All the cool kids are doing it (even men’s ASouth) so it’s about time I wrote a “state of the west region” article. Teams are done with their non-conference schedule and gearing up for conference tournaments, and I’m on a plane with time to kill so y’all get a long one. Really I just wanted to get all this off my chest before the final Game of Thrones season premieres this weekend, because I expect the Night King will destroy everything and by this time next week I’ll be living it up in the army of the dead. The SCIAC teams have gotten love all season long, so let’s start with our Texas teams. Then we’ll move up to the PNW, and finally back down to California as we fly through the biggest and best region in the country. If this wall of text is too much for you, the tl;dr is “CALTECH’S AWESOME NOW”
Trinity (TX)
Blog Ranking: 16 (ITA – 19)
Season Record: 9-6
Biggest Wins: Wash U, Whitman
Biggest Losses: Johns Hopkins
This has been a pretty run-of-the-mill season for Trinity so far – they beat who they were supposed to, threw in a loss to Hopkins, and will no doubt win the SCAC and get an automatic bid to NCAAs. However, we knew they were a class above the rest of their conference before the season started, and while I had high expectations for TU coming into the year I don’t think they’ve met them yet.
Let’s talk quickly about some of the positives. Caroline Kutach has been a rock at #1, and should make the Nationals cutoff with wins over Gu, Kashyap, Persky, and Kendall. Her only loss came to UT-Dallas’ Kathy Joseph in a super breaker, but right now both Joseph and Kutach should get in (remember Kendall gets in automatically after winning ITAs). DeBauge has also been pretty solid at #2 singles, and it’s been depth and doubles that’s hurting Trinity these days.
When I look at the D3 teams they’ve played, the Tigers barely sneaked past the worst Wash U team we’ve seen in maybe decades, and also edged a barely-ranked Whitman 5-4 for their best two wins. I don’t really count the Southwestern match as the Pirates were short-handed and brought only 4 players.
Given the seniors and talent level on this team, I had hoped the Tigers could move up a tier from the 15-25 range, where they’ve been historically (check out Analyst’s article if you haven’t already, it’s the bee’s knees). Perhaps I overestimated TU – I thought they could be a strong #2 seed in NCAAs with an outside shot at getting out of their region, but it feels like they’ll be playing a team like Hopkins in the Round of 32 and may not make it to the Sweet Sixteen. There’s obviously a lot of tennis left to play, and I’m hoping the Tigers prove me wrong.
Southwestern
Blog Ranking: 26 (ITA – 21)
Season Record: 14-2
Biggest Wins: GAC, Mary Wash, Bates
Biggest Losses: Wash U
Measured on the court, this season has been an enormous success for the Tigers. They came into the year with a very young roster and have outperformed by any metric. They reached the highest ITA ranking in school history and picked up three of their best wins ever at the Blue-Grey Invitational. This is a team with no seniors that improved a ton from last year, and I’m excited to see how far they can climb.
Unfortunately, that youth and perhaps excitement landed some team members in disciplinary trouble, resulting in many players missing the Trinity match. At this point it looks like players are back on the court, and hopefully the Pirates can learn from the episode and put it behind them. This team has a bright future if they can.
Bringing things back to tennis, junior Mary Cardone is making a strong case for nationals, though may need a little help to get there. She has an excellent out-of-region record, with wins over GAC, Mary Wash, Bates, and Wash U’s Persky. However, she took an in-region loss to TU’s DeBauge that I can’t really blame her for, so she’ll probably have to beat Kutach in the conference championship given how competitive the west region is this year.
Linfield
Blog Ranking: 29 (ITA – 29)
Season Record: 11-2
Biggest Wins: GAC, Whitman
Biggest Losses: Caltech
Linfield has followed up a good season last year with a nice one so far, but all eyes have to be on the NWC crown this year. The Wildcats picked up a big win against Whitman earlier this year, but last year they crushed them 8-1 in the regular season only to lose 3-5 in the conference championship. Coaches Lisa and Carl will have to keep their girls hungry and focused if they want to get back to the NCAA tournament.
Linfield’s success is thanks in large part to sophomore Michelle Uyeda, who’s been a superstar at the #1 singles spot and hasn’t lost a D3 match all year. Wins over Moriyama and Gu put her in the driver’s seat for Nationals. The Cats depth is also very strong, as they’ve gone 35-4 at the bottom 3 spots in the lineup this year. Some of that is because there’s a big talent gap between them and their competition, but Nakasato, Fujimori, and Ly / Fiocchi have played really well too.
Overanalyzing their loss to the Beavers, Linfield will need to shore up their doubles play if they’re going to take the NWC crown this year. Despite all the nice things I said above, I don’t know if they can count on taking 4 singles matches against teams in the 20s or low 30s to pull out a comeback victory. Like Southwestern, this team is fairly young and I’m excited to see them continue to improve.
Whitman
Blog Ranking: 40 (ITA – 36)
Season Record: 6-6
Biggest Wins:
Biggest Losses: Linfield, GAC, Caltech
I haven’t listed any wins so I can’t sugarcoat this one; it’s been a disappointing season for the Blues. Mary Hill and Andrea Gu will have played well at #1 dubs and probably make nationals, but it’s hard for me to find other positives. While the season’s been disappointing so far, I think Whitman should latch onto the fact that if 3 individual matches went differently I would have a totally different tone right now, and the Blues might be ranked in the top 20.
Whitman lost to Trinity, GAC, and Linfield all in 5-4 matches, and so they’re sitting in a spot where they’ve shown they can compete with all these ranked teams but have no wins to show for it. Kinda like Chicago. Singles play has been tough against good competition, but that Trinity match had THREE THIRD-SET TIEBREAKERS so clearly this team can hang. Can they put it all together to get a win? I’ll be watching the NWC post-season closely to find out.
Caltech
Blog Ranking: 20 (ITA – 20)
Season Record: 8-6
Biggest Wins: Whitman, Linfield, CNU, Redlands
Biggest Losses: Mary Wash, MIT, Brandeis
Caltech has had easily the best year in program history and major, major props to Coach Gamble and all of the Beavers on finally breaking into the Top 20. This is a program that had zero ranked wins from 1990-2017, with barely enough players to field a team in many of those years (and even now). The strides they have made this year make me so happy – they could end up the #3 seed in the SCIAC!!! SERIOUSLY! And on top of that they’re beating a ton of non-conference programs too! It’s just awesome to see.
Clearly their recruiting class has had a big impact: Michelle Hyun, Anna Tifrea, and Jennifer Yu have tackled college tennis with everything you could ask from them. I sincerely hope the success they’ve had this season gives them enough motivation to stick with it despite the grueling Caltech curriculum. Kana Moriyama has held down the top spot, but it’s really been the depth this year that’s propelled Caltech to new heights.
It seems weird to talk about depth when there are only 6 players on the roster, but everyone gets a shoutout because I’m this overjoyed. Sarina Liu has been fantastic picking up big wins against CMS (what?!), PP (more what?!), Whitman, CNU, and Mary Wash. OF COURSE I have to mention how clutch she was against Redlands where she pulled out a second set tiebreak to clinch the 5-4 win. Ankita Roychoudhury has played really competitive tennis at #6 spot too, with big wins vs. CNU and Vassar, plus lots of close tiebreaks that didn’t go her way. I just LOVE that Caltech is finally punishing teams who dare to play their B team against them. It’s a new day out west, and the Beavers have joined the party.
CMS
Blog Ranking: 2 (ITA – 2)
Season Record: 18-1
Biggest Wins: Chicago (2x), Midd, Williams, Tufts
Biggest Losses: Emory
The Athenas have followed up their national championship with a good season so far, though obviously they’re playing for a lot more. Save for the Emory match, they really haven’t been challenged this season. They beat Chicago 8-1 and 7-2, blanked Williams and Tufts, and thumped Midd 8-1. These girls are firing on all cylinders and must be salivating at the thought of an Emory rematch, especially after the Eagles showed vulnerability in a stunning loss to Midd.
It’s become very easy for CMS to look ahead to NCAAs, but they can’t forget about the top-5 Sagehens across the street. While the Athenas are clearly the better team, it’s hard to beat a top-5 squad 3 times in a row no matter how good you are, and the Sagehens have enough firepower to take advantage if CMS comes out flat. More on that in the next section.
With a record like they have, everyone has been a big contributor and sadly I can only highlight a few here. Cat Allen’s undefeated at #1 in singles and D3 doubles (with Caroline Cox) on the year (bummed she didn’t get to finish her match with Ysa at Indoors), Rebecca Berger is undefeated at #3 singles with her only doubles loss vs. Emory, first years Sydney Lee and Sarah Bahsoun have stepped right into the lineup and performed well. Now it’s up for CMS to be clutch when it counts.
Pomona-Pitzer
Blog Ranking: 5 (ITA – 4)
Season Record: 11-3
Biggest Wins: Chicago, CMU, Williams, Tufts
Biggest Losses: Midd, Emory
I honestly didn’t think the Hens would be this good, so kudos to them. They’ve followed up a successful Indoors with great NESCAC matches, though I’m a bit sad their match with Bowdoin was rained out. They blanked Williams, handled Tufts easily, and almost upset Midd. I have been especially impressed with PP’s depth – we knew Casper was going to be good and you’ve heard me lauding Maria Lyven’s game all season, but Lucy Jiang and Rebecca Salaway have shown they can hang with the best in D3 at the #5 and #6 singles spots.
Now we have to have the same conversation we do EVERY YEAR because the Hens are so good but the Athenas are better. No one thinks it’s fair PP has to play CMS to get into the Elite Eight, and I hope to god the NCAA flies them somewhere else this year. I’m not getting my hopes up on that front, so let’s talk about how the Hens can beat the Athenas and maybe that will convince the committee. They’ll have three chances.
Like all my coaches have told me it starts with doubles. I don’t see the Hens winning at #1, but I’d give them the edge at #3. If they can get #2 dubs, here’s how they get 3 singles points in a perfect world. Casper and Allen battle it out at #1 with Caspie finding a way to win a 3-setter, and Lyven has the game to win against Tan. I don’t see Berger losing at #3 for the ‘Nas, and Marghi’s odds at #4 are tough. So it’d come down to #5 and #6, and maybe Jiang/Salaway can pull out a W. What do I know anyway? I’m just a blogger. Regardless, you should watch this match if you can because both teams are dope.
OK, that’s enough word vomit. I’m just trying to be as cool as Analyst, don’t judge me.
This is amazing. I read the whole thing. I don’t even do that with my own articles.
very nice article