2019 Women’s Indoor Preview: #1 CMS vs. #13 Wash U, #9 MIT vs. #10 UChicago

Indoor starts in less than 24 hours, but your Blog MVPs are coming in hot with the second batch of previews. ASW covered a lot of key points in her preview yesterday (make sure you check it out), so I’ll keep it brief. Indoors is sure to bring some great tennis, and I’m ready to be blown away by the level of play and (hopefully) some upsets (who doesn’t love an underdog?!)! It’ll be great to see your reigning natty champs, CMS, in action this week with some fierce D3 competition, and I’m REALLY looking forward to the first round matchup of MIT and Chicago (more on that below). Can’t wait for all that’s in store for us this weekend!!

No. 1 Seed #1 CMS vs. No. 8 Seed #13 Wash U

West: It’s hard to think of two programs heading in more opposite directions right now than CMS and Wash U. The Athenas finally moved into the top tier of D3 during their title run last year to join Emory and Williams, and have reloaded with a roster ready to compete for another championship. Meanwhile the Bears, after being 2nd or 3rd in the UAA for most of the 2010s, are in danger of falling out of the top 15 for the first time this decade. They’re coming off a Texas trip where they lost to #21 Trinity (TX) and edged #33 Southwestern 6-3 in a match that easily could have gone the other way. Needless to say, I don’t see this match being that close.

 

Doubles

# 1 Doubles: Caroline Cox/Catherine Allen (CMS) vs. Ally Persky/Lisa Chionis (WASHU)

 

West: Perksy and Chionis are 3-0 on the young season, but haven’t played any team the quality of Cox/Allen yet. It’s hard for me to see the ITA Cup winners losing this one. CMS 8-5

 

#2 Doubles: Nicole Tan/Sarah Bahsoun (CMS) vs.Sanjna Tripathy/Stephanie Ren (WASHU)

 

West: Wash U hasn’t found the right tandem at the #2 doubles spot so far, and whomever plays here will need good chemistry to take on Tan and Bahsoun. They’re undefeated on the season and I don’t think the Bears will have much luck breaking that streak. CMS 8-1

 

#3 Doubles: Maddie Shea/Juliette Martin (CMS) vs. Grace Hederick/Laurel Wanger (WASHU)

 

West: This will be the best chance for Wash U to pick up a point across both singles and doubles, with the Bears’ sophomores holding an advantage over a team that’s still getting to know each other on the court and hasn’t played much indoors. Wash U 8-7(3)

 

Singles

#1 Singles: Catherine Allen (CMS) vs. Ally Persky (WASHU)

 

West: Perksy has been very hit or miss this year, beating Kendall (ETBU) and Morris (DePauw) and falling to Kutach (TU) and Cardon (Southwestern). You can’t miss against Allen, who I think wins easily. CMS 6-1, 6-3

 

#2 Singles: Nicole Tan (CMS) vs. Ashley Lessen (WASHU)

 

West: Tan finally got back into the singles lineup against Brandeis last weekend, winning easily in her first real match since returning from abroad. It will be tough for Lessen to handle the baseline game of Tan, who played #1 for the Athenas most of last year. CMS 6-3, 6-2

 

#3 Singles: Sydney Lee (CMS) vs. Divya Sharma (WASHU)

West: This should be the closest singles match out there — Sharma has played very well so far this year, winning the back draw in ITAs and currently undefeated in dual match play. Tune your live stream to this court to see two of D3’s up and coming freshmen battle it out. CMS 3-6, 7-5, 10-7

 

#4 Singles: Rebecca Berger (CMS) vs. Brigitte Hodge (WASHU)

 

West: The CMS depth should be on display here and illustrate the talent difference between these two squads. Wash U’s bottom half of the lineup has struggled so far, and the Athenas aren’t the recipe for that cure. CMS 6-0, 6-1

 

#5 Singles: Caroline Cox (CMS) vs. Grace Hederick (WASHU)

 

West: While Hederick’s played well so far in her second year, I think the gap in ability here will be too much for the tough sophomore to overcome. CMS 6-2, 6-0

 

#6 Singles: Sarah Bahsoun (CMS) vs. Stephanie Ren (WASHU)

 

West: Similar to my season preview, I don’t know if Bahsoun will play or someone else, but I’m taking an Athena here anyway. CMS 6-2, 6-0

 

Predictions:

ASW: CMS 8 -1
Central: CMS 7-2
NEW: CMS 7-2
West: CMS 8-1

 

No. 4 Seed #9 MIT vs. No. 5 Seed #10 UChicago

Note: Chicago has played 5 dual matches so far this season, and while some of their positions seem to be pretty set (#1 dubs, #1 & #2 singles), they’re mixing up their dubs pairings and positioning almost every match. Same goes for the middle and lower half of their singles lineup – not sure if they’re working around injuries or just shifting things around in the early season, but we’ve used what we could to “predict,” in a sense, the lineup. MIT has only played one match so far, so we’re just going with how that one was played.

 

Doubles

#1 Doubles: Libby Rickeman/Lara Rakocevic (MIT) vs. Eugenia Lee/Catherine Xu (UC)

NEW: Rickeman and Rakocevic are off to a hot start, whereas Lee and Xu’s results have been mixed at #1. The Maroons have the upperhand regarding matchplay and time on court, but I think MIT has more strength. If this was later in the season, I think MIT would take this easily, but I’m calling a close one – MIT 8-6

 

#2 Doubles: Marina Zhang/Megan Guenther (MIT) vs. Annika Pandey/Nicole Semenov (UC)

NEW: Chicago has been playing around with their #2 and #3 dubs a lot at the beginning of this season, so it’s hard to really say what to expect here. When paired together, Pandey and Semenov have been rock solid. Zhang and Guenther have also showed some early season success, but I think I’ll go with the Chicago pair here – Chicago 8-5

 

#3 Doubles: Ashley Teng/Vanessa Kitova (MIT) vs. Marjorie Antohi/Lainey Axell (UC)

NEW: Like I mentioned above, this spot on the Chicago team has been in flux to start the season. I like the pairing of Teng and Kitova, and they’ve packed a punch so far together. Given the constant shifting of Chicago teams, I’m going to have to go with a NE favorite – MIT 8-4

 

Singles

#1 Singles: Libby Rickeman (MIT) vs. Marjorie Antohi (UC)

NEW: Antohi was a standout last year for Chicago, and is undefeated so far this Spring. She has a formidable opponent in Rickeman, though, who was last year’s ITA NE Rookie of the Year and had a stellar debut year. These two will probably have a pretty tight match and I wouldn’t be surprised if it goes the distance. Chicago 6-4, 5-7,6-3

 

#2 Singles: Marina Zhang (MIT) vs. Catherine Xu (UC)

NEW: The MIT sophomore is making a big jump from #5 last year to #2 this year – she had some close matches in the fall, where she pulled off some key wins. Xu, also a sophomore, is a strong opponent and has had a pretty hot start to the season. This match could be thrilling, but I’m going to give Xu the edge – Chicago 6-4, 6-2

 

#3 Singles: Ashley Teng (MIT) vs. Lauren Park (UC)

NEW: Park has been in and out of the top portion of the lineup so far this season, so I’m not sure if she’s battling an injury or if we’ll see Lee slot in here. Teng had a great fall – making it to the third round of the NE ITA and playing some close matches against top NE opponents. With this spot being a bit of a question mark for the Maroons, I’m going with MIT 6-4, 6-3 (regardless of whether she plays Park or Lee)

 

#4 Singles: Lara Rakocevic (MIT) vs. Eugenia Lee (UC)

NEW: Lee has impressed me so far this season at both #3 and #4, and should be building quite a bit of confidence for the spring. Rakocevic is a vet at the #4 singles spot, though, and won’t go down so easily. However, I’m going to have to go with the Maroons on this one – Chicago 7-5, 6-3

 

#5 Singles: Amber Shen (MIT) vs. Nicole Semenov (UC)

NEW: Shen didn’t see a ton of playtime in the fall, but slotted in at #5 for MIT’s match against Brandeis to kick off the season. She came in as a strong recruit, so I still have high hopes for her this year. Semenov has mostly been in at #4 for Chicago, so this might be an more comfortable spot for her (assuming Park is healthy for the match). In this battle of the freshmen, though, I’m going with Shen – MIT 7-5, 7-5

 

#6 Singles: Megan Guenther (MIT) vs. Annika Pandey (UC)

NEW: Pandy has played all her matches at #5 this year and has had pretty good results thus far. Guenther did play well in the fall and win her match in MIT’s season opener, but I think Pandey is more consistent. With that, it’ll be Chicago 6-4, 6-2

Predictions:

ASW: MIT 5-4
Central: MIT 5-4
NEW: UChicago 5-4
West: UChicago 6-3

 

Thanks for reading this wall of text!! The fun starts tomorrow y’all, so buckle up and get ready for a wild ride!!!

NEW out.