ALL THINGS ASOUTH

After receiving all of your comments and concerns about Emory over the past week, I decided to write an article about them. That is posted on the Blog under this post. So, if you’re looking to complain about Emory or my coverage on them, please feel free to make your comments in that post. If you’re looking to get an update on the other teams in the ASouth, then you’ve come to the right place! I will also be doing a short season preview type thing for Swarthmore as they were another one of my teams that did not get the season preview treatment! We treat all teams equally here at division3tennis.com and I want to be sure that you all know that. I decided not to call this a State of the Region (did I tell you I came up with that name) because it’s a bit early in the season, but there have definitely been a good amount of matches that have been played in the ASouth. It’s my job to go over them. So, away we go.

Hopkins Starts Hot

Good thing here is that I actually previewed the Jays season. I talked about how they improved their schedule this year and have essentially scheduled every meaningful team in the ASouth. Good for them! It’s been a while since we’ve seen the Jays in meaningful action all year round. Well, I am here to report (and thank you commenter for calling it out) that the Jays are 3-0 in ranked matches so far this year. That’s right, 100% winning percentage for the Johns Hopkins Blue Jays. Soon, David Maldow, Tanner Brown, and Mike Buxbaum are going to be playing for the team and we’ll peg them in the top 5 in Power Rankings again! To get all of you up to speed – the Jays have now beaten NC Wesleyan, Sewanee, and Stevens over the past two weeks. One could argue that they should have been favorites in all three of these matches. However, the tank and tree Jays have always had some interesting regular season results. Here are the box scores from the three matches.

Hopkins defeats Stevens 8-1

https://hopkinssports.com/sports/mens-tennis/stats/2019-20/stevens/boxscore/11269

Hopkins defeats Sewanee 7-2

https://hopkinssports.com/sports/mens-tennis/stats/2019-20/sewanee/boxscore/11270

Hopkins def. NC Wesleyan 6-3

https://hopkinssports.com/sports/mens-tennis/stats/2019-20/north-carolina-wesleyan/boxscore/11271

There are a few really encouraging results in these three boxscores. First off, Hopkins clearly has put in some work on their doubles. They swept Stevens, came close to sweeping Sewanee, and went down 2-1 to NCW but it was close. Glad to see that the Jays aren’t out here putting mediocre efforts to start the match. Secondly, it looks like the Jays have found some STRONG spots in their lineup. #4, 5, and 6 singles (Carey, Tran, and Wang) went undefeated over the three matches. For a team that doesn’t have the strongest top of the lineup, this is massive for the Jays. They can lean on doubles and the bottom of the lineup to get them wins. I’ve already circled their dates against Mary Washington and Carnegie Mellon on their calendar. These are big opportunities for Hopkins and we might be looking at a successful year for the Jays. I’d also like to point out that the Jays seem to have taken on a couple new hashtags. 

http://twitter.com/JHUTennis/status/1233936635794001920

For one, every tweet has had the hashtag #DoItFortheSeniors. Now, I debate that the hashtag had to be this long, I still love that the Jays love to switch it up year after year. Additionally, it looks like that they have some version of the hashtag #Si or #SiSiSi as well. I have no idea what they are saying here. Obviously, that’s Spanish for “yes,” but that’s the extent of my knowledge. If anyone from the Jays cares to comment on this, please feel free.

Mary Wash Stays Consistent

Speaking of going 3-0 against Stevens, Sewanee, and NC Wesleyan, Mary Washington has done the SAME DAMN THING. Now, this is more par for the course for the Eagles given that they are ranked in the top 15 in the nation, but wins are wins, baby. In my preview for UMW i mentioned that they could be prone to some upsets if they don’t play it right – I’m glad that they’ve easily deflected three strong challengers in three tries. Here are the box scores from those matches:

Mary Wash def. NC Wesleyan 6-3

https://umweagles.com/sports/mten/2019-20/files/umwmt-01.htm

Mary Wash def. Sewanee 5-4

https://umweagles.com/sports/mten/2019-20/files/umwmt-02.htm

Mary Wash def. Stevens 7-2

https://umweagles.com/sports/mten/2019-20/releases/20200223r2jd3m

Now, the first thing you’ll notice (or I noticed) is that these box scores are closer than the Hopkins box scores. This is the big reason why I have the future Hopkins/UMW match circled on my calendar. UMW beat Sewanee 5-4 with the formula that I expected in my season preview of them. They won doubles 2-1 and won their 3 middle matches (#3, #4, and #5). Watson, Fleming, and Tecce are going to be their rocks all year long. Hutchison and Brown are going to struggle at the top of the lineup unless they put in some major work. That much you can see from the boxscore against Sewanee. Similar story against NC Wesleyan – UMW took 2 out of 3 doubles and then took 2 out of 3 of the middle matches. Hutchison picked up a nice win regionally over Puig and Priyan de Silva got on the board with a three setter at #6. Encouraging results from the Eagles, but I am less excited about these results for them than I am about Hopkins. UMW is currently on their Spring Break in Orlando (which I will pre-cap soon), so some more good matches to come for the Eagles.

Swarthmore Exists

I did not give Swarthmore the season preview treatment. Ugh. Swarthmore is considered an ASouth team and I have picked them up from RegASouth, so the Garnet get my surly, mean, writing about them versus the jovial writing of RegASouth. That’s a big L for the Garnet and I apologize in advance. Swarthmore has really played one important match so far this year and that’s against Carnegie Mellon, a team that is projected to have a down year. Here is the box score:

https://swarthmoreathletics.com/sports/mens-tennis/stats/2019-20/carnegie-mellon-university/boxscore/13464

Swat went up in doubles (which was unexpected), but ended up losing 4 of the 6 singles matches to a probably more talented team. There’s nothing to be ashamed of there, but unfortunately for them that is probably the best shot they’ll get at beating a top 20 team, for sure. They will be kicking themselves. It is important to note that this is the second year in what was known to be a rebuilding process for Coach Jason Box, who is in his second year at Swarthmore. The Garnet just brought in a decent recruiting class in 2019, but NONE of those freshmen play in the lineup as of right now. That’s crazy to me. I’m hoping that they are all taking learning experiences out of this year. Next year, they’ve already taken in a couple of big recruits with what should be minimal senior loss. This year is all about 2020-2021 at this point, which I respect. It takes at least 3 years for a coach to make his/her mark on a program and I think that is what we see happening here. If Swarthmore can exist this year in the top 30 and some good chemistry in doubles, I can see them entering the top 25 next year with a solid schedule. 

For the rest of the year, I’m looking forward to Swarthmore’s matches against Sewanee, W&L, and Chris Newport. They also have a tricky match against TCNJ that can sneak up on them if they aren’t careful. I don’t think the Garnet will be competitive with either Hopkins or Mary Washington (and Caltech) as those teams are just too consistent at this point for them this year. This will certainly be a good learning year for the Garnet and one where we hope to see some green shoots. I’m cautiously excited for the rest of their season. 

Other ASouth Notes

I don’t have too many other teams. CMU and Emory are the only other teams that I cover for the Blog and I JUST wrote a whole post on Emory. CMU goes on Spring Break this upcoming week and I will definitely have a preview for that along with a look at Mary Washington’s Spring Break as well. Quite important weeks for a lot of my teams coming up so I will make sure I get an article out there for you ASouth fans. 

Emory Update

Lastly, I know that a lot of you read my article regarding ALL THINGS EMORY in this post:

https://www.division3tennis.com/2020/03/02/all-things-emory/

I wanted to provide an update as I have been talking to a few unbiased sources about the situations at Indoors. I stand by most of what was said in my article. I’ve also learned of some of the absolutely unacceptable things being said on the court by Hayden Cassone, who at this point doesn’t give a damn what I say. And so be it. I’d encourage the rest of his Emory teammates to stay competitive but have an idea of where to draw the line. There are some great leaders on that team and it’s important to take the lead of those people instead of some of the BS that happens with a select few (or a couple). On the flip side, I am sure many can learn from the experiences of anyone playing Cassone. Ignore it. It’s tough, but it’s the right thing to do. Don’t feed the immaturity. The way you handle it says something about you. It’s important as you move on later in life. But, I totally get if you don’t care what a semi-anonymous DIII Blogger says. Either way, I think Katzman of CMS learned some things this past match and how to handle a potentially explosive situation. It’s tough, but you’ll be all the better for it. And with that, ASouth, OUT.