Thursday, March 27, 2008

Match Preview: #9 Mary Washington vs. #15 Johns Hopkins (March 28)

This is the first real test of the season for Johns Hopkins with the exception of the national indoors. They will have to win this match to prove themselves as a legitimate top 10 team. Mary Washington has a big homecourt advantage in Fredericksburg. They always have a great fan base and they also have a lot of belief in themselves. This will be a battle at all 9 matches. I like Hopkins to take first doubles and MW to take 3rd doubles, but 2nd doubles is a reall coin flip. In singles, Hopkins is the favorite at the 1, 3 and 4 spots, and Mary Wash is the favorite at 2, 5 and 6. Mary Wash has the advantage as far as depth is concerned. I believe that this match could fall on Maldow's shoulders in both singles and doubles, and if he is able to win both of his points, this could give Hopkins the win. I would expect to see a very close and intense match, but I have to give the nod to Mary Wash 5-4 because of their depth.

Probable Starters:
1. #20 Loden/Murata (MW) vs. #12 Blythe/Vasoontara (JH)
2. Goff/Parrish (MW) vs. Maldow/Wang (JH)
3. James/Dunn (MW) vs. Roberti/Vale (JH)

1. #12 John James (MW) vs. #6 David Maldow (JH)
2. #19 Randy Loden (MW) vs. #46 Andrew Wang (JH)
3. Eddie Carver (MW) vs. Joe Vasoontaara (JH)
4. Jason Dunn (MW) vs. Casey Blythe (JH)
5. Evan Goff (MW) vs. Peter Vale (JH)
6. Bryce Parrish (MW) vs. Rafael Roberti (JH)