How do you report on a story when there is no video evidence? This is a classic question posed in Journalism 101. Do you publish a story based merely on rumors? If so, what is your place in fanning the flame of conjecture? Is it better to publish the story first and risk both inaccuracy and breaking a story wide open? Or is it better to wait, accurately report the story, but risk losing the relevance of the news? During the Williams/Emory match at CMS on Sunday, there were reports of an off-court incident between Williams Head Coach Dan Greenberg and a relative of an Emory player. We have heard from and reached out to MANY of you over the past 36 hours, but we still are nowhere close to the full story. There are parts of the story that remain consistent through all accounts, there was some verbal sparring between a relative of an Emory player (thought to be the grandfather of Antonio Mora) and some Williams players. Coach Greenberg became involved, and it seems like at least one punch was thrown as a result of the altercation. We have also reached out to both teams and athletic directors, but have yet to receive any information (or a response from either AD).
For what it’s worth, I have always thought extremely highly of Coach Greenberg, as both a coach who consistently gets the best out of his players and a friendly person off the court. This feeling has been corroborated with the bloggers by many people who are not directly associated with Williams throughout the past two days. That being said, the idea of a coach striking anybody, let alone a relative of a player on an opposing team is beyond troubling. We will continue to report the story as we receive new information. If you have any information on the story, please reach out to me, or any of the other bloggers. We are happy to quote you, leave you anonymous, or just speak off the record. OK…deep breath. The rest of this article will focus on the tennis Williams has played over the start of their spring break, and the tennis still ahead of them on their California trip.
UPDATE – 2:14 p.m. – The Williams Athletic Director has declined to comment at this time.
LINEUP
#1D: Frelinghuysen/Taylor (freshman/junior)
#2D: Kam/Chung (sophomore 2x)
#3D: Indrakanti/Barr (senior/sophomore)
#1: Arturo Kam (sophomore)
#2: Austin Barr (sophomore)
#3: Ananth Raghavan (junior)
#4: Deepak Indrakanti (senior)
#5: Calvin Chung (sophomore)
#6: Alex Taylor (junior)
WHAT WE’VE SEEN SO FAR
#5 Williams def PP 5-4: After taking on a couple of non DIII teams, the Ephs opened their season in earnest with a big time win at Pomona. Yes, Williams was favored to win this match, and in all honesty the match was not quite as close as that final score might indicate. The Ephs took a 2-1 doubles lead and then ran away easy straight set singles wins at the bottom three spots to clinch a 5-1 win. PP won the top three spots, including a 12-10 super win for Jed Kronenberg over Arturo Kam. Williams was expected to win, but this was their first big match of the season and it was being played outdoors. The W, along with their national ranking from last season, keeps the Ephs on the right side of the Pool-C bubble.
#5 Williams def #29 Caltech 8-1. Caltech is having their best season in program history, but Williams got the jump on them early, absolutely rolling the Beavers in dubs losing a combined five games. The Ephs rested their #2 and #4 singles players, and still ran away with the singles, winning the match 8-1. Kam lost another heart(super)breaker 10-8 to Shanker giving Caltech its only point. Again, we always expected Williams to win this match, but Caltech is dangerous so this was another potential pitfall avoided, especially given what remained on the Ephs’ schedule…
#4 Emory def #5 Williams 6-3. The first of the true Williams spreak break gauntlet, where the Ephs take on three consecutive national championship contenders, did not go Williams’ way. Emory took a 2-1 lead, easing to a win at #2 dubs and splitting #1 and #3 both by 8-6 scores. In singles Taylor put a quick beatdown on Spaulding to level the match, and then the seniors took over from there as Indrakanti won his match in two tight sets and Bouchet did the same for the Eagles. We had three matches go to third sets, and the Eagles lost a combined two games in those three sets to take pull away hard at the end and win the match 6-3. We never had any doubt that the Eagles were for real, but this win at least solidifies their standing as a top-5 team in the country. As for Williams, they’ll have to battle for that spot in Tuesday’s match at CMS…
WHAT’S STILL TO COME
#5 WILLIAMS @ #6 CMS
When: Tuesday at 9:00 p.m. EST
Why it matters: It’s pretty simple for Williams, a win over CMS given the Ephs a decent amount of breathing room in the Pool-C chase. Oh, but what about CMS’ recent NE split with Wesleyan and Amherst, or destruction of Bowdoin? Well, that honestly isn’t going to matter too much to Williams considering all three on the Ephs’ schedule for the middle of April. However, CMS also still plays a number of other non SCIAC teams, meaning there are other potential indirects out there to be had. In reality, this match would probably not boost the Eph’s NCAA hopes as much as a win over Emory (whoops) or Chicago, but it would still feel awfully good.
How Williams can win: They play strong doubles year in and year out, and it looks like the Ephs should be favored at both #1 and #3 doubles. If they take a 2-1 lead, they actually match up decently well with CMS’ singles given how good the Stags have looked outdoors so far this year. Indrakanti and Taylor have been VERY tough bottom of the lineup players, while Chung is a streaky. Given how amazing Park has been at #5, it will take a streaky player on his best day to take down the CMS captain. Kam has been playing tons of close matches against top players of late, and Parodi just hasnt been at his best to start the year, although at some point he could be swapped with Katzman. I could very easily see that match going the distance as well. The nice thing about Williams’ singles lineup is that it doesn’t have any glaring weaknesses. On the right day, they can win at any/all spots, and with a doubles lead it obviously would only take three.
Eph to watch: Alex Taylor. In addition to being a solid Twitter follow, Taylor has been playing very well so far this year, earning straight set wins over Emory, PP, and Caltech (where he played #4). He is also 2-1 with freshman partner Peter Frelinghuysen, with their only DIII loss this spring coming 8-6 to Emory. #1 doubles is a position that has caused CMS some grief of late, though we’ll see if that persists when the Stags move back outdoors on their home courts. On the flipside, when playing outdoors #6 singles has been a rock for CMS, so that will be strength on strength, giving us something of a swing match.
Final score prediction: CMS def Williams 5-4
#5 WILLIAMS VS #1 CHICAGO
When: Thursday at 11:30 a.m. EST
Why it matters: Yet another big UAA/NESCAC showdown. The bloggers got at least some of what they wanted when they asked for a conference battle, and so far the NESCAC has come out ahead. However, Chicago is the cream of the UAA crop so perhaps the Maroons just need to flex for a day or two and the conference debate will fire up again. The most important reason we wanted conference crossover is that it (theoretically) should make the Pool-C decision process that much easier. Direct results are much easier to decipher than indirect results, and once-removed indirect results are much better than transferring everything through “how you did against PP/CMS on spring break.” Chicago is the #1 team in the country after winning Indoors, so that’s what’s on the line for the Maroons. For Williams, their final chance to put some space between them and the Pool-C bubble while out in California.
How Williams can win: Just like against the Stags, a Williams win would start with a doubles lead. Going into this year we thought Chicago’s doubles would be some of the best we’ve ever seen, but they didn’t dominate at Indoors nearly as much as we thought they might, going a combined 5-4 on the weekend against Case, Wash U and Emory (still quite good). Chicago is more than solid at all three spots, so it would take some great doubles for the Ephs to take a lead, but I think it’s very possible. In singles, you could make an argument that Chicago will be favored at every single spot. Williams’ most likely spots are probably #1 and #4 singles, and then I guess we have yet to see how Guzhva and Xu do on the outdoor courts (though they were pretty damn good indoors), so maybe one of the freshmen gets nervous. Even typing it I don’t really believe it, but I do think this match stays close-ish the whole way through.
Eph to watch: Arturo Kam. We haven’t paid enough attention to Kam yet this spring. The sophomore went from being the best #6 in the country all the way up to playing #1 ahead of a guy who should have qualified for NCAAs last year in Austin Barr. He had a great summer, and a very good fall, and I had him at #2 coming into the spring but he’s even surpassed that. Turo has played a ton of close matches so far this year but come up short against a who’s who of non NE opponents, losing 12-10 in a super to Kronenberg, 10-8 in a super to Shanker, and in a 3rd set to Jemison. Like CMS, Chicago is very good and very deep, and also like Chicago they appear to be beatable at #1. Kerrigan is a great player, but he also has his off days, and I think Kam will need to dig out a win both for his confidence and his team.
Final score prediction: Chicago def Williams 5-4