2019 Women’s Season Preview: #12 Sewanee Tigers

Two articles in one week? Am I turning into D3NEW? I could only be so lucky. Today I’m back with another team preview that I never got around to last year, which is a crying shame because this is a team who has been very solid over the past couple of years and they deserve to be recognized for it.

Location: Sewanee, TN

Coach: Conchie Shackelford (entering her 33^rd season as coach!!!, the winningest coach in Sewanee athletics history)

ITA National Ranking: 12

ITA Regional Ranking: 3

Twitter Handle: @USouthTennis (joint account with men, lots of video updates, very great overall 10/10)

2017-18 finish: This was a team that performed to status quo last year, losing all of their matches to teams in the top 10 but beating everyone outside the top 10, including 2 impressive wins over #13 Wash U in Indoor Nationals and in the Round of 32 at NCAAs. They really earned their #12 end of year ranking.

Key additions: Holy freshman Batman! There are 8 freshmen listed on Sewanee’s roster. 4 of these freshman played in the Championship draw in singles so these are the ladies that I will be listing as key additions – Morgan Downing (3 star from South Carolina), Lilly Stephens (3 star from Oregon), Caroline Adams (2 star from Alabama), and Jordan Besh (2 star from North Carolina).

Key departures: Clementina Davila (#1 singles, #1 doubles, singles All-America honors in 2018), Christina Merchant (#2 singles, #2 doubles).

Bold prediction: The Tigers will use their home court advantage to stun Emory in the first round of Indoor Nationals before falling to them in the NCAA Round of 16 later in the year. While I’m going bold, they will also pull off the upset at #8 Pomona-Pitzer during their annual California spring break trip because why not.

Lineup analysis:

Early in the season the Tigers will be on shaky ground after losing their top 2 singles players from last year to graduation. They have a lot of freshman that will be looking to play in the starting lineup but so far I’m not seeing any standouts that can really put the team on their back at the top of the lineup. Key returners who played middle of the lineup last year will need to look to step up their game in order to play at the level of #1 and #2 singles. If not, my bold predictions won’t come true and I’ll look so silly, so step it up ladies. #doitforD3AS

1.Ellie Czura, range: #1-2

Czura will be entering her junior season and will likely be forced to take a leadership role in this freshman heavy team. Last year she played primarily #3 singles and won basically every match she was supposed to, taking losses only to higher ranked teams like Emory. In NCAAs she was able to pick up a win for her team against a player from Wash U who she had previously lost to in the season, proving she is able to step up for the big occasion. And she’ll definitely need to step up if she wants to be successful in this part of the lineup.

2. Catherine Owen, range: #1-3

Owen is a sophomore who primarily played at #4 singles last year and #1 doubles with Davila. Like Czura, Owen won all the matches she was supposed to win and lost to the likes of Emory, CMS, Pomona, and Amherst. She was able to notch 2 wins over Wash U last year and against regional foe Washington and Lee, proving she can be relied upon in fairly close matches. After her success at Regionals a freshman, making the semifinals in an Emory stacked tournament, it would have been easy to stick her at the top of the lineup and leave her to the wolves but I think Coach Shackelford did right by her by placing her mid-lineup where she could get her bearings and develop match toughness. I think she has room to improve this year and will grow into a new spot higher in the lineup.

3. Haley Tucker, range:#2-4

This is a senior who will also be contributing leadership to a relatively young team. Tucker played primarily #5 singles last year and notched wins against Wash U (x2) and Pomona-Pitzer. She also managed to not lose against Emory in NCAAs and I’m all about that not-losing lifestyle, so props to Tucker for that. She will definitely be using her senior experience to continue to win matches for her team this year, and I see her as a middle-of-the-lineup rock.

4/5. Morgan Downing (Fr), Lilly Stephens (Fr), Caroline Adams (Fr), and Jordan Besh (Fr), range: #3-6

OK, call me lazy for not trying to differentiate these four but I don’t have much to go on. I strongly believe that at this level the TRN star ratings don’t make an ounce of difference. They all did similarly at Regionals, making it past the first round or losing in a tight match against decent players. I think at least two freshmen will be in the starting lineup but at this point it’s too hard for me to figure out which two because I have not been at the Tigers’ practices.

6. Maura McCrary (Sr), Sarah Thompson (Sr), Mary Jane McCaghren (Sr), range: #6, doubles

All three seniors have played at the bottom of the lineup in the past, and last year #6 singles was held down by multiple players (this is why tennis is a team sport). I think all of them will be able to see at least some playing time this year and they will more than likely be successful against most teams not named Emory.

Schedule analysis:

The Tigers will play a very strong schedule this spring. Their first trysts occur in mid-February against teams that should pose no problems for the Tigers. At the end of February, they will make the short drive to Nashville, TN as they are hosting the ITA Indoor National Championships. Here they have a first round matchup with #2 Emory, which is a little unfortunate for the Tigers as they manage to get matched up with Emory every year during NCAA Regionals and spoiler alert, Emory always wins. The Blog will do a more in depth look at Indoors when it gets closer, but I’m excited for a likely matchup between #13 Sewanee and #12 CMU in the first consolation round. Like the rankings suggest, this should be a very close match, and though CMU has the advantage and probably a stronger group of freshmen, Sewanee has been able to pull off the win against CMU every once in a while and if they get a strong start in doubles, I’d give them a good shot at pulling off this match. Though this match won’t do much for rankings, it will mean a lot for confidence as Sewanee heads off to a very challenging spring break schedule in California.

The Tigers will play a few more regional matches in early March before heading out to California for their annual spring break trip, where they have an onslaught of touch matches, including Rochester, #15 Bowdoin, #8 Pomona, #3 Williams, and #1 CMS. They’re looking at 4 very tough matches in a span of 5 days, and I can’t help but think that this may be a little overscheduled. Realistically, they will get wins over Rochester and Bowdoin, though Bowdoin will be very close. After that the Tigers can loosen up and go for broke against the higher rated California teams and Williams. At the very least these matches will be good practice for their SAA conference tournament and NCAAs.

After the Tigers return from spring break, they play mostly SAA conference foes throughout April before heading to the SAA conference tournament in Murfreesboro, TN at the end of April to try to claim their 7^th conference championship in as many years. Last year they did not lose a single match throughout the tournament, and if the Tigers are healthy, history will likely repeat itself this year. They will make their eighth NCAA tournament appearance in the last nine years, where they will most likely be in the Emory region, and we all know how that goes.

OK, that’s it. I look forward to seeing who steps up for this team this year – it seems like someone always does. I wonder if Coach Shackelford even worries about this kind of stuff after 33 years. If I were her I’d just assume everything will sort itself out. She’s been coaching longer than I’ve been alive. Some of the players she’s coached are in their 50s now. Sorry for harping I’m just really impressed by how long she’s been at Sewanee.

Look out for another couple of previews over the weekend as I ride D3NEWs preview momentum. I will definitely get all 7 previews out by mid-February, and by posting this article I have committed myself to that deadline. I’m including CNU in my preview list this year because they are now ranked #24 nationally and I think that’s quite the accomplishment, so I look forward to learning about that team in the upcoming weeks. Until then, I hope everyone continues to get pumped for the start of the season!!

-D3ASW