NCAA QF Singles Rankings

Happy Quarterfinal Day, boys and girls! The teams start in fewer than ten hours, but we wanted to give you all one more piece of fun content, AND  give the players something to read when they wake up in the morning. What better to accompany those breakfast bagels than a steaming hot portion of BULLETIN BOARD MATERIAL! That’s right, along with D3RegNEC, DIIIWest, newD3Central, AVZ (A.K.A. OG D3Central), & CHB (A.K.A. OG D3TennisGuy/D3West) we went through each of the six singles positions and ranked the Quarterfinalists 1-8. The individual rankings were then turned into a composite ranking, just like our Power Rankings, which we have for you below. It’s about 2 a.m. on Monday but I’m channeling my inner D3AS so I will be blurbing for each position along the way as well. We would love nothing more than for a guy we put at 8th to pull a stunner tomorrow, and I almost guarantee you that there will be some upsets over the next couple days. Enjoy the rankings, enjoy the blurbs, enjoy the QFs!

#1 SINGLES

1. Niko Parodi – CMS
2. Lubomir Cuba – Midd
3. Brian Grodecki – Williams
4. Grant Urken – Bowdoin
5. Zach Hewlin – Whitman
6. Jonathan Jemison – Emory
7. Johnny Wu – Wash U
8. Eric Kerrigan – Chicago

Best QF matchup: Lubo Cuba vs Zach Hewlin, Midd vs Whitman

When we could see #1 vs #2: Finals

BLURB: Parodi was the unanimous #1 guy here. In fact, he was the only unanimous #1 pick throughout all six singles spots. Cuba, Grodecki, and Urken were all very close for the #2 spot here, as all three NE guys have had great years. The bottom of the list contains too many All-American statuses to count, and (along with the depth of the #2 position) was actually the inspiration for this article. This is the deepest group of top players I’ve seen in a long time, with all eight guys qualifying for individual NCAAs later in the week!

#2 SINGLES

1. Jack Katzman – CMS
2. Luke Tercek – Bowdoin
3. Noah Farrell – Midd
4. Bernardo Neves – Wash U
5. Austin Barr – Williams
6. Nicolas Chua – Chicago
7. Hayden Cassone – Emory
8. Ben Kirsh – Whitman

Best QF matchup: Luke Tercek vs Bernardo Neves, Bowdoin vs Wash U

When we could see #1 vs #2: Semifinals

BLURB: There was a fair amount of debate between Katzman, Tercek and Farrell at this spot, but the freshman and the senior were the only two to earn first place votes. Again, as you go down this list, the depth at #2 singles is really stunning. To see battle-tested vets like Chua and the uber talented players of tomorrow like Barr, Cassone and Kirsh on the bottom 1/2 of this list is really something. Don’t forget our Elite-90 winner in Mr. Neves who earned five out of six 4th place votes.

#3 SINGLES

1. Luke Tsai – Chicago
2. William de Quant – Midd
3. Kyle Wolfe – Bowdoin
4. Oscar Burney – CMS
5. Sachin Raghavan – Williams
6. Alec Josepher – Emory
7. Benjamin van der Sman – Wash U
8. Gary Ho – Whitman

Best QF matchup: Luke Tsai vs Oscar Burney, Chicago @ CMS

When we could see #1 vs #2: Finals

BLURB: Tsai and de Quant both received first place votes, but AVZ’s biggest snub for NCAAs ended up taking the top spot. Wolfe did just beat WDQ in the NESCAC finals, but our panel still gives the Panther the edge between the seniors. The battles for 5th and 7th place were extremely tight here, each one coming down to a difference of 1/6 of one point.

#4 SINGLES

1. Kyle Schlanger – Midd
2. Adrien Bouchet – Emory
3. Jeremy Yuan – Chicago
4. Ananth Raghavan – Williams
5. Jerry Jiang  – Bowdoin
6. Julian Gordy – CMS
7. Daniel Li – Wash U
8. Daniel Foster – Whitman

Best QF matchup: Adrien Bouchet vs Ananth Raghavan, Emory vs Williams

When we could see #1 vs #2: Semifinals

BLURB: Another particularly strong group, especially towards the top of the list. Schlanger earned five out of six first place votes, and the battle between Bouchet, Yuan, and Lil Raghavan was pretty close for 2nd place. I am personally rooting for Ananth tomorrow against a higher rated Bouchet as I picked him higher on my individual list! Tough sledding for Gordy who has been one of the best in the country at his spot this year. He and Jiang actually tied for 5th, but the captain lost my coin flip.

#5 SINGLES

1. David Liu – Chicago
2. Gil Roddy – Bowdoin
3. Daniel Park – CMS
4. Andrew Harrington – Emory
5. Deepak Indrakanti – Williams
6. Jason Haugen – Wash U
7. Chase Friedman – Whitman
8. Nate Eazor – Midd

Best QF matchup: David Liu vs Daniel Park, Chicago @ CMS

When we could see #1 vs #2: Semifinals

BLURB: The mythical return of David Liu, like Kirk Gibson hobbling out onto the field, has Chicago fans all atwitter that the magical run for this senior class might just end at Disney Land. None of us believe Liu would be playing #5 if he had been healthy all year, so Roddy at #2 would easily be #1, considering he didnt get a vote lower than second place. Park earned the majority of 3rd place votes, but after that this was our closest race between #4 and #8, showing just how deep this group of #5 players really is.

#6 SINGLES

1. Arturo Kam – Williams
2. Charlie Pei – Chicago
3. Justin Patel – Bowdoin
4. Avinash Vemuri – CMS
5. Andre Xiao – Midd
6. J.J. Kroot – Wash U
7. Scott Rubinstein – Emory
8. Alex Hwang – Whitman

Best QF matchup: Charlie Pei vs Avinash Vemuri, Chiacao @ CMS

When we could see #1 vs #2: Finals

BLURB: I’m thrilled that my non-NE colleagues have taken notice of the Eph freshman’s fantastic year; however, I’m a little surprised he earned the top spot over Charlie Pei, who my fellow bloggers always say is somewhat unfair at #6. Neither Pei nor Kam has lost in over a month, but both will have stiff tests on Monday. I feel like I’m saying this with every spot, but having guys like Kroot and Rubinstein so far down this list is a testament to just how deep these quarterfinalists are.