QF Profile: Emory vs Williams
Slam Tennis Comparison: https://slam.tennis/compare/ncaa3m/704
EMORY
Power 6: 74.48
Best wins: vs CMS (Indoors Final, Neutral, 5-4), vs Chicago (Indoors Semifinal, Neutral, 5-4), @ GAC, (Indoors Quarterfinal, ROAD, 5-4)
Worst losses: Middlebury (Neutral, 7-2), Chicago (UAA Finals, Neutral, 7-2)
Seniors: Alec Josepher (#3 singles), Andrew Harrington (#5 singles/#3 doubles), Scott Rubinstein (#6 singles/#1 doubles), Max Renke (doubles specialist)
Starting freshman: Hayden Cassone (#2 singles/#3 doubles)
Where they are strongest: The middle of the singles lineup. Bouchet and Harrington at #4 and #5 is pretty filthy, and this sets up a battle of strengths against the Ephs. It would be easy to make a case for Jemison and Cassone at the top of lineup as well, but at this point of the season everybody who is left has a very strong #1 and #2 player (seriously, Urken/Tercek, Cuba/Farrell, Grodecki/Barr, Kerrigan/Chua, Parodi/Katzman, JJ/Cassone, Hewlin/Kirsh, and Wu/Neves is an unreal group of duos.)
Where they are vulnerable: Kind of like with Williams, it’s tough to really pick out any true vulnerabilities through this squad. At the beginning of the year I would have said #5 and #6, but those have turned into near strengths. Also like Williams, Emory’s doubles hasn’t been amazing this year. Yes, Rubinstein/Spaulding have been pretty good at the top, but the doubles as a whole have left something to be desired. We’ll see if the new teams at #2 and #3 continue to work for the Eagles.
How they got here: Emory took out three top-10 teams at Indoors, and each of them in 5-4 nail-biters. They continued along that path and didn’t lose a DIII match for about two months. However, Midd took out the Eagles with ease on a neutral court, and then a Jemison-less EU fell to Chicago in the UAA Finals. Emory earned a Pool-C bid, and skated through their Regional, taking out NCW 5-0 in the Sweet-16.
What would be considered a success: The Eagles have title aspirations every single year, but given their losses to Midd and Chicago in back-to-back weekends in April, I think a win over the Ephs and yet another trip to the Final-Four would turn this season into at least a moderate success. However, when you’ve won two titles in the past six years and are a perennial contender, losing at any point of the season should always sting.
Three words to describe this team: Experienced, vociferous, FIGHT
Don’t forget: These are your defending national champions. Anyone who is doubting the Eagles due to their end of season performance needs to remember to show this team the proper respect.
WILLIAMS
Power 6: 74.89
Best wins: vs Middlebury (HOME, 5-4), @ CMS (ROAD, 5-4)
Worst losses: vs Chicago (Neutral, 5-2), @ Bowdoin (ROAD, 5-4), vs Middlebury (NESCAC Semifinals, Neutral, 5-1)
Seniors: Brian Grodecki (#1 singles/#1 doubles), Sachin Raghavan (#3 singles), Jordan Sadowsky (#3 doubles), Reehan Vij.
Starting freshman: Austin Barr (#2 singles), Arturo Kam (#6 singles/#3 doubles), Calvin Chung (#2 doubles)
Where they are strongest: It’s tough not to just pick Grodecki here but I’m going with the singles depth. Lil Raghavan has been amazing, Indrakanti looks so good at #5 right now, and Kam has (quietly if you don’t read our Players of the Week articles), been one of the most productive freshmen in the country. This is really impressive because I would have bet on this to be Williams’ most vulnerable spot before the season began.
Where they are vulnerable: Like a number of other teams still alive, Williams doesn’t have any true weaknesses. However, I’m going to nitpick a bit a go with the top of their doubles lineup. They’ve been swapping it around all year, which I originally thought would give them an unbeatable #2 team, but that hasn’t been the case either.
How they got here: Big early wins over CMS and Midd put Williams in the top-5, and they stayed there all through the year, ending their season with a semifinal loss in their conference tournament to Midd. The Ephs were awarded their own Regional, and overcame a 2-1 deficit after doubles against their archrivals to knock Amherst out and move onto the Elite-8 for the second consecutive year.
What would be considered a success: While the Blog and those in Williamstown had high hopes for the Ephs this year, I believe the program should be proud of what they have already accomplished. That being said, I think a win over Emory would turn this season from a good one into a great one. Anything beyond the Final Four is gravy, but this team ABSOLUTELY has the ability to hoist the trophy next week.
Three words to describe this team: Grind, familial, PSYCHIN
Don’t forget: This team went a combined 9-9 against Midd and Bowdoin during the regular season. Just because they don’t have quite the same hype surrounding them, doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be considered one of the favorites to win it all!