QF Profile: Chicago vs CMS
SLAM TENNIS COMPARISON: https://slam.tennis/compare/ncaa3m/702
CHICAGO
Power 6: 61.63 + (est. D. Liu UTR 12.32) = 73.96
Best wins: #10 CMU (6-3), #6 Wash U (5-4), #14 Pomona-Pitzer (6-3), #11 Williams (5-2), #10 Wash U (7-2), #9 CMU (8-1). #2 Emory (7-2), #9 CMU (5-2)
Worst losses: #1 Emory (4-5), #2 Bowdoin (2-7), #8 GAC (3-6)
Seniors: Nick Chua (2 Singles, 3 Doubles) Luke Tsai (3 Singles), David Liu (5 Singles, 3 Doubles)
Starting freshman: Jeremy Yuan (4 Singles, 2 Doubles)
Where they are strongest: 2 Doubles, 3 Doubles, Tsai (3), and the bottom of their singles lineup (4,5,6).
Where they are vulnerable: 1 Doubles and the top two singles spots.
How they got here: Them Boyz won their first UAA Championship and in doing so were able to completely skip over the Pool C headache. They secured a top seed and then defeated a spritied CMU team in their sweet sixteen matchup to set up a toss-up QF.
What would be considered a success: A win.
Three words to describe this team: Talented, Desperate, Historic.
Don’t forget: What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object? Pei has been unstoppable at 6 all year: 7-0, 6-0 vs ranked teams (CMU, Emory, WashU x 2, GAC, CMU again). At the same time, CMS’ revolving door at 6 has gone 16-4 against ranked teams this year. If it goes the distance, this could be the one to watch.
CMS
Power 6: 75
Best wins: #7 GAC (9-0), #2 Midd (8-1), #9 Amherst (9-0)
Worst losses: #1 Bowdoin (7-2), #3 Williams (5-4), #6 Emory (5-4, Indoors)
Seniors: Patrick Wildman 🙁
Starting freshman: Jack Katzman (#2s/#2d), Robert Liu (#3d)
Where they are strongest: Top singles.
Where they are vulnerable: Singles depth. This is not typically a problem for the Stags, but they were hurt by graduation last year. While they are definitely still a top 10 team, depth-wise, their #4-#6 singles players went 1-8 in their three losses to Williams, Emory, and Bowdoin. If they’re going to win a championship, they’re going to have to beat at least one of those teams, and they can’t be going 0-3 at the bottom of the singles lineup.
How they got here: Another dominant SCIAC season gave them a Pool A berth. UC Santa Cruz and Trinity came to town, and the Stags did what they always do (they skipped the part where they get swept in doubles this time).
What would be considered a success: From a Stephen A. Smith perspective “ANYTHING LESS THAN A CHAMPIONSHIP IS A DISAPPOINTMENT FOR THIS TEAM. I’M SORRY. BUT THAT’S THE BAR YOU SET FOR YOURSELF WHEN YOU GO TO THE TEAM FINALS YEAR, AFTER YEAR, AFTER YEAR. PERIOD” In reality, we always know CMS is going to be competing for a national championship, but with just one senior on their roster (who is not in their starting lineup due to a rash of injuries), a championship match appearance this year would be gravy for Coach Settles
Three words to describe this team: Relaxed, young, confident
Don’t forget: Nobody could ever possibly let you forget this, but the tournament will be played on their home courts, the same home courts they got spanked by Bowdoin on earlier this year.