Central Region ABCs

…and we’re back! With both of the Central ITAs looming, it seems like as good a time as any to drop my first article of the year. Unfortunately, the draws for neither ITA are available, so I’ll hold most of my ITA thoughts until those draws are made public. Instead, I’ve put together a list of Central Region “things-to-know” connected to this year and last. I’ve put them down in ABC format…though I did creatively structure some of the names or phrases to make it all work out. Central Still Rules Everything Around Me.

A – Aitor Zerdilas Herrera (Earlham) – wins over Gruppuso (OC), Arora (CMU), Rotnov (DU) at the Oberlin Invite, the former stronghold of OG Central hopes to return to the heights of his time there, and have gone back to the formula of having electric and talented foreigners leading from the top. Aitor, hailing from Athens (S/O Tsitsipas) follows in the footsteps of Anton Bartashevich and hopes to bring a similar chaos to the central’s national qualifiers.

B – Brady Anderson Graduation – A part of two separate century clubs at Coe, totaling 209 wins. Brady Anderson’s departure is yet another example of the quality that has graduated from the central region in 2018. Coe has massive shoes, possibly the best Kohawk shoes ever (definitely in recent memory), to fill and will miss hope to fend off pushes from the other teams in the American Rivers conference. Aside from always being a staple in the 5-8 regional rankings conversation, Brady was one of the kindest and truest competitors the Central has had, and we will miss him…though not as much as Coe.

C – Charles, The Senior, Pei – One of three seniors leading the Maroons this year, but the only one with substantial dual match experience, he’ll be called upon as one of their main on court leaders. Pei played primarily 5 and 6 last year, down from his previous years in the middle of the lineup, but he found immense success going 13-0 in dual matches at the two bottom spots. If Pei is slated to play low again, Chicago will be damn near unbeatable at the bottom of their lineup. Pei hasn’t ever had a big ITA result (notwithstanding his 7-6 in the third battle with CJ Krimbill), but Maroons tend to show out this weekend, so it wouldn’t surprise me if, given a favorable draw, he makes it to the last day.

D – Down in the DMs – if you have any gripes, concerns, comments, praise, hot takes, or information don’t be afraid to slide into my @newd3central DMs, anonymity will be maintained per the well-established rules of: reporter’s privilege.

E – Ethan Hillis – the Amherst transfer is projected to play 2 for the Wash U Bears, and I expect that Mr. Hillis will make a big central splash at the St. Louis ITA…but more on that when the draws come out.

F – First Years to watch from the ranked central teams: Wash U: Luke McClelland UChicago: Shramay Dhawan Kenyon: Pascal Lee Case: Aaron Umen GAC: Indraneel Raut Kalamazoo: Ian Yi Oberlin: Sam Topper Denison: Tim Ciancola

G – Grass Court Invitational Thoughts – Wash U participated in the inaugural Hall of Fame ITA Grass Court Invite along with CMS, Trinity, and Bowdoin. While the results probably aren’t too much to read into (they played on grass bruh), I just wanted to give the event a shoutout because I think it’s both incredibly cool and a nice affirmative acknowledgement of d3 tennis on one of American tennis’ most prestigious stages.

H – haha

I – Ians – Yi and Landwehr Kalamazoo and Rose-Hulman’s projected 1s and arguably top 15 seeds in the upcoming St. Louis ITA

J – Johnson & Whaling – won the A Doubles Draw at the Drake Invite defeating: Northwest Missouri State, Creighton, Drake, and Nebraska. Like Valentini, I’m very interested to see how these “new leaders” lead an Mohanad-less, not Alhouni-less, Gustavus.

K – Kalamazoo returns this year with an MIAA conference winning streak of 0, having not officially won it since 2012 due to recruiting violations that vacated some previous championships, while also preventing any postseason play last year. Every 74 year conference winning streak has to start somewhere; I’m betting that the hornets come out HOT to start the year, so as to separate themselves from the shame of their former illegal recruiting tactics. Kalamazoo. A Streak Awakens.

L – Loss of Chicago’s Four Horsemen, Johnny Wu, and Mohanad Alhouni – As I alluded to above with the Brady Anderson blurb, it’s shocking to see how much cream the central lost this past year, and mainstays at the top of the regional and national rankings have now gone on to do bigger and better things in their respective post-grad worlds. Chicago, Wash U, and GAC are going to look very different this year, and it will be interesting to see how these younger guys left on their respective teams rise to the challenge – to the vacuum at the top left by these giants graduating.

M – Manickam Manickam’s (Oberlin) graduation leaves a massively empty throne for “Best Name in D3” – Slide into my @newd3central DMs if you have suggestions for who will take over this mantle.

N – Neves, Bernardo – Neves began the year at five and then rode his undefeated dual match streak all the way up to 2, before ending the year 21-1 in dual matches. This year he’ll be expected to fill the stupidly fast feet of Johnny Wu at the top of the Bears lineup, but I think that Neves is more than up to the task. He’s holding down the top spot of this new Wash U triumvirate (Neves, Hillis, van der Sman) that is poised to retake the Central’s pole position.

O – Outdoor tennis!! – This may be the only time outside spring break and the conference tournament that these guys get to play high quality matches outdoors. Outdoor tennis is tennis in its purest form: indoor tennis makes you feel good, outdoor tennis makes you actually good.

P – Podcasts – AVZ did a podcast with our very own headmaster (@ASouth) and even though it’s been a minute I’m going to plug it again because everyone should listen despite the fact I’m OG Central’s least favorite blogger…

Q – Quit playing Concannon at 6…JK…all too early Quarterfinal predictions for NCAA in 2019: CMS, Bowdoin, Emory, Midd, Wash U, Williams, Wesleyan, and U Chicago.

R – Reifeis, William – Any central article would be incomplete without a reference to the nearly undefeated season that Reifeis and McAuley carried into the 2018 NCAA doubles tournament. The Always Fighting Wabash duo took out their high school teammate in the first round to ensure All-American status, and then rode a wave of momentum bolstered by Reifeis yells (mostly at himself, but P-Mac definitely didn’t avoid the passion), SABW(sneak attack by Wabash) returns, and a team chemistry that you can only forge in a high school chem class all the way to the Final Four. Be on the lookout for Hutch this year (definitely in a vest, maybe patagucci is he’s feeling himself) scheming new ways for Wabash to Fight, they always do.

S – Shramay Dhawan – playing the A Flight for U Chicago at the Western Michigan Invitational, is Jay Tee hinting at a new top dog on the Southside?

T – The Greatest Two Doubles Team Ever? – Yuan & Raclin, possibly the greatest two doubles team this side of Mason-Dixon Line finally move up to 1 Doubles: will they repeat as ITA champions, will they go undefeated, will they run for office? FIND OUT next time on ‘roonTV #RaclinYuan2040

U – UTR – Just a couple thoughts on UTR – It’s amazing how in a couple short years they’ve changed the way juniors, college players and coaches, and academies think and talk about themselves as well as other players. UTR has more or less usurped TRN as a main recruiting point for college coaches around the country, and junior coaches and players have reflected that shift in their conversations amongst themselves and with college coaching staffs. UTR offers a lot: there’s specificity down to the hundredths place (if you got that premium account), it shows all the satisfactory matches that person has played, and it even offers a team vs. team view which is helpful on our predictive end here at the Blog. UTR’s great, and if they have any coding or software jobs, d3 tennis has a lot of CS alum that could help.

V – Vithoontien, Leo – King of the North. I’m calling that Vithoontien becomes a 2018-2019 All-American at this upcoming ITA; Leo is the real deal and brings forth fond memories of some of the central’s best lefties. With a good tournament, Vithoontien may be able to guarantee his postseason spot (barring multiple in season catastrophes), but more importantly he gives Carleton a legit 1 in a region chock full of untested talent trying their hand at the top spot.

W – Wash U is hosting the big boy central ITA, my only question for now is: Will the final be played there or back in Chicago?

X – X-Factors for the ranked central teams – Wash U: Konrad Kozlowski UChicago: Joshua Xu Kenyon: Austin Diehl Case: Anthony Kanam GAC: Chase Johnson Kalamazoo: Ian Yi Oberlin: Zach Vaughn Denison: Tim Ciancola

Y – Yellow – Tennis balls are so f*ckin yellow. 

Z – Jake Zalenski – Last but not least, Zalenski, who has a strong argument for being the one seed in St. Louis, returns as an All-American and upperclassmen. He’ll have to make sure he avoids the post All-America woes of Wade (as shown in that ITA he got dusted by freshmen Tsai), in order to make a deep run. Zalenski, the Ohio Rublev, can hit forehands that are legally considered lethal weapons and has the moxey to lead this brash, raucous, and electric Kenyon team. Zalenski’s ceiling is probably the highest of all the Lords, but Diehl’s floor may be the highest, which makes me believe that Diehl, not Zalenski, is in a better position for a deep run in St. Louis. Zalenski, Diehl, and Paolucci make up a formidable top three and if Kenyon wants to further their NCAC dominance to the nation it starts with them.

I promise to have more pictures in my central ITA previews.

-newD3central