Untitled Wesleyan Invitational Preview…Game

It’s Friday night and I’m blogging about a fall tournament. I loathe myself. Down in Georgia we are left with two players in the singles draw AND UNSURPRISINGLY THEY’RE BOTH FROM THE NE!!! Stan Superman Morris and Boris Aaron Sorkin have a rematch of the New England ITA final to see which player brings home a national championship and gets to spend the entire winter as the country’s No. 1 overall player. However, as the ITA Cup is winding down, we still have a fun little weekend of tennis ahead of us in the NE. Wesleyan, Middlebury, Bowdoin, Amherst, Brandeis, Tufts and RPI are sending their best to Middletown, CT this weekend for what has, over the past few years, become the best non-ITA tournament of the fall. While we lost Williams and MIT this year, the competition is still great, and we should be treated to some good tennis from the start. I’m going to do something similar to my ITA preview, but as it’s already after 10:30 on Friday night it will be somewhat shorter. If I leave anything out, fire away in the comments or on Twitter and I’ll get back to you.

CLICK HERE TO SEE ALL OF THE DRAWS

A-SINGLES

SEEDS: David Aizenberg (Brandeis), Sean Wei (Amherst), Noah Lilienthal (Wesleyan), Aiden Harris (Middlebury). What a seeded crew at the top. Aizenberg and Wei were two of the top three seeds at ITAs (along with Boris), and Lilienthal was still playing on Sunday. Harris is Midd’s top recruit, and along with Ward both made runs to at least the 3rd round of the ITA. After Wei’s disastrous ITA result, I’m sure the Mammoth will be eager to bounce back this weekend. Aizy is the only senior of this group, and has played the most consistent tennis of this group through the fall, but he doesn’t have any hardware to show for it. However, he and Wei do both have a first-round byes which in this tournament are as good as gold.

OTHER CONTENDERS: Can I say everybody in the draw? Not only is the region strong at the top, but it’s likely even deeper than it is strong. Would you really be that surprised if Ma, Sharda, Yang, Gorelik, Fortier or Coramutla went the distance here? Of that group, Yang and Gorelik stand out to me the most, but both have tough first round matchups with seeded players (more on that in a minute.)

UPSET ALERT: It’s tough to call anything an upset without seeding numbers next to a player’s name, so I’ll take Oscar Yang to beat #4 Aidan Harris as the best chance at a true first-round upset.

BEST 1ST ROUND MATCH: Lots of good options here with Ward/Coramutla, Harris/Yang, and Sharda/Anker all squaring off on Saturday morning, but I think you’ve gotta go with Gorelik/Lilienthal. The presumptive Tufts #2 has been playing the best tennis of his career so far this fall, and I have yet to see Noah Lilienthal be an easy out. If either guy can escape this first-round match without being too exhausted to play a 2nd match at close to 100%, they should be a favorite to win the entire draw.

PREDICTED FINALS: Lilienthal def Aizenberg.

B-SINGLES

SEEDS: Adam Tzeng (Brandeis), Andre Xiao (Middlebury), Zach Lieb (Wesleyan) Tristan Bradley (Bowdoin). Tzeng is definitely the top seed for a reason and while there is no such thing as a heavy favorite with this many talented players in the draw, he’s the oddsmakers’ favorite. Lieb and Bradley have come on strong this fall, while Xiao is more of a known quantity he hasn’t played his best tennis so far this fall. Tzeng and Xiao have byes, but need to be prepared for a really tough 2nd round match as all four of their hypothetical opponents could win this entire draw.

OTHER CONTENDERS: Like the A-Draw there are a bunch here too. Before the draw was released, I would have grouped Princeton Carter, Harris Foulkes, Willie Turchetta, and Zach Fleischman together, and low and behold not only are those four matched up, but the two winners will have to take on the top two seeds later on Saturday. Justin Wang is somebody with an easier draw who played well at Wallach a few weeks ago, but we know he’s also susceptible to the early exit.

UPSET ALERT: Lieb had a great ITA, and gets homecourt advantage, but Jeff Chen is a tough first-round matchup for the Cardinal sophomore, and has a lot more matchplay under his belt this fall.

BEST 1ST ROUND MATCH: I briefly mentioned this already, but Foulkes and Carter is a dandy. These two didn’t get to finish their match during the team’s dual match last spring, but both guys have won and clinched multiple huge matches for their squads. I do not envy Harris, having to deal with Prince, on his homecourts, probably in front of his friends and some crowd…that will not be quiet.

PREDICTED FINALS: Tzeng def. Fleischman

C-SINGLES

SEEDS: Justin Patel (Bowdoin), Nikhil Das (Brandeis), Damien Ruparel (Amherst), Aleks Samets (Middlebury). Rarely do I care enough to write anything about a C-Flight of singles, but that’s the level of play at this tournament! These seeds are all projected lower lineup starters for top-10 teams who are outside the top tier of title contenders entering the year (though Morris’ performance at the ITA Cup might be changing that for me). It’s possible that the player here who has the best year could lead his team to also having the best year.

OTHER CONTENDERS: Vohra and Biswas are two of the only players outside of the seeds with actual lineup experience for a top-20 team. That doesn’t mean I think they’re going to win the whole thing, but it certainly provides a leg up.

UPSET ALERT: Nikhil Das is one of the most talented players in the draw, but his first-round match is against another one of the most talented players in the draw, Amherst’s top recruit Marek Michulka. His singles result at the ITA wasn’t special, but now that Marek has hopefully shaken off some of the nerves that come with your first big college matches, he could be ready to not only pull an early upset but make a run through the draw.

BEST 1ST ROUND MATCH: Simon Kauppila (Deis) vs Dylan Payne (RPI). Payne has been one of the more consistent RPI players at bigger tournaments so far this fall, and Kauppila is playing to try and prove he belongs in the crowded conversation for a spot in Deis’ starting lineup. The winner here has a very winnable second-round match as well.

PREDICTED FINALS: Ruparel def Michulka

D-SINGLES

SEEDS: Zach Ebenfield (RPI), Alan Delman (Bowdoin), Shaw Rhinelander (Amherst), Weston Brach (Middlebury). Yup, the numbers next to their names in the draw mean they are seeded.

OTHER CONTENDERS: Everybody in the draw. Sorry, but when it comes to D-Flight singles, the seeding only means so much. I’m not going to pretend I know more than I do. That’s what the rest of the preview is for…

NAMES TO NOTE: I’m doing this in honor of D3RegionalNE/C. Weston Brach, Clay Gaieski, Phoenix Tamaoki, SHAW FREAKING RHINELANDER. The D-Flight has some really great names.

PREDICTED FINALS: Niko Hereford def Shaw Rhinelander

A-DOUBLES

SEEDS: Yang/Bradley (Bowdoin), Aizenberg/Coramutla (Brandeis), Lilienthal/Carter (Wesleyan), Wei/Foulkes (Amherst). This is a REALLY good group of doubles teams. Yang/Bradley have been a bit of a pleasant surprise through the fall, but they absolutely deserve the top seed. That said, we know how good the Aizy/Cora duo is, and both Lilienthal/Carter and Wei/Foulkes also have some good experience and team chemistry. We know doubles to be a fickle mistress, but I like the seeds as much as I ever do in a doubles bracket.

OTHER CONTENDERS: Ruparel/Michulka had some good success earlier this fall at the ITA, Gorelik/Moldenhauer could be great if they’re on, and I’d be a fool not to mention Tzeng/Chen.

UPSET ALERT: Even though Yang/Bradley have a bye, they have a hypothetical 2nd round matchup against Tzeng/Chen. If that matchup comes to pass, I don’t think the Bowdoin duo are anything more than very slight favorite, meaning they are on upset alert!

BEST 1ST ROUND MATCH: Wang/Patel (Bowdoin) vs Harris/Vanezis (Midd). We really don’t know what we’re going to get from either of these two teams when it comes to doubles in the spring. With Cuba/Farrell & Urken/Jiang graduating, both teams are looking for guys to step up. Bowdoin may have found that in Yang/Bradley. While Midd may have found that in Morris, they haven’t had much doubles success so far this fall. Harris/Vanezis didn’t play together at the ITA, but both are certainly talented players. Vanezis has doubles experience, but not as much as the combo of Wang/Patel. The Justins both played a lot of doubles last year, and Patel has played for multiple years in the Polar Bear lineup, but I don’t think they have played much together (if at all?). It will be interesting to look back in April and wonder if either successful team got their start here.

PREDICTED FINALS: Aizenberg/Coramutla def Lilienthal/Carter.

B-DOUBLES

SEEDS: Fortier/Vergara (Bowdoin), Turchetta/Ma (Amherst), Bartok/Sharda (Tufts), Vilys/Hilty (Middlebury). Kind of like the lower singles flights, we have a bit of a free-for-all here. The top two seeds get byes, which is as good a reason as any to pick them to make a deep run in this bracket.

OTHER CONTENDERS: A couple of Brandeis teams interest me here (Tegtmeier/Vohra & Kauppila/Das), as do Yohannes/Wu (RPI) and Anker/Lee (Wes). While that last team is comprised of guys who play singles well, there is too much talent for them to not at least be competitive here.

UPSET ALERT: Again, everybody, but the Tufts team of Biswas and…can there really be yet another Glickman…should provide stout competition for the #4 seeds.

BEST 1ST ROUND MATCH: Yohannes/Wu vs Tegtmeier/Vohra. The winner gets the fun prize of playing the top overall seeds, who will be rested, and bringing the heat in the 2nd round.

PREDICTED FINALS: Turchetta/Ma def. Fortier/Vergara