2020 Season Preview: #22 Sewanee Tigers

Let’s be honest, I’m only posting this preview because I bet someone (who doesn’t know I’m a blogger) D3Northeast’s under on The Blog posting 2.5 previews this week. Guess who’s $5 richer, this guy. Just kidding, I would never do something so unethical. But actually, the real reason is because the D3 spring season is almost here and I want to make sure we provide THE BEST coverage possible! Similar to last year, for my nationally ranked RegASouth teams, I will be doing full previews, and for my other teams (who I love just as much) I will be doing conference previews, that way I can cover as many teams as possible! Blurb over, blog on. Sewanee season preview time! Location: Sewanee, TN (absolutely beautiful campus, visit it if given the chance)
Head Coach: Felix Mann (2nd Season)
ITA National Ranking: 22
ITA Regional Ranking: 5 (Atlantic South)
Blog Power Ranking: 24
Twitter Handle: @USouthTennis you should follow them for pretty solid updates during matches and entertaining content otherwise
Key Additions: Matt Barnett (3 star, UTR 10.80), Noah Holsclaw (3 star, UTR 10.78)
Key Departures: Jack Gray, Fletcher Kerr, Brandon Kali (was a freshman last year, but no longer listed on the roster)

Lineup analysis/Complete shot in the dark
We all know how this went last year with me predicting Gray playing #1 and he started off the year playing like #4 or 5 or whatever so take this with a grain of salt.
#1 Andres Carro – Carro played #1 all of last season and played alright. In all fairness, most of his dual match losses were against NCAA individual qualifiers, but the Tigers are going to need him to step it up this year. He had a strong fall ITA with promising results, is a SENIOR, and has seemingly gotten better every season, so I’m expecting big things from the Tennessee native.
#2 Jordan Brewer – Brewer arguably had better ITA results, but I’m slating him at the #2 spot because Carro has the experience at the top of the lineup. The good news for the Tigers is that if Brewer can maintain that level of play into the spring season, that’s going to be one hell of a 1-2 punch at the top of the lineup.
#3 Noah Holsclaw – The Tigers always seem to have a freshman slot in nicely at the #3 or 4 spot and I think Holsclaw will be that player. Him and Metzger are pretty much interchangeable at this point if we’re being honest. The freshman has good experience playing in a couple of summer ITAs, which seemed to prepare him for the college world, as he took out Emory’s Raina in the first round of ITAs. Some might call it beginner’s luck, I call it potential!
#4 Jack Metzger – Metzger played at #6 most of last year and the Tigers will need him to use his experience and step it up. The good news is that in pretty much all conference matches, he should be favored. It’s the matches that have national ranking implications that I would be worried at Metzger at #4. Let’s see what happens here.
#5 Liam Baer – The (second year) freshman found himself putting together a solid ITA until he ran into the brick wall that is Antonia Mora, who should slot in at #1 or #2 for Emory. I remember my first beer, I mean blowout college loss. An 0 and 1 loss was probably a tough pill to swallow at the time, but also a great learning experience. Baer should use this as motivation and come out firing this spring. I think he has a GREAT season at #4 or 5 singles.
#6 Matt Barnett – Barnett is my wildcard here at #6. He took out Millsap’s Falk (projected #1) in a very close match that probably shouldn’t have been that close, but then put together a fairly competitive match against Emory’s Esses who is the other contender for Emory’s #1 spot. I can see him having an up and down year, but picking up some big wins throughout Sewanee’s season.
In the hunt: Ryan Olps, Hugh Graham, Ryan Wax

Schedule Analysis: I should just copy and paste this section from last year because the schedules are nearly identical and I have similar thoughts. You can see it here. I really like this schedule with the exception of not many teams ranked in the #10-18 range nationally, so they are going to have to hold serve against everyone ranked below them and put together a big time win over a top 10 team in order to make a jump in the rankings. Let’s break this down by month.
February – The Tigers start off with some warm up matches against a few bad D3 and NAIA opponents to figure out there doubles, get out the early season jitters and just get some W’s under their belts before taking a trip over to Virginia for the annual Mary Washington invite. They should be heavily favored over Stevens, slightly favored over Hopkins and a coin flip against Mary Wash. I see another 5-4 match and the winner will sit firmly in the top 20 nationally and probably the #3 team in the region behind CMU and Emory.
March – March is really all about the Spring Break trip to California. Yes I know there’s a conference match in there, but Sewanee will rest their starters and be just fine. They get a nice matchup against a decent Swarthmore team to acclimate to the heat out west before playing two of their toughest matches all season against CMS and Tufts. If they get blown out by CMS (which is a possibility), they will very much need to regroup against a dangerous Tufts team that could be their only chance at a top 15 win all season. Whittier is up next before their final California match against Denison. This is 100% a trap match and Sewanee should not overlook this team.
April – Let the conference season begin! Actually, just kidding, let’s play Emory first to see where we’re at. This is a very tough match and I would expect a similar result to CMS. Ok, now back to our regularly scheduled programming. The Tigers will most likely sit their full lineup for most of these SAA matches and handle them with ease until the final conference match at Rhodes. I am high on Rhodes and expecting a 5-4, 6-3 match. I’ve been high on Rhodes before though and eaten my words. Sewanee wraps up their regular season with a match against a decent W&L squad before the SAA tournament, which they will be favored in.
May – Sewanee’s Sports Information Director must be uber confident because he already has the regional NCAAs, NCAA Championships AND individual NCAAs on their schedule! Maybe he’s psychic… Only time will tell. Being forrealz though, the Tigers will most likely end up in the Emory region (this is my shocked face) and will probably have another rematch against NC Wesleyan, which I am here for. Other than that, I do think that there are some players who have a realistic chance to make NCAAs as individuals, but it will be tougher with the emergence of Salisbury’s Angradi and the newest member of the ASouth, Stevens’ Gomez.

What should you expect?: I feel like last year my “3 things to look out for” got super competitive, so I’m hoping to mix it up this year with this section. The Tigers lost two key cogs in their lineup with Gray and Kali, but the good news is that other players have stepped up and they have recruited well. Last year their doubles were alright. You should expect them to have a better season this year. The freshmen seem to know a thing or two about doubles, based on their ITA run and the upperclassmen seem to jive well too. This team is also apparently taking a trip to Spain on the red clay just before the season starts, so I’m expecting them to learn how to #GRIND. The Tigers had a lot of close 5-4, 6-3 matches last season and they will need this grind to end up on the right end of those matches. Expect this season to be very similar to last season, with plenty of opportunities and a few key moments that will be the difference between being in the top 20 or out of the top 25.

Prediction: My sources tell me that this team will be better than last year, I say let the rackets do the talking. Realistically this team plays 22 matches and of those 22, 20 are winnable. With that being said, my prediction will be an 18-4 record with losses to Mary Washington, CMS, Tufts and Emory going into the SAA tournament. I think Carro ends up qualifying for NCAAs individually as well.

There it is, over 2.5. Aren’t you proud of us? Keep checking back for new previews hopefully every day this week! Also, I’d love to hear YOUR thoughts on Sewanee. Do you think they’re a legit top 20 team? Am I overhyping this squad? Or did I hit the nail on the head? Drop a comment, @ me on Twitter or send an email! Until next time, RegASouth out.