StagHen Preview (March 14,15)

#3 CMS vs. UT-Tyler
#10 Kenyon vs. #18 Whitman
#11 Bowdoin vs. Pomona-Pitzer
#8 Trinity (TX) vs. #24 TCNJ

The Stags are obviously the favorite coming into the tournament as the host, the defending champion, and the highest ranked team participating. There are several intriguing matchups that we could see. The first round matchups have pretty clear cut winners in my opinion as we should see CMS taking on Kenyon and Trinity taking on Bowdoin in the semifinals. Kenyon could potentially pose some trouble for the Stags. Greenberg and Lim will be a great matchup, and the Lords are able to stay with CMS at the first 2 doubles positions as well as the bottom of the lineup. I would expect CMS to pull this out 6-3 or 5-4, but Kenyon will definitely make them sweat. The other semi has potential to be a thriller if Bowdoin can find their form. The Polar Bears have lost three straight matches and we must assume that they don't have much confidence. A win over Pomona should help them. Trinity should dominate in doubles but I would expect competitive matches throughout the singles lineup. 1 and 2 will be very entertaining. I would pick Trinity to win this. I would expect Kenyon to take 3rd place and move into single digits in the national rankings and I think the Stags will beat Trinity fairly easily in the finals as they are just stronger everywhere. I would expect CMS to have more trouble with Kenyon than Trinity. I wish we could see a Kenyon-Trinity matchup but it seems the seeds didn't fall that way. This will be a good tournament but don't expect a ton of suspense. Feel free to share your opinions. I'll do my best to have constant updates on the invitational.