Did anyone else spend their Valentine’s day weekend eating ice cream alone and watching the new Taylor Swift documentary? Asking for a friend. My incredibly active love life is definitely the explanation for the time between west region previews, and not me wanting a sneak peek at the NWC lineups before writing about them. Anyway, if you haven’t checked out NEW’s musings on the NE, Central’s season preview or part 1 of the west make sure you do that too. No, I’m not above shamelessly plugging our own content. You should know this by now because I have a reputation. Like Tay says, you need to calm down.
Caltech Beavers
Preseason ITA Ranking (National): #21
2019 Season Record: 10-7
New Faces: Nina Solovyeva
Have Gone Places: Kana Moriyama
Coming off the best year in program history, Caltech is another program on the rise and the only thing slowing them down is the size of their roster. The Beavers achieved a program-high ranking of #22 with signature wins over Whitman, Linfield, and Redlands despite carrying only five players and their brutal courseload. When I saw Caltech defaulting #3 doubles and #6 singles every match my hopes were not high, but they just had this attitude where they said “I don’t know about you westWomens, but we’re feeling #22. Everything will be alright, if you keep us next to you!” I am very happy to see that last year’s newcomers Anna Tifrea, Jennifer Yu, and Michelle Hyun are all sticking around for a second season and the vast potential that comes with it.
Caltech will certainly miss Kana Moriyama, who played #1 singles and doubles for the Beavers and was team MVP too many times to count. Her senior leadership is a void that Coach Gamble will have to fill until the sophomores or juniors step up. Tifrea compiled a 12-5 record at #2 last year with wins over Linfield’s Elsa Harris and CMS’ Caroline Cox – she can fill Moriyama’s shoes. It’s doubles and the rest of the lineup moving up a spot that may cause Caltech some growing pains.
Jennifer Yu will see some time at #2 after going 13-1 last season across the #3-#5 singles spots. While the sophomore from Queens had a great rookie season, she’ll have to show extra grit and determination to take down the tough #2s in the SCIAC. Joining Caltech and playing towards the back half of the lineup is freshman Nina Solovyeva from Houston, and don’t look now but Coach Gamble has already picked up a four-star commit for 2021.
While Caltech finally fielded a full lineup this weekend, the season is off to a rocky start after a 6-3 loss to Redlands. The way to beat this team, as with most, is to come out strong in doubles and attack the depth in singles. The Beavers are still finding their footing with doubles pairings, and despite last year’s singles success they only won about half their matches in dubs (not counting defaults). Redlands took advantage of that with 8-0 and 8-1 wins at #1 and #3, respectively. Regardless of where they end up this year, long gone are the days of the Beavers being an easy out and practice for your squad’s B Team. They punished teams naïve enough to try that last year and I can’t see the SCIAC making the same mistake twice with this program on the rise.
Big matches: Southwestern (2/23), Mary Washington (3/8), Whitman (3/22), Linfield (3/25), Pomona-Pitzer (4/4)
Linfield Wildcats
Preseason ITA Ranking (National): #33
2019 Season Record: 17-3; NWC Champions
New Faces: Lexie Matsunaga, Allena Wong
Have Gone Places: Elsa Harris, Alysse Nakasato, Jesse Vezo
This ain’t your grandmother’s Linfield – after the Board vote this weekend they’ll be more than just a college, expanding to a university. The Wildcats will also look to expand their trophy case to FOUR straight NWC titles and send seniors Riley Clayeux, Michelle Ly, and Sarah Sweet out with a bang. These Cats won in thrilling fashion last year, with Clayeux achieving her wildest dreams and clinching the title with a comeback, 3-set victory at #4 singles.
The recipe for success last year was take at least two doubles points and grind it out in singles while banking on the bottom half of the lineup to outlast their opponents. I don’t think that changes too much this year – Linfield returns five of their six doubles players – but the wild card will be Michelle Uyeda at the #1 singles spot. The All-American has shown glimpses of #1 singles prowess picking up wins against Caltech’s Moriyama and GAC’s Bri Hartmann, but if Linfield is going to make it four in a row she’ll need to be locked in this year. They’ve lost their #2 singles player in Elsa Harris to graduation, with Nakasato (#5 singles) re-prioritizing as well.
First-years Matsunaga and Wong will backfill the bottom half of the lineup after those departures, and Maggie Fiocchi probably sees more playing time too. The biggest question for Linfield – can the bottom of the lineup still be their rock with the fresh faces at #4-#6 and the old rockstars moving to the top? Only time will tell.
Whitman is technically the conference favorite after their performance at ITAs, but the Wildcats will have plenty of opportunities to move up in the rankings as they have a schedule full of high-caliber teams on top of their usual NWC competition. They’ll take on Trinity next weekend, and then Gustavus Adolphus + Caltech in March, plus the Blues match is always a barnburner. I wouldn’t count these Cats out with coach Lisa Macy-Baker and the toughness her teams embody.
Big matches: Trinity (TX) (2/22), GAC (3/1), Whitman (3/14), Caltech (3/25)
Whitman Blues
Preseason ITA Ranking (National): Unranked
2019 Season Record: 11-7
New Faces: Andei Fukushige, Angel Le, Camilla Tarpey-Schwed, Irene Tsai, Jennifer Wong, Hannah Worden, blog favorite Leah Bush
Have Gone Places: Annika Bauerle, Mary Hill, Lori Sheng
Losing your #2 and #4 singles players is tough, almost as tough as the two 5-4 losses these Blues took to Linfield last year. However, with northwest ITA winner Andei Fukushige arriving on campus and assistant coach Leah Bush there to work her magic, this could be the year sparks fly and Andrea Gu finally walks away with a conference championship. The lineup is made up of a majority of new faces, with Fukushige at #1 and Tarpey-Schewd, Jennifer Wong, and Irene Tsai all vying for playing time as well.
Whitman had an excellent showing at the Northwest ITAs, having both doubles finalists on top of Fukushige’s singles title. This year’s question revolves around maintaining that success – can the first years and their conditioning hold up throughout the grind of the collegiate season? They’ve clearly got the talent; now it’s all about preparation. The NWC coaches poll earlier this year pegged Whitman as the favorite, but titles aren’t won on paper. Despite their success at ITAs, the hardware teams REALLY want to take home is given out at the end of the season, and I’m sure the returning Blues remember how close they were to it last year.
Whitman is sort of the opposite of Linfield – instead of their depth, the real strength is at the top with Fukushige and Gu. They can be challenged in the lower parts of the lineup, in both singles and doubles, and I’m very curious to see how they fare in the PNW quad coming up next weekend because it will represent a big test against some of the better competition they’ll see this year.
Big matches: Trinity (TX) (2/23), GAC (2/29), Linfield (3/14), Caltech (3/22)
That’s enough musings for now, be on the lookout for more content from your favorite Blog team as the season kicks into high gear!