Location: Oberlin, OH
Coach: Eric Ishida
ITA National Ranking: #35 (2.28.19 Rankings)
ITA Regional Ranking: #9 (1.17.19 Rankings)
Blog Power Ranking: #42 (barely)
Twitter Handle: @Yeo_MTEN
UTR Power 6: 60
Oberlin 2018 Spring Season & 2019 thus far tl;dr:
Oberlin ended the 2018 season 11-10, secured a win over a nationally ranked team, and finished third in the conference for the second consecutive year. Oberlin graduated their most impactful class in school history: Levi Kimmel, Manickam Manickam, Robert Gittings, and Michael Drougas. Drougas is the best player in Yeomen history and it will be incredibly difficult for Coach Ishida to replace his presence on the singles and doubles courts. Thanks to the class of 2018, Oberlin had its highest year-end ranking in the modern era. The gap between Oberlin and the bottom half of the conference continued to grow, but unfortunately for the Yeomen so did the gap between them and Denison (let alone Kenyon). Oberlin entered 2019 with the TALL task of replacing four giants of the program, and it’s incumbent on the top three and their lone senior, Mattie Gittings, to set the tone and expectations for this young 2019 team.
This might be the tightest-knit teams I’m covering, if you check their scores this year they like to all win or all lose together. Oberlin’s yet to be in a dogfight (though a deep dive into that Hobart match reveals it was a close 1-8 loss, whatever that means) and they’ve had a tough schedule to start the year. Oberlin has thrived on statement losses in the past to make movements up the national rankings; unfortunately, the statements from these 2019 losses are very loud but not terribly positive. Their doubles has been bad and their singles, while better, is still underwhelming. Oberlin’s showing that it’s hard to replace program greats at every level of d3.
Oberlin lineup:
1 Singles: Stephen Gruppuso (3rd Yr, 11.04); 2 Singles: Zachary Vaughn (3rd Yr, 10.21); 3 Singles: Camron Cohen (3rd Yr, 10.11): Oberlin’s top three is a step ahead of their bottom three at this point. All three of these players have had vast experience in the Oberlin singles lineup with various successes. Gruppuso was the lone bright spot from the upstate NY trip as he defeated a hot Fujimaki and lost in three to Dubrovsky. Vaughn plays like he’s lightning from his pace to his speed, while methodical Cohen has a penchant for three setters makes them a unique top three. Oberlin will lean on these three to get their team moving in the right direction.
4 Singles: Elliot Nuss (2nd Yr, 9.76); 5 Singles: James Dill (1st Yr, 9.43); 6 Singles: Sam Topper (1st Yr, 9.65); Next Up: Mattie Gittings (4th Yr, 8.76): Oberlin’s next three and Gittings are largely unproven. Nuss has a season under his belt but he didn’t play very many dual matches, the first years are first years, and Gittings has played singles sparingly over his career. 4-6 will be a great battleground for these three to take their lumps and learn how to compete. It’s unlikely, looking ahead through the schedule, that they’ll be blown off the court at 4-6, which will give them a great opportunity to compete.
2019 Schedule Analysis: (1-7) D3 losses to #10 Carnegie, #32 Rochester, and #36 Hobart
Welp. This is definitely not the start that Oberlin anticipated. Losses to both Rochester and Hobart will hurt them when the national rankings factor those results in, but their schedule is about to open up with more d3 opponents as March, April, and May come around. Oberlin plays an Ohio little brother in John Carroll in the middle of the month before heading down for some island living on Hilton Head. Their spring break schedule is very light right now as their website reports matches against Carleton, Union, and UWW.
The importance of the Carleton match cannot be understated. As it stands, Oberlin is ahead of Carleton in the nation but not in the region, so this match will help clear up that discrepancy. Gruppuso and Vithoontien will be a big test for the junior endeavoring to make Individuals. And it’s been a minute since Carleton and Oberlin last played (always in Hilton Head) with the teams splitting the last two meetings. UWW closes the Yeomen’s Spring Break. It’s Oberlin’s first real test in trying to push down on teams below them trying to crawl up (Hobart was ranked behind them but ahead of them at the same time).
April begins Oberlin’s NCAC docket: they’ll play Wooster, Denison, Kenyon, Ohio Wesleyan, and Allegheny before the month closes. They’ve scheduled a date with Case before conferences, but for all intents and purposes April is the money making month for Oberlin. This team isn’t in the Pool C conversation, so their entire season boils down to their conference tournament. So long as Oberlin avoids a disaster against Wooster or Allegheny, and defeats a sneaky OWU team they should secure at least a three seed. OWU and Oberlin could be significantly closer than their 5-1 third-place match appears on a cursory glance.
Denison has improved from last year, so it would take a monstrously heroic effort for the Yeomen to derail the Big Red. Oberlin closes out the season with their conference tournament where they’ve made the podium the last two years: def. Denison and def. OWU. I don’t think it’d be fair to set the floor of success at third-place considering how the team has begun the year but I’m not fair and that’s where it’s set. Oberlin has the tools to be successful and push Denison (not Kenyon yet), but must improve everything in order for that to push to be possible. If not, then Oberlin could find themselves in the consolation half of NCACs a situation that Drougas, Manickam, Gittings, and Kimmel never found themselves in.
Keys for the rest of the Season:
- Doubles: Oberlin has been swept in nearly every match this season. Oberlin needs to shape up their doubles if they have any chance at changing their season.
- The Top Three: Oberlin’s top three have proven themselves at various points over the past two seasons, but they’ve yet to all click at once. If Gruppuso, Vaughn, and Cohen pick up their levels it could be enough even against other ranked teams.
- Fitness for April: Oberlin’s slated to play three consecutive two-match weekends leading into the conference tournament weekend. Even though some of the matches will be one-way traffic, Oberlin will still have to make sure they stay fit and healthy for conferences at the end of the month.
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