So because I’m crazy, I for some reason challenged myself to an article a day this week. I mostly did this because I looked at my teams and realized the Northeast (yes, there are other schools outside the NESCAC) is starting their season ASAP and this team starts their season this Saturday! Anyways, I’ve had to do quite a bit of educating myself for this article a) because I’m old and haven’t played D3 tennis in many years and b) because I, frankly and foolishly, don’t know very much about the Brandeis team. After much research, a lot of guesswork and some non-scientific analysis, I’ve put this preview together. I promise to educate myself on my teams more going forward. Without further adieu, I present you article 1 of this crazy week feat. the Brandeis Judges!
Location: Waltham, MA
Coach: Ben Lamanna
Twitter Handle: @BrandeisTennis (shared with the men’s team)
ITA National Ranking: 19
ITA Regional Ranking: 9
2017-18 finish: After a solid finish to the regular season, Brandeis finished sixth at UAAs, ending their season with a loss to Case Western.
Key additions: Ana Hatfield (2-star from IL)
Key departures: Haley Cohen (#2/3/4 singles), Sabrina Neergaard (#1 singles – should be a junior this year, but isn’t listed in the roster – any intel?)
Bold prediction: The Judges will surprise with some spirited play at UAAs, earning them a 3rd place finish and really leaving the NCAA scratching their heads for Pool C selections.
Lineup analysis:
I’m going to preface this lineup analysis by saying this is a team I really don’t know too well, and I must expose my weaknesses. I’ve delved into the archives to pull this together as best I can, but, as always, this is just a guess. Plus, the big mystery / question mark for me is the absence of Sabrina Neergaard – the Judges’ star singles player.
1. Keren Khromchenko, range: #1-2
Khromchenko had a pretty tough season last year, playing primarily #1 or 2 singles. She suffered a good number of losses, but you know what they say, they only bounce back stronger. And let’s hope that’s the case for this senior. Playing #1, she have to fight every single match, but if she can pull through some of those battles, she’ll give Brandeis a crucial point.
2. Olivia Leavitt, range: #1-3
Leavitt had a really solid season last year at #3 and 4 singles. Even when she moved up, she fought hard and took home a lot of wins for the Judges. Count on her to step it up for her last season, but also have to battle hard for some tough wins.
3. Lauren Bertsch, range:#2-4
A jump up in the lineup from mostly playing #4 or 5 singles for Bertsch should be a welcome challenge to follow up a stellar year last year. Bertsch provided a decisive win in a veerrry close match against Babson last year, so I’m expecting her to take that kind of confidence and lead her team to some good victories this season.
4. Michele Lehat, range: #3-6
Brandeis has a very strong middle to bottom lineup this year, and Lehat contributes to that greatly. She had some great wins over UAA opponents last year, and if she can be an almost guaranteed point for the Judges, they’ll be in a good spot.
5. Rachel Zubrinsky, range: #4-6
Zubrinsky was in and out of the lineup last year, but any time she was in, she was on it and basically a guaranteed point for her team. Here’s to hoping she can continue that trend this year.
6. Ana Hatfield, range: #4-6
Looking forward to some big things from Brandeis’ only freshman. I don’t know too much about Hatfield, but she showed some great promise in her fall matchplay.
Schedule analysis:
Brandeis is the first team to play a match this spring in my region with a duel later this week (!!) against Division I Bryant University on February 2nd. After that, they head out west for a pretty early spring break. While out in California, the Judges play Caltech, Redlands and CMS. The match against Redlands is a must-win, and should help us shake out the status quo among the top 30 teams.
Brandeis has a jam-packed schedule this spring, and while I won’t highlight all their opponents, it’s definitely important to highlight some key matches. Brandeis should cruise through Colby, Bates and Babson without too many issues (though, could be interesting to see some bigger shake-ups). The Judges then go through a critical few weeks as they square off against NYU, Skidmore, a big challenge in Tufts and Bowdoin. These matches will be very key in setting the 10 – 20 spots in the rankings.
The Judges wrap up their season at the end of April with UAAs down in Florida, where I’m interested to see how they finish up.
There ya have it! As always, feel free to drop a comment below. Til tomorrow, tennis fans!
You forgot they had a transfer from UCF who was out all last year and is back this year…
Ah yes! Definitely an oversight on my part, thanks for pointing that out! She’ll definitely be a huge factor for Brandeis and probably will help bump them up some spots in the rankings.
Great job!! Would love to see a Brandeis 3rd place finish at UAAs to throw off the power balance. I’m going to copy your format for my previews, thank you much!
Good job!