Thursday, April 9, 2009

Brief Weekend Preview

The highlight of the weekend is the GLCA Championship being played at Wabash and DePauw this weekend. 5 top 25 teams are in action with Kenyon as the clear favorite to win the tournament and Carnegie Mellon and DePauw as the main contenders. Also on Friday, UT-Tyler will try to bounce back from a bad loss against Trinity (TX) and take down the #2 ranked Wash U Bears. I wouldn't expect much of a match here and I think Wash U could win this 9-0. I'd be very surprised if Tyler is able to get more than 2 matches.

On Saturday, the GLCA will wrap up and Tyler comes back to take on a talented Chicago team. Chicago has had a disappointing season, but they can make a believer out of many if they can take care of Tyler and then give Wash U a hard time. I would expect Tyler and Wash U to beat Chicago fairly routinely though. I think their doubles are just too strong for the Maroons. A big NESCAC showdown between Middlebury and Bowdoin will take place for bragging rights and potential seeding in the NESCAC tournament. Bowdoin should break into the top 10 in the nation with a win. On Sunday, Hopkins is back for another match against a tough Salisbury team and they look to continue their dominance so far this season. The match of the weekend though is definitely Williams at Amherst. This is a battle between two top 7 teams who still have a lot to prove. I think this contest will tell us a lot about both of these teams and how they could fair against other top NESCAC teams.