was a little worried at the idea of taking on Whitman and Skidmore on the same day. However, given how they’ve been playing, Bowdoin’s 2nd match of the day shouldn’t be too much trouble. It’s very possible that we will see a Zhao or Carstens at the bottom of the lineup in either this match or the earlier match against Whitman. Just like the earlier matchup, Bowdoin simply does what Skidmore does but better. Both teams play strong doubles, and the matchup at #1 could be a very good one. A win for Skid at #1 dubs would go a long ways towards keeping them in the race for individual NCAAs after a tough loss to Amherst earlier this week. Urken and Tercek should be favored against Koulouris and Wynne, and the bottom of Bowdoin’s lineup should clean up. That being said, Skidmore should probably ranked higher than 26th, and the Thoroughbreds can absolutely a doubles lead, but I think they need a sweep to have any chance at an upset. I’ll go Bowdoin 7-2 again, but this one could definitely end up 9-0.

#4 Middlebury @ #21 MIT, Saturday 10:00 a.m.

NE: We haven’t seen too much from either of these squads yet as neither of them have taken a trip in 2018. Midd took down Bates and Babson last weekend, while MIT got beaten by Tufts. While there is a lot of talent on both sides, this really shouldn’t be a close match. After going through the power rankings last night, it’s clear that there is a gap after the top 13 or 15, and tiers of the teams above that. Middlebury is a top tier team, and MIT appears to be below the gap and the top-15. It’s too early to write that in pen, but it’s certainly penciled in for now. The real question is whether or not we see any of de Quant or Farrell this weekend, neither of whom played last weekend If so, I’m looking for Midd to take this 8-1, if not, it might be more like 7-2 or even 6-3 if we get some supers.

#10 Wesleyan @ #13 Redlands, Saturday 1:00 p.m.

NE: I have already written about Wesleyan a lot this week so I’m gonna keep this shorter. They took out Redlands last year, and I like the matchup again this year. It’s a match they cannot lose if they hope to maintain any assemblance of Pool-C hope. If Wes is at full health, the Cards would be favored in dubs and also favored at most of the singles spots.
DIIIWest — Why Redlands will win: The Dawgs may have lost to Wesleyan last year 6-3, but Redlands is much better on the doubles court and more deep in the middle of the singles lineup this year. Their mid-lineup depth is what lost them the match against Wesleyan… with a deeper singles lineup and rejuvenated doubles teams, the Dawgs could very well pull this match out.
DIIIWest — Why they won’t: Wesleyan should come into this match confident that they’ll win this match. With Chen and Finkelman holding the top 2 spots, along with three very solid doubles teams, the Cardinals are simply more talented top to bottom than the Dawgs. Expect them to take 2 out of 3 doubles and 4 out of 6 singles for a 6-3 win.

#6 Amherst @ #3 CMS, Saturday 2:00 p.m.

NE: Besides Wesleyan vs CMU, this is the match I’m most excited about this weekend (this should be better tennis, but that match has more post-season implications). Herst has come out flying out of the gate this spring, with BIG wins over Skidmore, CMU, and Whitman (LINK OUT TO WEDS ARTICLE). TALK ABOUT AMHERST VS WASH U EARLIER TODAY. Given the week Amherst is having so far, they (rightfully) shot up our power rankings all the way up to (INSERT NEW POWER RANKING), and CMS is no longer a huge favorite in this match. Amherst plays good doubles, and while their strength is at #2 (CMS has the strongest #2 team in the country as of right now) the rest of the teams are good as well. It’s very possible that Herst takes a 2-1 lead on the Stags similar to Bowdoin. Looking a bit deeper at the singles matchups, CMS will still be favored at the top two spots, Bessette and Burney should be a battle. Kaplan has the ability to beat Park, we’ll see if the Stag sophomore can bounce back from the beating he took at the hands of Jerry Jiang the other day. Ma and Fung have been very strong for the Mammoths so far, and while this might sound strange I like them both over Gordy and Jacobs if those are the matchups. That means this what could come right down to the wire! I hope I’m wrong, but I see CMS coming out on top of a close 5-4 match.
DIIIWest — Why CMS will win: CMS has proved to us all each and every year that they are one of the better teams in the country. They’ll be playing Amherst on their home courts and we’ve seen so far this year that the Stags will beat teams they are expected to beat… in this case, I believe they are expected to take down the Mammoths.
DIIIWest — Why they won’t: CMS is absolutely more vulnerable this year and we saw this in their 7-2 loss against Bowdoin. They aren’t as deep throughout their singles lineup as in years prior and this could be a huge liability against an extremely solid Amherst team. We’ve seen the Mammoths absolutely destroy Whitman and Carnegie which tells us all that they are here and ready to play some ball on their CA trip.

#4 Middlebury @ #19 Brandeis, Saturday 4:00 p.m.

NE: Brandeis has been playing pretty well so far this year, especially considering they lost their top three guys to graduation. They eked out wins over Bates and RPI, and fell 5-4 at PP after sweeping doubles. That being said, Midd is a different beast entirely. Even though Midd will be playing its second match of the day, and playing indoors at Deis isn’t the easiest, I would be surprised if this one stayed close. Two of Deis’ strongest suits so far have been their doubles and their depth. We will get to see just how good both are when the take on the Panthers. As I said in the Midd/MIT blurb from above, the most interesting part of this from a Panther fan’s prospective is whether or not you get to see William de Quant or Noah Farrell, neither of whom played in either of Midd’s two matches last Saturday. One other thing to watch in this one is the matchup at #1 doubles. Coramutla and Aizenberg have been one of the strongest teams in the region, and if de Quant is back they’ll likely be taking on the defending NCAA champions.

#17 Tufts vs #23 Sewanee, Sunday

NE: We got our first glimpse of Tufts this spring when they beat MIT 6-3 last weekend in Cambridge. A doubles sweep is the best way to start the year, and any sort of prolonged doubles success immediately makes Tufts a threat. Gupte, Ali, Sorkin, Battle, Coran, and Biswas is a fairly formidable singles lineup that has the ability to win at all six spots depending on the day. Sewanee hasn’t a ranked match played in a little while, but has wins over Kalamazoo, NC Wesleyan, Coe and Stevens, while also taking close losses to Kenyon and UMW. Coach Shackelford’s squad has a couple put-up or shut-up matches coming this weekend against Swat, Whitman and, of course, Tufts. The Bos will be favored, and should win this match, but remember that it will be their 2nd day of playing outdoors since October. Tufts does have a match against Conn on Saturday as a warm-up for this one. While the Jumbos do play at CMS later in their trip, this is the most important match for them in terms of their ranking and their outside shot at Pool-C.