Fast Facts
Location: Northfield, Minn. (45 miles south of Minneapolis)
Head Coach: Stephan Zweifel, 22nd year as head coach (he’s also a biology professor and perhaps the only coach in D3 tennis with a Ph.D. in molecular genetics!)
Assistant Coaches: Nick Crossley (eighth year) and Josh Heiden (fifth year). Massive shoutout to these two for being part of the Gustavus squad that won the inaugural USTA College Alumni tournament in Orlando!
ITA Ranking: 38th National, 8th in Central in last May’s year end rankings
Blog Power Ranking: 40
UTR Power 6: 66
Twitter: @CarletonTennis. There’s quite a history with this account that goes beyond my time as a Blogger. Ask ASouth or NE for the full story. These days the account is tamer but still pretty good with updates and gems like these:
Leo’s tennis skills > Leo’s basketball skills #onlyairballs pic.twitter.com/XDVEprxZ2c
— Carleton Men’s Tennis (@CarletonTennis) October 5, 2018
Highlight of the St. Olaf scrimmage:
Lewis (serving): “Is it 15-40?”
St. Olaf guy: “It’s deuce…”
Lewis: “Nice”— Carleton Men’s Tennis (@CarletonTennis) September 25, 2018
Hashtag: #SwordUp
Additions: William Walsh (TRN 3-star, #221, UTR 10.99, from Texas), Xander Roti (TRN 2-star, #292, UTR
10.61 from New York)
Departures: Kevin Mei (mixed results at 1-2 singles and doubles) , Kevin Hurley (won a ton at 5/6 singles and 2/3 doubles)
Knights of (K)note
Leo Vithoontien: Obviously. Leo is one of my favorite players in D3, bursting onto the scene last year as a freshman from Thailand. I remember first taking notice when he tuned Brady Anderson from Coe, as a source on the ground assured me the kid was for real. He backed it up with an awesome spring, capping it off with a win in the first round of NCAAs over Watanabe (GFU) before losing in an excellent match (where he had plenty of chances!) to Sean Wei (Amherst) in the Round of 16. Leo made the ITA final in Carleton’s only fall tournament, falling to Jake Trondson of HAMLINE in another tightly contested match. All of this is to say that Leo should be a very legit #1, and I expect him to be one of the top players in the Central region this spring. I really don’t want to get into NCAA singles qualifying scenarios in December, but I will say that I fully expect Leo to qualify once again this year.
William Walsh: I guess I can’t only talk about Leo. Walsh comes in with a pretty solid junior record from Texas (a strong section), and I could see him playing in the top half of the lineup this spring (he’s got the second highest UTR on the team). He lost 6-4, 6-2 to Trondson after winning three matches at ITAs, so we don’t have a ton to go on, but Walsh should be a very nice addition for Carleton, especially with the graduation of Kevin Mei.
Xander Roti: Though only a 2-star, Roti finished his junior career ranked in the top 300 on TRN. His ITA results were nothing too interesting, but I think he’ll very much be in play for a lower lineup spot, where I think he will rack up plenty of wins and be competitive in Carleton’s bigger matches.
Jordon O’Kelly: O’Kelly is likely to be a mid-lineup singles guy again, but more interesting is his doubles potential. He and Leo just barely missed NCAAs last year, and they definitely had a case to get in, with their only loss being to Al-Houni/Whaling (Gustavus), a loss they avenged 8-2(!) in the MIAC tournament. If Leo and Jordon can recreate some of their play from last year, there’s no reason they can’t be one of the top doubles teams in the region. Unfortunately, an ITA loss to Derbani/Aney (Gustavus, but not their #1 team) is going to hurt their resume, but they’ll have chances to make up for it this spring.
Andrew Qi: Potential mid lineup guy, played 3 and 4 last spring. Best result was beating Nate Ackert from Coe.
Xander Zuczek: So apparently Carleton has TWO XANDERS! Had a very good year at 2 and 3 doubles last year, so look for him to be a factor there. His name would also be worth a lot of points in Scrabble.
Christof Zweifel: He’s the coach’s son! That’s (K)notable.
Johnny Reichman: See photo.
Jonas Lindholm-Uzzi: See photo.
Schedule Analysis
Schedule here
Being located in Minnesota doesn’t make scheduling very easy, but the Knights have a pretty decent schedule. It’s a good mix of regional competition that will help with regional ranking as well as an interesting out of region match against Sewanee that will be big for national ranking. I’d love to see Carleton get another top team on the schedule besides Gustavus, like Chicago or Wash U, but that’s easier said than done. The matches I’m particularly looking forward to, that I think will tell us all we need to know about the Knights, are as follows: UW-Whitewater, Grinnell, DePauw, Sewanee, Coe, and of course Gustavus. At the end of the day, Carleton’s biggest goal is beating Gustavus and ending the Gusties long reign atop the MIAC. Could this be the year?
Miscellaneous Thoughts
- Just so there’s no confusion: no, I don’t think Carleton is going to beat Gustavus. I do think the gap is closing and the match(es) could be as close as 6-3 or mayyyyybe 5-4, but if there’s anything I’ve learned in my years of Blogging, it’s that you don’t pick against the team that wins the conference every single year (see: College, Kenyon).
- That said, just for fun, let’s talk about what an upset would look like. Last year in the MIAC title match Carleton almost swept the doubles, so there’s no reason they can’t be up at least 2-1 again. Leo should be favored over anyone on Gustavus now that Mo is graduated, and then with an unproven lower lineup for Gustavus, I could see Carleton sneaking out a couple of points. Likely? Not really. But actually now that I think about it, a Carleton upset wouldn’t shock me as much as I initially thought. Coach Valentini will not let the Gusties overlook the Knights, however, so if Carleton is going to pull off the upset, they’re going to have to earn it.
- In theory, Carleton should be right there with Gustavus every single year. Academically, it’s a great school, and because of that they have an ability to recruit players from all over the country (and world) in a way that other MIAC schools simply can’t do. With a couple solid players already committed for 2019, I’m hoping that Carleton is really starting to get on the right track towards maximizing their potential as a D3 Tennis team. Look at some of the teams ranked ahead of them, and tell me why Carleton shouldn’t be able to compete with them from a recruiting perspective. Back when we did the last hot takes article I said that only like a dozen schools can win NCAAs, and in that same vein there are only a limited number of schools that can get into the top 15 or 20 (or maybe even higher) nationally, and I fully believe Carleton is among them.
- A cool thing Carleton did this summer was take a team trip to Switzerland to visit Coach Zweifel’s homeland. I’m pretty jealous, to be honest. Besides being really fun, don’t overlook the impact that kind of trip might have on team-building and chemistry. Everything matters!
Final Thoughts:
I usually finish writing season previews thinking “man this team is boring/uninteresting/not going to change much.” Not so for Carleton 2019! There’s talent, interesting storylines, and (seemingly) cool players and coaches. I’m optimistic that Carleton can build on last year and solidify a place in (at least) the top 35, and potentially bring both a singles player and doubles team to NCAAs. To sum it all up: I’m pumped to see what the Knights can do!