Central Rules Everything Around Me: March 6th – 8th Weekend feat. Spring Breaks (maybe)
Recently it seems like the C in C.R.E.A.M. has changed to covid-19 in the past week. @d3west, The Blog’s Number One Resident gives his take in a succinct two tweet thread here. We’re not sure if Case, Kenyon, and Wash U are going to follow through on their travel plans, so we’ll hold off publishing the lineup match previews for those teams Spring Breaks. There’s not a lot of big time matches this weekend with most matches getting a skinny, tweet length preview. Denison vs. Kalamazoo will become the premier match of the weekend should the Spring Breaks get cancelled.
Match Previews: The Skinny
March 6th
GAC vs. Hamline – Hamline really isn’t equipped to push GAC this season on any court especially with Hamline’s former All-American Jake Trondson transferring to play for University of New Mexico. GAC should win this one convincingly and quickly to start their weekend. GAC 9-0
March 7th
U Chicago vs. Illinois Tech – Here we have a friendly Chicago rumble, U Chicago plays Illinois Tech in d3 tennis’ version of Old Alabama vs. Western Kentucky. Chicago will find stronger challenges off court than on it this weekend with a 9-0 sweep imminent regardless of what iteration of the Maroons Jay Tee fields. Chicago 9-0
Depauw vs. Anderson – Depauw’s Power 6 is a 51 and Anderson’s is a 42. This match could have some close three setters in singles if the type-matchup leans Anderson’s way but a Depauw doubles sweep should keep this one quick. Depauw 8-1
Depauw vs. Principia – Depauw and Principia have nearly identical Power 6s. Don’t let their ranking fool you, Depauw still plays some of the better doubles in the region – the doubles lead they should get and the better players at the top of their singles lineup should carry Depauw into a double win weekend. Depauw 6-3
Augustana vs. Edgewood – Like Depauw’s dual match with Anderson and Chicago with Illinois Tech, this match features a strong favorite in Augustana. Augustana will look to stamp out a 9-0 win after a close loss to Coe and a litany of 7-2s. Augustana def. Edgewood 9-0
GAC vs. Concordia & St. Thomas – GAC has scheduled a double feature in St. Peter with Concordia and St. Thomas coming to town. Neither team has the horses to push GAC at the top of the lineup nor the depth to stay alive through the bottom half. GAC will play a split lineup against these teams but fret not – the Gusties are DEEP. GAC def Concordia 9-0, St. Thomas 8-1
Mid-Table Supremacy: March 7th
Denison vs. Kalamazoo
Injuries, Departures, and Small Roster Issues have plagued the early goings for both of these teams. Yi’s been in and out the lineup, Denison is trying to field full lineups, but still the Big Red and the Hornets persevere and maintain their positions in the middle of the region’s top ten. I repeat, Denison failed to field a full singles lineup against conference opponent OWU this month. That is a terrible sign for the Big Red who have already been incredibly poor at 5 and 6 singles this season. Kzoo’s 5 and 6 on the other end of the spectrum pulled off three-set upsets against Kenyon and should ROLL the Big Red. Kalamazoo are big favorites with 5 and 6 singles, and three doubles leaning very orange. Unless Denison gets heroic performances from Bulger, Rotnov, and Cianciola (undefeated equals five points) it should be Kalamazoo all weekend long. Cianciola vs. Yi, Rotnov vs. Henry, and Bulger vs. Metzler are three amazing singles matchups and should create some HIGH quality tennis. Each match pit contrasting gamestyles against each other. Denison needs to go 3-0 at the top in order to win, but unfortunately for them the smart money has Kalamazoo winning at least third singles, preventing the Big Red upset. Kalmazoo should get the victory here led by the efforts at: 3, 4, 5, and 6 singles & 1 and 3 doubles – look for Cianciola to keep his Individual hopes alive against Yi . Kalamazoo def. Denison 6-3
Central Travels
Case, Kenyon, and Wash U are all heading off (covid-19 permitting) for their Spring Break – the Ohio teams fly south to the USTA National Campus in Orlando while Wash U heads west to California before an island stint. Kenyon and Ohio play a bunch of matches but in Orlando but the big ones for both are Wesleyan and Carnegie Mellon. Kenyon also plays Mary Washington in their classic 5-4 battle but that;s slightly outside of the scope of this spring break check in. Wesleyan and CMU bookend the Pool C conversation, the Cardinals sit in safe waters while CMU lies in the C-ermuda Triangle. Kenyon doesn’t really need to concern itself with Pool C this or Pool C that since they’re overwhelming favorites to repeat in the NCAC, Case isn’t so lucky. If Case wins both of these matches this weekend, they will be favored to secure one of the Pool C spots barring some UAA collapse. Wesleyan could start its resume with a bang by defeating both Kenyon and Case, especially Case because they’ll absorb a Wash U victory as well. These Orlando matches will set the stage for how Pool C gets divided between the NESCAC and UAA this year – Wesleyan is playing for the entire region. Wash U is participating in the prestigious Pacific Coast Doubles tournament with a plethora of D1 teams plus CMS and Pomona. Wash U was able to play nearly all of their doubles teams in the tournament and even if they go 0-fer, the experience should be worth it. In the middle (Optimistically “in the middle” because they may not have anyone get out of Day 1) of the tournament, Wash U plays CMS in a dual match that could end up being anywhere from a close CMS 9-0 to a desperate CMS 5-4 victory. CMS is still one of the few legit NCAA title hopefuls in the country, their loss to Emory should invigorate this team to run the gauntlet back home in California. I think that CMS will take out some Indoors frustration out on Wash U (and all the other teams that come to play) and will assert themselves as a 1B favorite for the title later this season. One thing to watch out for is if Spring Breaks start to get cancelled, CMS and Pomona will suffer because a lot of their ranked matches stem from Spring Break visitors – no Spring Breaks will prove annoying for the Stag and Hen schedules. From U Chicago, to Staghen, to Middlebury – CMS’s strength of schedule (and match experience opportunities) go way down if Spring Breaks start to get Corona’d – something to keep an eye on.
OG Central’s Spotlight
Lennart Harms (Earlham College) is slowly and quietly building a case for NCAA Individuals. Wins over Ian Yi (Kalamazoo, third set retire) and Wyatt Metzger (Depauw, 10-7 in third). Harms could make a strong case for Individuals if he runs the table and ends 19-0 (which would include a victory over Landwehr (Rose-Hulman)). He’d need some help but an undefeated record in a tumultuous singles season could help Harms join the likes of Hillis, Hopper, Zalenski, Xu, and Vithoontien in the postseason.
Individual Qualification Spotlight (placement within a grouping is not in any meaningful order)
Yes, I think that my postseason LOCKS (5) right now are: James Hopper (Case – Fall ITA Champ, 2-2 in 2020 ), Ethan Hillis (Wash U – 3-1 in 2020; loss to Vithoontien; wins over Aizenberg, Derbani, Gaber), Jake Zalenski (Kenyon – 6-0 in 2020; wins over Metzger, Yi, Xu, Hopper, Derbani), Josh Xu (Chicago – 2-2 @ 1 in 2020; losses to Zalenski & Parodi; wins over Metzger & Aizenberg ), and Leo Vithoontien (Carleton – 7-0 in 2020; wins over Gray & Hillis).
My next group of singles players vying for Individuals Qualification, the Bubble Boys (7) include: Matt Chen (Case 2), Austin Diehl (Kenyon 2), Bernardo Neves (Wash U 2), Ian Yi (Kalamazoo 1), Tim Cianciola (Denison 1), Lennart Harms (Earlham 1), and Sachin Das (Chicago 2)
The long-er shots to qualify, the TOBTs* (13) include: Caio DeRezende (Augustana 1), Yassine Derbani (GAC 1), Nick Aney (GAC 2), Wyatt Metzger (Depauw 1), Vlad Rotnov (Denison 2), Daniel Henry (Kalamazoo 2), Stephen Gruppusso (Oberlin 1), Alex Gray (UWW), Cole Schneider (Luther 1), Ian Landwehr (Rose-Hulman), Aaron Umen (Case 3), Pascal Lee (Kenyon 3), and Erik Kerrigan (Chicago 3). (*that boy over there)
Five + Seven + Thirteen equals my 25 regionally ranked singles players!
-newCentral ✌🏼