Intro
Hellos Ladies and Gentlemen! Here is my final season (pre)view of a top 20 team in the Central Region. The Case Western Reserve University Spartans have enjoyed their time in the top 20 for the past 4 years but this year will prove to be a major building year for them. With a roster of all sophomores and freshmen, they have some time to build up their experience, but being in the UAA, they will have to take their lumps this year.
Quick Facts:
Location: Cleveland, OH
Coach: Kirsten Gambrell McMahon, 6th year
ITA National Ranking: #16
Twitter: @casetennis1
Insta:
Key Additions: Shreyaa Mukund (7.59), Sneha Karnam (7.32P) Nidhi Jha (6.82P), Eliza Georgiades (5.28P), Kristin Jones, (NA)
Key Departures: Nithya Kanagasegar (1st singles/1st doubles), Nina Cepeda (5th singles, 2nd doubles), Peyton Young (6th singles, 3rd doubles), Jessica Liu (#3 singles/#2 doubles)
Last 5 National Year End Team Rankings (2018 -> 2014): 15, 18, 20, 20, 22
Last 5 National Recruiting Class Rankings (2018 -> 2014): NA, 15, RV, RV, 10
Lineup
Case will have to put out a dramatically different lineup than last year. They have lost half of their 1st and 3rd doubles teams, as well as their entire 2nd doubles team from last year. In singles, they lose their #1, #3, #5, and #6 players.
1. Madeline Paolucci, 8.42 – Paolucci played mostly at the #2 singles position and she will be looked upon to step up to the top spot this year.
2. Nicole Cardwell, 7.62 – Nicole was their #5 singles player last year, so another player who will be looked upon to step up. She is also their team captain.
3. Sneha Karnam, 7.32P – Freshman!
4. Mira Amin, 7.63 – played at #4 singles last year
5. Nidhi Jha, 6.82P – Another freshman!
6. Shreyaa Mukund, 7.59 – And yet another freshman!
Schedule – https://athletics.case.edu/sports/wten/2018-19/schedule
Case’s first matches were last weekend (oops) against #39 Hope and Kalamazoo at the Cleveland Skating Club. Their match against Hope came down to the last match on court and Hope took the match in 3 sets at #6 to take the overall match 5-4. In March the team travels to Florida to play against Millsaps and 2 NESCAC teams in #3 Amherst and #6 Wesleyan. The Millsaps match may wind up being a close match, but I’d give Case the nod in that match. Their match against #22 Kenyon should be another close match, and I’d give Kenyon the edge there for the ‘upset’ in an extremely close match. In April they play against their UAA foes WashU and Chicago, then with the end of April comes the UAA Conference Tournament in Florida. Last year they were able to beat Brandeis 7-2 and grab 5th place in the UAA. I predict a bit of a different year for the Spartans as they may find themselves in the 7th/8th place match for UAAs this year. They should be able to take Rochester down in that match since I think Rochester is still a couple of years away from finishing higher (prove me wrong please!!!)
As a side note, NYU’s year will also determine how Case finishes. NYU is the most enigmatic team in the top 40, as you never know what they’ll do! Last year they had big wins over Brandeis and Skidmore. Their home match against CNU (who just beat W&L 5-4) on 2/24 will be a big one and will be a good indicator of how good they are as well as who is actually playing on the team!
Keys
1. A learning year – the team will learn a lot this year!
2. Youth – another team full of freshmen and sophomores!!! Something must be in the water because there are a bunch of teams around the country with majority freshmen and sophomores. All of these teams will go through some growing pains but hopefully most will come out stronger for it.
3. End of season play – I predict Case will have a tough season, but anything can happen at the end of the season. If they can keep working hard through the season and stay injury free, they can pull off an upset at the end of the season that will carry them through next year.
Well there you have it ladies and gentlemen, my final Top 20 season preview of the Central Region!