2020 SAA Season Preview

Hello everyone! I lost interest in the LSU-Oklahoma game very quickly, so I decided to write up a little preview. I’m also writing this because New Central was supposed to post yesterday and I know Northeast will blow a gasket if someone didn’t post a preview, so I took it upon myself. This preview will take a look at the state of the SAA, with more in depth previews of Millsaps and Rhodes! Let’s get to it.

Millsaps Fast Facts

Location: Jackson, MS

 Head Coach: Davis Elkins (2nd season)

ITA Regional Ranking: 13 (Atlantic South)

Twitter Handle: @MillsapsTennis

Key Departures: Davis Plummer, Josh Shearin, Cooper Cleary

Key Additions: Trevor Vaccaro (2 star, UTR 9.36)

Team Overview: Since I’ve got a couple of teams to cover in the section, we’re going to shorten this thing up just a tiny bit and combine the lineup and schedule analysis so we can fit as many teams possible into this preview. The loss of Plummer and Shearin will certainly hurt, and unfortunately I think it’s going to be a little bit too much for this fairly young team to overcome. Taking a gander at the lineup, I think it’ll be Falk, Kimball, Beck, Vaccaro, Niehaus and Gardiner/Hecht. That’ll be enough to get the job done against the bottom half of the conference, but if I were Millsaps, I’d be very worried about Oglethorpe sneaking replacing them in the top 3 of NCAAs. 

Looking at the schedule, I’m fairly excited for the spring break match against ASouth opponent Dickinson, in what should be a very even match and will probably come down to whoever takes 2 out of 3 doubles. Other than that, the schedule is kind of ho-hum, but exactly what this team needs at this point in time. They have a ton of winnable matches outside of conference play, as well as a matchup against and ELITE team in Case Western, where the younger guys will get a chance to play a great team and learn from it. The Wooster match will also be good competition and a close match, but won’t have any ranking implications. This team is in no danger of missing the SAA tournament, but is still about 2-4 years out from being able to compete with Sewanee at the top depending on recruiting and development.

What should you expect?: This team should sit right around where they did last year, winning about 2/3rds of their matches. I think their top doubles team, of Vaccaro and Niehaus could potentially be very dangerous and make a run similar to a couple of years ago when Centurion/Plummer made NCAAs. The key word is “could”, so don’t go quoting me saying that I predicted they would qualify, but know that this is a sleeper team that could ruin someone’s day. The bottom of the lineup is going to be rough especially at the #6 spot, so expect some growing pains at #6 singles and #3 doubles. 

Prediction: Like I previously stated, looking at the schedule I think Millsaps will probably end up with the same 11-5 record with losses to Case Western, either Dickinson or Wooster, Rhodes, Sewanee and Oglethorpe, which slots them in at the #4 seed going into the SAA tournament, where they will most likely take out Centre before a rematch with Sewanee.  

Rhodes Fast Facts

Location: Memphis, TN

Coach: Tyler Cempre (6th Season)

ITA Regional Ranking: 10 (Atlantic South)

Twitter Handle: @Lynx_Tennis  

Key Departures: Sean Hogan

Key Additions: Daniel Trudell (3 star, 9.70 UTR), Andrew Capone (9.09 UTR)

Team Overview: ASouth would love this team if he covered them because the top 3 players in their lineup will most likely be SENIORS. With that being said we’re looking at their lineup being Chatterjee, Lauture, Hogan, Stich, Lloyd and Trudell/Capone. Chatterjee is a legitimate #1 singles player and will be a player to watch for an NCAA individual qualifying run this season. Their top 3 will be able to compete with most teams with their experience and talent, but my area of concern will be the inexperience in the 4-6 spots and that could cost them some important matches.

This schedule is AWESOME, with confidence building matches, winnable nationally ranked matches, matches where they’ll get thumped, but gain valuable experience and matches where Chatterjee can get some big wins on a nationally relevant scale. Their non-conference schedule includes Denison, Emory, Case, CNU, Salisbury and Mary Washington. If they can find a way to split that schedule, they’re going to be ready to give Sewanee fits and compete for the SAA title. This might be their last chance in a while.

What should you expect?: I hope and pray that Rhodes will find a way to figure out their doubles because if they can take 2 out of 3, then they are capable of pulling off some upsets against teams like CNU, Denison and maybe even Sewanee. If they haven’t figured out doubles then its going to be a long season for Rhodes fans because there will be plenty of frustrating 5-4 and 6-3 losses. Expect this team to be very good at 1-3 singles and flip a coin for the rest of the lineup.

Prediction: The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. I always pick the Lynx to do well, and I always feel like they disappoint me. BUT, I’m choosing to ignore my past mistakes and hype up Rhodes again. This senior class should be too good to disappoint and I think they finally pick up some signature wins and gain a national ranking. I think they’ll beat CNU and Denison to earn that ranking and push Sewanee in a 5-4 match during the regular season. From there, they will earn the #2 seed at SAAs and meet Sewanee once again in the finals.

The Rest of the SAA

Oglethorpe – Like I mentioned in the Millsaps preview, this is a talented team that could very well take out the Majors in the regular season, just like they did last year. If that’s the case, then this team will do a switcheroo and get the full season preview next season! Admittedly, I should’ve done that this year. This team recruits well, but talent development has always been a little iffy. It seems like this team is on the right track though under new head coach Paul Danielson. 

Centre – The good news is that Centre has been bringing in solid 2 and 3 star recruits over the past few seasons. The bad news is that they’ve always seemed to remain a notch below the rest of the conference. After a disappointing 5-11 campaign last season, Centre needs some kind of spark to bring out the most of this talent.

Birmingham Southern – Unfortunately BSC seems to be trending downward in recent years and they haven’t shown me much to make me believe that this year would be any different. The days of Makarenko are long gone and the Panthers needs to find a new stud to build a program around.

Berry – It still amazes me that this team continues to be at the bottom of the conference. The academics at the school are good and they have GREAT facilities. This year’s recruiting class is off to a great start, but Coach Hightower should probably reevaluate how he’s recruiting if he wants to stay in Rome.

Hendrix – The Warriors have a pretty cool looking mascot and brought in NINE players last year. Unfortunately, only one of them even has a UTR above 6. There’s always room for improvement though!

And that’s a wrap on the rest of the SAA! For the record, my predicted order of finish will be Sewanee, Rhodes, Oglethorpe, Millsaps, Centre, BSC, Berry then Hendrix. Do you think I got it right? Are any of Hendrix’s 9 freshman going to come in and shift the culture? Can Millsaps find that workmanlike magic again? Leave a comment, @ me on twitter or send us an email! Until next time, RegASouth out!