The North(east) Remembers

You all know the old adage, April showers bring May flowers. Well, did you know that saying was first brought upon by the DIII tennis teams of yesteryear? You’ve read the old stories, brave knights dressed in short shorts and headbands waging war with racquets as their weapons of choice. In the olden times, this saying had to do with growing from hardship. April is perennially brutal month in New England, still locked in the Winds of Winter but once survived, it only makes you stronger, and able to reap the rewards of May or A Dream of Spring. My Northeast teams have competed their annual battles in the Westerlands with House Claremont (Stag sigil) and House Pomona (Family motto: Defendest thy coop) and now turn their attention to their homelands. Though most of you think of me as the Blogger of the House NESCAC, today I welcome Brandeis and Skidmore into the fold, as I try to praise and cover all top-20 NE teams. Couple other things: 1) We are using last week’s Blog Power Rankings, but new Power Rankings should come out tomorrow. 2) I am still sick and therefore am not checking over the wall of text. @ me at your own risk. D3Northeast remembers…

MIDDLEBURY

Rankings: BLOG=1, ITA=2, SLAM=5.

Home: Kings Landing, where champions reside.  

Good wins: 6-3 over Brandeis, 8-1 over Pomona-Pitzer, 9-0 over Skidmore

Important losses: 7-2 at CMS

March recap: Tough to call a loss at CMS a bad loss, but when you’re a top-5 team and a national title contender any loss is a tough loss. So far, Midd is about what we thought they’d be, if perhaps slightly below. Cuba and Farrell haven’t looked untouchable (see George Fox match), but the depth also looks a little more formidable than we’d once thought. An 8-1 drubbing of PP at PP just after the Hens took both Williams and Chicago to 5-4 garnered big expectations heading into the culmination of their spring break at CMS, but the Stags singles romped taking five matches in straight sets including the vaunted top two spots.

March MVP: Adam Guo. Guo wasn’t in my projected starting lineup in the season preview, and not only has he been playing consistently above Eazor, but he’s been playing very well, losing four games total in his two singles matches against Brandeis and Skidmore, both of which he played #4 singles. He also played #4 against PP and won in straight sets against a tricky opponent in Sam Gearou. Yes, Robert Liu got the better of him last weekend at #5, but overall Guo has been shot in the arm of the Middlebury depth.

April brings May flowers if: The top of the lineup reasserts itself as the best in the country. Midd plays good doubles, they have better depth than we originally worried about, and they are well coached. With a filthy top two players, this team absolutely is a frontrunner for the title. However, Cuba and Farrell haven’t shown it so far this year. I understand these are unrealistic expectations to saddle, but when the strong fall off the horse, they get right back on.

Next matches: Home against Wesleyan on Saturday and against Emory on Sunday

BOWDOIN

Rankings: BLOG=8, ITA=5, SLAM=2.

Home: Dosh Khaleen, where forgotten champions reside

Good wins: 6-3 over Wesleyan, 7-2 over PP, 9-0 over Skidmore

Important losses: 7-2 at CMS

March recap: 8-1 is never a bad start to a season, especially when you have wins over a bunch of ranked teams and a top-7 ranked conference opponent, but I guarantee that the 7-2 loss to CMS still leaves a bad taste in Coach Conor Smith’s mouth. That said, the start of the season was a lot more questionable before the win over Wesleyan the other day. The easy wins over Skidmore and PP look better now than they did a few weeks ago, although the match against the SageHens was closer than the final score might indicate. March exposed flaws in this Bowdoin team, the likes of which we haven’t seen in years, but March is the right time to find flaws, and if the Polar Bears can shore them up then they’ll look back on that CMS match as a turning point for 2019.

March MVP: I’d be lying if I said anybody other than Grant Urken. My guy is 7-1 this spring in singles and 8-1 in doubles. Unlike in years past, Bowdoin may need to rely on him to be the new #BallouForTwo, but then again he’s pretty much delivering so far…

April brings May flowers if: Bowdoin’s depth continues to improve. Bowdoin and Middlebury is a fascinating comparison because for the first time in a long time the teams are EXTREMELY similar. They both have studs at the top, followed by guys who can play at the highest level at #2, and then have a drop off afterwards in the singles lineup. They both are well coached, have championship pedigree, and play some solid doubles. However, unlike Midd, Bowdoin’s top two guys have been playing quite well and and their depth has lacked results, until their MASSIVE win over Wesleyan last weekend. Oscar Yang and Evan Fortier came up LARGE with singles wins and Justin Patel, the most trustworthy part of the Polar Bears’ depth, fell to Princeton Carter in three sets. This was a vastly improved showing than the thrashing the Polar Bears depth took at CMS, or the slew of tight matches against the SageHens. If Bowdoin’s depth keeps getting better, it will take them from fringe contender to true title contender once again.

Next matches: Friday at home against MIT and Saturday at home against top-10 Brandeis!

WESLEYAN

Rankings: BLOG=5, ITA=7, SLAM=6.

Home: The Stormlands, where loud people hold odd grudges against their enemies for years #TheAudacity

Good wins: 6-3 over Wash U, 5-3 over Kenyon, 6-3 over CMU, 6-3 over Trinity Tx, 5-4 over Tufts

Important losses: 5-4 vs CMS, 6-3 vs Bowdoin

March recap: Trial by fire doesn’t even begin to describe the Cards’ start to the season, but they survived and came out the other side stronger. Before last weekend, you could’ve made an argument that Wesleyan belonged on the 1A tier of title contender (although it would have been a stretch, you definitely could have made the argument). After a 6-3 home loss to Bowdoin over the weekend, I’m not sure you can make the same argument. That being said, if you had told Coach Fried his first month of the 2019 season would have gone like this, I fully believe he would have jumped at the opportunity. Wes is firmly on the safe side of the Pool-C bubble, even after the loss to Bowdoin, and as long as they beat either Williams, Amherst, or Middlebury, and avoid what at this point would be a VERY bad loss (Trin, Colby, Hamilton), they can book their trip to NCAAs (which means it was ultimately a VERY successful March).

March MVP: Noah Lilienthal. The young lefty has been awesome to start the year, going 7-1 in singles play with his only loss coming against Wash U (meaning he has wins over Kenyon, CMU, Trinity, Tufts, CMS AND BOWDOIN!) However, singles hasn’t been the only area of expertise. Noah and Adrien Roji have paired to go 8-2 at #1 doubles, with their only losses coming in close matches to Wash U and Bowdoin. While a fellow freshman in Lieb certainly deserves consideration for this award, Noah gets the nod.

April brings May flowers if: Wesleyan’s doubles continue their overall solid play. As I mentioned above, Roji and Lilienthal have been excellent so far this year. However, Wes could either avoid the 5-4 barnburners against the #10-25 teams, or perhaps turn a 5-4 loss into a 5-4 win against the top-10 with a few more doubles points from Carter/Mooraj or Fink/Fleisch. Both had their moments on the early spring break trip, but both have seen their struggles since. If the lower doubles teams can start racking up wins, Wes becomes THAT much tougher to beat, because they can win at any singles spot.

Next matches: at Middlebury on Saturday

WILLIAMS

Rankings: BLOG=6, ITA=6, SLAM=8.

Home: Fist of the First Men, because…of…the…wildling-like…grooming…on…this…team…

Good wins: 5-4 over PP, 8-1 over Caltech

Important losses: 6-3 to Emory, 5-4 to Chicago, 6-3 to CMS

March recap: Yes, an off the court shadow hangs over the early part of the Ephs’ season, but the tennis also leaves something to be desired. That said, even with a bunch of close losses to good teams I feel good about the Ephs so far. They have performed well under tough circumstances, and if they get a full lineup back for conference play I think they could VERY realistically finish anywhere from 1st to 5th!

March MVP: Deepak Indrakanti, but I want to give a shoutout to all of the depth. It was basically too tough to pick just one guy. Frelinghuysen has been huge of late, Chung and Taylor have been punching above their weight and doing it well, and Indrakanti has been huge when he’s in the lineup. However, as the team captain and lone starting senior, a lot of responsibility must fall on Deepak’s skinny shoulders moving his team forward through what can at best be described as an unusual portion of the season.

April brings May flowers if: Williams can stay on the court. I don’t know exactly why so many Ephs have been missing matches towards the end of their spring break trip, but I believe it cost them at least one and possibly even two matches against top-5 teams. There are positives to be taken from not having your #1 and still pushing Chicago to 5-4, same goes with CMS and both your #2 and your #4. Despite D3AS’ incessant ramblings in the group chat, Williams is currently on the right side of the Pool-C bubble; but, despite CHB’s self-righteous tones in the same group chat, Williams hasn’t done enough to earn that spot. The Ephs will need to finish top-4 in the NESCAC to feel good about their Pool-C chances, and I’m not sure they can do that without fielding a full lineup, no matter how good Peter “Gesundheit” Frelinghuysen has been of late.

Next matches: at Tufts on Sunday and at Wesleyan & Midd the following weekend

AMHERST

Rankings: BLOG=9, ITA=9, SLAM=10.

Home: The Twins, where team chemistry is key

Good wins: 5-4 over CMS, 5-4 over Kenyon, 5-4 over CMU, 6-3 over Tufts

Important losses: 7-2 to Case, 5-4 to Wash U

March recap: Another whirlwind month for Amherst. They start out going down 3-0 to Kenyon only to come back and win 5-4, then beat CMU 5-4 the following day, and look to escape spring break with their NCAA hopes intact, then a tough 5-4 loss to Wash U and a 7-2 thrashing from Case put them on life support. A home win on a rare East Coast trip for CMS has put Amherst back near the bubble, but due to the Wash U loss they are still on the outside looking in. They didn’t look all that convincing in their win over Tufts this weekend, but a NESCAC win is a NESCAC win and now they can turn their sights towards the top-4 in the conference, still needing a win to fully re-enter the discussion.

March MVP(s): The freshmen. Amherst’s trio of freshmen were, as always, highly touted coming into the season, but given the type of season so far we’ve seen enough to know that Ruparel, Turchetta and Foulkes all deserve a good amount of credit. From the early season matches against Kenyon and Wash U, to Turchetta’s recent inclusion in the singles lineup and match clinching wins in very tight matches over CLAREMONT and Tufts.

April brings May flowers if: The top ½ of Amherst lineup continues to kick into gear. We’ve seen some big wins from Wei and Ma and even Fung/Bessette over the past few weeks, but in order for the Mammoths to do some real damage this year they are going to have to step it up another notch. Against the April NESCAC gauntlet (including Bowdoin, Williams, Wesleyan, and Middlebury) the top guys will need to provide some wins. ESPECIALLY because a win over one of those four teams, combined with the win over CMS could (I stress, COULD) now be enough to get them into NCAAs via Pool-C, even with the losses to the UAA teams earlier this year.

Next matches: Saturday at Colby, Sunday at Trinity, and the following Sunday vs Bowdoin.

BRANDEIS

Rankings: BLOG=10, ITA=10, SLAM=7.

Home: Dorne, because they reside outside of Westeros the NESCAC

Good wins: 5-4 over PP, 5-4 over Caltech, 8-1 over Redlands, 7-2 over Bates, 6-3 over RPI

Important losses: 6-3 to Middlebury, 8-1 to CMS

Feb/March recap: Huge early wins out west over PP and Caltech, combined with wins over Redlands and RPI that are looking better and better as the season progresses, and a not so awful loss to Midd (albeit without Farrell), where Midd swept three close doubles matches and then Deis split in singles. All that needs to be said is that it’s April 3rd and Brandeis is still in Pool-C contention. That means they had quite a start to the season.

March MVP(s): Jeff Chen and Adam Tzeng. We gave a lot of credit to this freshman doubles pairing earlier in the year, but now it’s time for some more! They are 11-1 in doubles so far this year with their only loss coming in a 7-5 tiebreaker to Middlebury, and they have a #1 win over CMS to boot. In singles, Chen is 10-1 and Tzeng is 8-3 (which is especially impressive after starting the spring 1-3). All of the Judges deserve praise for how they’ve played this spring, but these freshmen have been especially impressive.

April brings May flowers if: everything stays the same. I know, I know, Coach Lamanna would never be satisfied with important matches still to go, but from an impartial blogger’s perspective even if Brandeis were to lose to Bowdoin finish 4th in the UAA, missing NCAAs by one spot, this would still be far and away the best season in Brandeis men’s tennis history! Now, if Brandeis were to upset either Bowdoin or finish 3rd in the UAA, they would very likely earn that Pool-C bid that everybody has already given out to a NESCAC team. But, no matter what happens this year, May flowers will bloom for Brandeis, and a healthy garden looks to be in order for 2020.

Next matches: Saturday at Bowdoin.

SKIDMORE

Rankings: BLOG=17, ITA=19, SLAM=11

Home: Vaes Dothrak, where horses are valued above all else

Good wins: 8-1 over Caltech, 6-3 over GAC, 6-3 over Southwestern, 5-4 over RPI

Important losses: 9-0 to Midd, 9-0 to Bowdoin, 7-2 to CMS

March recap: The Thoroughbreds have done enough to include them in this little NE state of the region, and that in and of itself should be enough to tell you just how positive of a month it’s been for the boys from Saratoga Springs. The 8-1 win over Caltech just continues to look better and better (and honestly it’s probably what is keeping Caltech from a real shot at a top-15 ranking). In addition, the 7-2 loss to CMS doesn’t look all that considering the Stags have also beaten Bowdoin and Middlebury by the same score. That said, Skid came back to earth a little bit with the barnburner (alert NewD3Central) of a conference matchup against RPI last weekend. Ultimately Skid did enough, splitting the four 3-set singles matches, including getting a 6-4 win at #1 and a 7-5 win at #3. However, we no longer think the T-Breds can coast to a Liberty League title.

March MVP: JT Wynne. 6-4 in the 3rd against RPI to help clinch the match, straight-set win over Dimanche to help beat Southwestern, straight-set win over Whaling to help pull the upset of GAC, a superbreaker win over Parodi, and a three-set win over Shanker who has been one of the best players in the country so far this year. Oh yeah, and on top of all that he paired with Noah Williamson to go 4-1 at #1 doubles in those matches, totally nine out of a possible 10 points against ranked teams (not named Bowdoin or Midd) this spring.

April brings May flowers if: Skid’s depth keeps playing well. In the T-Breds’ win against GAC, they won at 4/5/6 singles. In the win against Southwestern, they won in three sets at #5 and #6 and lost 7-6 in the 3rd at #4. In the win against Caltech they won at #3-6 singles. In the win against RPI, seven of the 11 sets played at #3-6 were 6-4 or closer. While this depth isn’t likely ready to compete with the likes of CMS, it’s an improvement on what we thought might be an Achilles Heel for Coach Simms’ squad.

Next matches: vs LL foe and RegNE/C favorite Hobart this Sunday

TUFTS

Rankings: BLOG=19, ITA=17, SLAM=18

Home: Free city of Braavos, guarded by a giant Titan but otherwise known for the faceless men. 

Good wins: 6-3 over Sewanee, 8-1 over Denison, 5-4 over Redlands, 7-2 over George Fox

Important losses: 6-3 to Caltech, 7-2 to Brandeis, 7-2 to PP, 6-3 to Amherst, 5-4 to Wesleyan

March recap: Talk about an emotional roller coaster! Tufts has already played so many close matches, but they’ve ended up on the wrong side more often than not. Sorkin is the man, but the rest of lineup has played (and lost) a ton of close matches resulting in a lot of close losses. This was not the March Tufts fans were hoping for, but there is still plenty to build off as the Bos head into NESCAC season.

March MVP: Isaac Gorelik. Yes, Boris is the man, but I wanted to give some love to a Jumbo freshman who has been going a bit unnoticed. Isaac lost to Brandeis at #5 to start the season, and then didn’t get another shot at the lineup until the Jumbos took on Denison after two tight matches with Caltech and Sewanee. Since then, he’s 6-0 and is now raking at #3 singles where he’s beaten Redlands, Amherst and Wesleyan in consecutive matches. IG had a solid fall, but it’s always tough to know exactly what that means on a perennially deep Tufts team. For now, it means Isaac is playing some good ball and should be a force moving forwards.  

April brings May flowers if: Tufts starts winning close matches! One of our regular readers pointed out to me that in Tufts close losses to Wesleyan, Amherst and Caltech, the Jumbos are 0-8 in 3rd sets, including two 7-6 in the 3rd losses and going 0-3 against Wesleyan in what resulted in a 5-4 loss. If Tufts wins anyone against Wes, we’re having a different conversation, and if they are 6-2 in those matches instead of 0-8 we might still be talking about Tufts for Pool-C. We know this team has talent, and we know that while they strive for more, they do not take playing the role of spoiler lightly. Every match will still matter for the Bos, and it wouldn’t surprise me one bit to see them beat a NESCAC team currently ahead of them in the standings.

Next matches: Home Sunday vs Williams.