Saturday Results

Hopkins d. Vassar 9-0
Emory d. Newport 9-0
Redlands d. Mary Washington 7-2

I apologize for not being very active lately, but there hasn't been much going on. The season really kicks off this Wednesday, and there is a match almost every day until early May. The Stag-Hen this weekend is really the kickoff to the spring season after Indoors and I'll be previewing that later this week.

This weekend we had 3 noncompetitive matches. To begin, Hopkins dominated as expected, although they were tested at the top 2 doubles spots. This was a good warm-up match for the Bluejays and they won't be tested again for 2 weeks when they have a brutal 6 day stretch that includes matches against CNU, Bates, Emory, NCW and Kalamazoo. If I were Hopkins, I'd be working on my fitness a lot to make sure I don't wilt by the end of that string of matches. JHU did what they needed to do this weekend, but they need to be ready for some tougher competition. Vassar travels to California this week and they have a shot at newly ranked Whittier on Tuesday before Coach Cox takes on his former team Kenyon on Wednesday. They then participate in the Stag-Hen where they get to play Enory first round which I'm sure will be a great experience for them. They have to put their focus on improving to beat Skidmore, and they now know what they need to do since they've seen the Thoroughbreds before.

In the other 9-0, Emory topped Christopher Newport as expected, but with much more ease in singles than I was expecting. The Eagles dropped 4 games in the top 3 singles spots, which is just flat out impressive given that CNU's top 3 aren't too shabby. Emory played good enough doubles and they will need to play great doubles if they want to return to Atlanta with a Stag-Hen title next weekend. The Eagles have a tricky match against Redlands on Thursday before the Stag-Hen Invite where likely matches with Trinity (TX) and CMS await. Those 2 will really test the Eagles, and a CMS-Emory final could be a national title match preview. Newport is an interesting story. I don't like to be harsh on teams, but I have a feeling they think they are a lot better than they actually are. The Captains need to win their conference this year and it will be tough to do. They don't play the schedule to get a Pool C bid, so their only road to the tournament is through NCW. The fact is they should be a good team with a top 2 like they have, but I haven't decided whether or not they are a top 25 caliber team. They don't have much until they play W&L in 3 weeks, and I'm expecting that match to tell me a lot about them.

The past several years, the Redlands-Mary Wash match has always been a war, with the 2009 match being tied at 4-4 before Spearman won it for Redlands. This year it was quite a different story. This was exactly the start that Redlands needed to their D3 season and I'm glad to see it. They got a little confidence under their belt heading into matches with Emory and Cruz during the next 6 days. I think Cruz is a winnable match and it will show us what Redlands is really made of this year. I will also be looking at this match later in the week. A wonderful result for Redlands, but the question is how much of it was them playing well and how much of it was Mary Wash continuing to be terrible? The Eagles were an absolute joke this week, and for the players they have on their team, I don't know how they lose like they do. Something happened to this team between '08 and '09, because they haven't been the same program since that NCAA quarterfinal against Middlebury in 2008. I can't put my finger on what's wrong either, but they are horrendous. As I said, I thought this year's team got on the right track after that Cal Lu win, but I was very wrong. They sit at #27 in the nation, and a loss to W&L next Saturday may very well drop them out of the rankings, which is just inexcusable for a program like this. They are lucky to be in a weak conference, but that doesn't mean they should cruise through the season. On paper, I think this team should be in the low 20s and possibly the top 20, but they aren't playing like it. I wondered if the weather adjustment was a factor, but they still got crushed a week after they got there, so that doesn't seem to be the case. Right now I think they just played over their heads at Indoors, riding their home court advantage. The good news is they still have 2 months to turn it around, but things are looking grim for the Eagles.

Weekend Ahead

Only 3 matches of note until next Wednesday and they all take place on Saturday. First, we get a look at Christopher Newport in D3 action when they take on one of the top teams in the country in Emory. This won't be much of a match and I expect Emory to come away with a 9-0 or 8-1 win, but there will some good matches at the top of the lineup with Emory's 1-2 punch of Pottish and Goodwin versus Shulman and Heyer for CNU. 4 of the probable top 25 singles players in the country will be competing. Second, we get our first look at Johns Hopkins this spring as they take on a Vassar team that is coming off a 7-2 defeat against Skidmore. A lot of people are on the look out for Skidmore as a big-time sleeper this year, so how Vassar does against Hopkins may tell us something about Skidmore. I know it's a mistake to expect big things from JHU, but I do once again, so it would be great to see them get off to a strong start.

The main event this weekend is Mary Washington and Redlands in the Bulldogs' D3 kickoff this year. This is a huge match for Redlands because not only do they need the win, but more importantly they need confidence to start the year. UMW and Redlands have had very close matches the past couple years, and I expect more of the same this year. This is key for both teams. Mary Wash is 0-3 so far in California and Redlands needs all the wins they can get to qualify for Pool C, and they can't afford a loss to the #27 team in the country. I'm looking forward to this one.

2011 Team Preview #11: Christopher Newport

Gianandrea Heyer

Coach: Rush Cole, 15th Season
Location: Newport News, Virginia
Conference: USA South
2008 Ranking: 24
2009 Ranking: NR
2010 Ranking: 30
2011 Projected: 21

They aren't at the same level, but the make-up of this team is eerily similar to Emory. They've got 2 great players supporting them, a solid #3 and then serviceable players lower in the lineup. In fact, if you take away the Eagles top 2, Newport has arguably the best 2 players in the region in Shulman and Heyer. Newport hasn't been making much noise the past couple years since starting undefeated in 2008 and making their way into the top 20 in the country with some very solid wins. I think this year's team has that sort of potential but they need to focus on one thing and one thing only. That's winning the conference. It will be a very tall task. If you look at last year's USA South final, that's the Newport-NC Wesleyan matchup in a nutshell. Newport was able to take 2 of 3 doubles and they were competitive at the top 2 spots, but NCW absolutely crushed them at 3 through 6, losing something like 8 total games at those 4 spots. I think there are 5 wins for Newport against NCW this year so I'm not going to count them out, but they will need to have their absolute best day to win this conference. The unfortunate thing for Newport is that this is really their only ticket to the tournament. I can see this team being as high as 18 or 19 in the country this year, but that still won't get them close to Pool C. Coach Cole is one of of the most underrated in the country and Newport's great staff has to have some lineup ideas up their sleeve to give them the best chance against NC Wesleyan. Looking at Newport's make-up again, Shulman and Heyer are probably the most underrated 1-2 punch in the country and will carry this team into the top 25 this year. After them, sophomore Garrett Widing will hopefully be healthy this spring and pick up where he left off from a promising freshman campaign. The real key will be seniors Lorenzo Sison and Dusty Nelson, both of whom really need to step up when Newport takes on ranked teams. The Captains need wins from players other than their top 2, and it's as simple as that. Looking at their schedule, they aren't tested all that much, but matches to watch are W&L, Mary Wash and of course the regular season contest with NCW. Their season will come down to the conference final and they know it. They just have to be ready to play.

Weekend Recap: April 16-17

7 matches of note took place and 2 automatic bids from major conferences were awarded for the tournament. Starting with Saturday, the SCIAC final was a match that we expected between CMS and Cal Lu and a battle between 2 of the top 5 teams in the country. Both teams took care of business against respectable teams on Friday so I was looking forward to a competitive result. CMS did to CLU exactly what the Kingsmen did to Cruz earlier this season. Came out very hot and put the match out of reach after doubles. Cal Lu was able to take 4 first sets to make things interesting for a while but CMS closed quickly with wins at 2 and 6. The 9 point system strikes again, but at the same time, most teams have been victimized as well as benefitted from it. CLU lost 2 of the 3 spots they needed to win the match and this proved to be the difference. In all likelihood, these teams will see each other again in a few weeks for the 3rd and final time.

One the other side of the country, Middlebury put together it's most dominant performance to date absolutely crushing a tough Bowdoin team. They looked not only dominant in singles but also in doubles and after this weekend it makes me think once again that no one will come close to the Panthers this year. Bowdoin needs to regroup and get ready for an upcoming test against Williams that could make them close to a lock for the tournament. Midd looks tough but they will probably face their most stern test yet when they take on Williams and Amherst on back to back days in 2 weekends. Midd once again cemented their place as the country's top team.

Mary Wash had a convincing win against Hamden-Sydney. I believe the ODAC final is this weekend and HSC and W&L will face off for the automatic bid. Also, Mary Wash will host Salisbury on Friday for the right to the CAC automatic bid as well. It is possible that both of these teams seasons could be over a week from now, but it's also possible they could both be headed to the tournament.

A match that I didn't have on the schedule but probably should have was the USA South conference final between Newport and NC Wes. I think both teams needed a win to get in the tournament and I was scratching my head a little bit when Newport managed to win 2 of the doubles to take the lead. The problem for CNU just like it has been all season is that they aren't deep enough in singles. With the illness of Widing, they don't have enough players who can compete against the likes of top 15 teams. Their top guys have taken care of business but they haven't been getting wins anywhere else. This showed as they won I think 7 combined games in the bottom 4 singles spots which just doesn't get it done against a team the quality of NCW. Wesleyan takes their 2nd consecutive conference title and will be headed to the tournament.

Mary Wash tried to use the momentum of the last two matches to upset Hopkins but they were in trouble before the match even started because one of their best players, arguably their most valuable player, wasn't able to play due to cramps the day before. Probably a good call by their coach to rest him for the upcoming week. Mary Wash was able to get their lone win at the 1 doubles spot, but besides that Hopkins crushed them. A much needed win for Hopkins and the 2nd year in a row that they have destroyed Mary Wash. I have mixed feelings on both of these teams going forward and we will see if UMW is up to the challenge this week.

Kalamazoo has really been struggling lately and it looked like that would continue when Gustavus was able to jump on top of the Hornets with 2 doubles victories. Riley had to be pretty upset with his guys because Kzoo is playing nowhere near their potential right now. His speech between singles and doubles must have work because Kalamazoo came out and swept the singles, which was actually somewhat of a surprise for me. I think this was a closer 7-2 than the score, but Kzoo got the job done. Gustavus needs to focus on beating Carleton again so they can defend their conference title and make the tournament. Kzoo needs to find their game from early in the season.

The biggest match of the day was the heated rivalry between Amherst and Williams. Williams has yet to do anything of note this season and with a home match I expected a lot out of them in this match. They just haven't been producing in doubles and this continued as they struggled to win games at the top 3 spots. Amherst is obviously a strong team but if Williams wants to do anything on the national scene this year and even qualify for the tournament, they have got to pick up their doubles play because it's a joke right now. Credit to Herst who went into Williamstown and took care of business. Williams now faces an absolute must win against Bowdoin this weekend or their season could be over very soon. Much like Trinity (CT), the lack of an out of conference schedule is killing Williams right now and they could find themselves out of the top 15 next week if they don't bring it this weekend.

Weekend Recap: March 26-28

Alex Dombos, Kalamazoo

7 matches of note that I'll be discussing in this post. To begin, I'll say I'm quite disappointed that the Hopkins-Chicago match was cancelled on Friday because it was a match I was looking forward to. Chicago doesn't have any tough matches until UAAs so they will hope that their Pool C competitors beat up on each other. Now, moving on to the Friday matches we had Trinity (CT) wrapping up their spring break at Pomona-Pitzer. I said this was a do or die match for both teams as far as NCAAs are concerned and the Bantams came out on top with an easy victory. If they are losing to Trinity (CT) in this fashion, I don't think the Hens are top 20 material. They showed promise early in the season but weren't able to keep up the level of the Mary Wash match. Another year where P-P will fall victim to the poor NCAA selection process. Trinity (CT) stayed alive, but just like last year, they now need a win over a top 3 NESCAC team (possibly more than 1), if they want to make the tournament.

The Midd-CMS match Friday had a lot on the line, most importantly the #1 ranking in the country. Midd continued their incredible play and came away with a fairly routine 7-2 victory. The Panthers will sit at #1 in the ITA rankings on Tuesday and they look to continue their domination in conference play. An undefeated regular season for Middlebury would certainly be an impressive feat. Their weaknesses were supposed to be the bottom of the lineup and doubles and these were both strengths on their trip. If you can rest your 3 and 4 and still win 4 singles against Redlands, you are a very good team. They look untouchable at this moment and if they continue this level, then they will be national champions. CMS needs to start preparing for the Cal Lu match in 2 weeks because this could determine the host institution for the NCAA Regional.

I didn't think Saturday would be all that competitive, but we had three matches won by a 5-4 score, including one of the biggest upsets of the season. Cruz was reeling entering their match with Redlands on Saturday and I felt the Bulldogs would be ready to go because they knew they needed a win like this to get back into the NCAA hunt. Cruz just dominated and got back on track. They won't see any D3 competition until the NCAA tournament, but we know they will be training hard. The Slugs know they have a lot of ground to make up if they want to come out of the West Regional playing on the road. As for Redlands, they just aren't the same team that they've been the past few seasons. They lost some key players and weren't able to recover. They aren't completely out of it yet but the future doesn't look bright this season. The other fairly lopsided match was Hopkins over Washington & Lee. I expected Hopkins to win easily and they did, once again securing their top 10 ranking. W&L needs to regroup after their in-conference loss and get ready to play HSC again in their conference tournament.

We also had three competitive matches Saturday. I expected Carnegie Mellon to crush Mary Washington, but they continue to struggle in doubles. I believe they have played 6 top 25 teams this year and they have been down 2-1 after doubles all 6 times. They've come back to win 3 of those times but losing doubles over and over will catch up with you. That being said, they dominated at the bottom of the singles lineup which is also Mary Wash's strength. I don't think the outcome was ever really in doubt despite the 5-4 score. Mary Wash has to be worried now after Salisbury's big win this weekend. I don't think the Eagles have another gear and at this moment it seems like they won't win their conference. The last two matches of note took place at Salisbury. Kalamazoo finished their spring break trip with two matches against Salisbury and Newport. I was following live stats for the morning match and Salisbury jumped out to an early doubles lead and never let up. They ended up winning 5-4 with #4 singles being the clincher when the match was tied 4-4. I don't know if I've said this before, but I hate results like this. It's a huge flaw of the 9 point system. Kalamazoo wins this match 5 years ago, but again that's just the way things are. This result was important not only for these teams, but it was felt across the country. I didn't take Salisbury seriously after they got crushed by a short-handed Bowdoin team, but I forgot that the Sea Gulls are always very tough on their home courts. Now we have Chicago and DePauw with losses to Kalamazoo, and therefore they should both move behind Bowdoin in the rankings. This pushes Chicago out of the tournament at the moment, even though they've been winning. Kalamazoo was looking really good, but I'm doubting them after this result. I think Salisbury could move into the top 15 on Tuesday. In one of the weirder results I've seen, Kzoo beat Newport 5-4 later in the day. Newport was without one of their top players and Kzoo was able to pull out a win to save themselves from another loss.

ITA Rankings and a Look Ahead

Scott Sandager, DePauw

New ITA Rankings can be found here

There's not much info so far and what we do know was properly reflected in these rankings. Cal Lu made a drastic move but it is certainly justified and I think Kalamazoo's upset win is also reflected well. The only thing I question is dropping Mary Wash out of the top 30 but even that is justified after their recent loss to Pomona-Pitzer.

There is rarely a result that I find favorable for both teams. Tuesday's match between CMU and Newport may fall into this category. CMU switched their lineup in doubles and it worked as they swept the doubles with 2 close matches. Whether this is a permanent switch, I don't know, but it certainly worked. Newport struck back and took the first two matches and they have to love the singles results. CMU was a little too deep for them and this showed, but CNU certainly won the spots they can win and I have high hopes for Widing after this win yesterday. This should be somewhat of a confidence boost for both teams going forward.

I count 9 important matches in next 4 days. Mary Wash is in 2 of them and DePauw is in 3 of them. Friday's contest between Salisbury and NCW may not be competitive because 3 Salisbury starters will be out of the lineup for disciplinary reasons dating back to the fall. Salisbury will have plenty of chances the rest of their season but this is a disappointing way to most likely lose a winnable and important match. I am interested to see how Newport responds against Vassar. Vassar apparently has lightning fast indoor courts and I'm sure CNU won't be used to this. This should be a highly competitive match. I spoke earlier in the week about UMW needing a win this weekend for their confidence. They definitely have a better shot against Redlands because I feel they match up better. I think they are going to need at least 2 of the doubles if they want to have any chance against CLU.

The busiest team this weekend is DePauw and they are taking part in the 2 biggest matches of the weekend in my eyes. They have 3 very tough matches in 36 hours and although they did the same thing at Indoors, this has an effect on your team. I don't think they can get away with playing their B team against Luther. The Chicago match is huge for Pool C standings. UChi will be hungry for a win after they got blown out by Kalamazoo and they know that every match is so important for their NCAA chances. Chicago also needs to not overlook a tough Luther team on Friday. It would be tough for their seniors to go out without having played an NCAA tournament and never having been out of the top 25. I think Chicago will come out firing so DPU needs to use their home court to their advantage. I'm also looking forward to the Kzoo-DPU match and I think I smell an upset here. DePauw will be beaten up and tired from Saturday and Kzoo will be fresh and ready to go after moving up to #16 in the ITA rankings. Every match is important for DePauw because of Pool C standings as well. This is a huge weekend for the Tigers and if they can escape 3-0, I will be very impressed with this team.

Monday Thoughts and Tuesday Preview

Eric Shulman, CNU

I spoke with several sources about their thoughts on the CLU-Redlands match and most of them gave me the same conclusion that I came to. Redlands will probably win a close one. This proved not to be the case and Cal Lu pulled quite an upset, really shaking things up on the national scene. The poll to the right shows that most people viewed Redlands as a real contender this year but maybe this isn't the case. However, I do see players missing for the Bulldogs when I look at the box score. No Reading, but he hasn't been around all spring and no Dahl, who is supposed to be their best freshman. This definitely could have changed the match, but take nothing away from CLU because they deserve the win. They nearly swept doubles and I thought that 1 point for Redlands could be important. CLU took the top 2 and Redlands took the bottom 2, but the middle is where CLU won this match. My hat goes off to CLU's middle of the lineup as well as their 3 doubles team. A great win for the Kingsmen and they should be moving into the top 20 now. This is definitely a result that other potential Pool C teams should love.

In the other surprise of the day, Pomona-Pitzer rebounded from the CLU loss and took down a young Mary Washington team. I was expecting the Eagles to win this but once they were swept in doubles, it was nearly impossible for them win. What happened to UMW today is what we thought would happen, they can't win at the top of the lineup. The depth is clearly there, they are just lacking that top player. Once they got down in doubles, they just get steamrolled at 1 and 2 and the match is over. UMW did a good job making the score look respectable, but they needed to be on top in doubles. This was a much needed win for a great program. P-P has struggled for a couple years and this is a promising start to their season. They have to play another beatable ranked team in a week and that 6-3 loss to CLU looks pretty good after today. The Eagles need to bounce back and they have two great chances on Thursday and Sunday. I think UMW needs one of those wins for their confidence or it could be another very long season. Granted, this is their first match outdoors so a rough day can be expected.

Tomorrow, CNU travels to Carnegie Mellon. The week before spring break usually means exams, and at Carnegie Mellon which is infamous for its difficult schoolwork, this could mean no sleep and very little tennis. CNU better hope this is the case because it's their only chance for a win. I think there's a couple spots CNU can win, but unless Carnegie doesn't show up, this won't be all that close. Theoretically, CNU could win 2 of the doubles, but I'd call CMU is the favorite in all 3. I'd also consider CMU the favorite at every singles spot besides 1. I'm calling a 7-2 tomorrow and I don't think the bottom of the lineup will be all that close. Newport needs to hope their opponents are having a very bad day.

CNU @ Vassar Pre-Match Thoughts

I don't have a whole lot to say because we haven't seen much from either of these teams this season or last season. They have both added new players and are completely different squads from the past. I think the doubles could define this match because singles seems fairly even. The only thing that I'm fairly sure of is that Heyer will probably win the 3 spot for CNU and Ben Guzick will probably win the 2 spot for Vassar. The doubles should be very close and I'm going to give the edge to CNU at 1 as a team who's experienced and has played together before and I like Vassar to strike back at 2. 3 may as well be a coin flip. 1 is a match between two potential NCAA qualifiers and I'll go with Shulman at 1. I would expect Vassar to strike right back at #2 singles as well as #4 singles. 5 and 6 could go either way. Both of these teams are top 25 material and they are both sleepers this year. This will be a good early season test to see who gets the confidence going forward.

Team By Team Discussion from Indoors and Other Weekend Thoughts

Gustavus Adolphus - The Gusties did about as well as they could this weekend. If you told me they would get 5 points over 3 matches, I may not have believed you. I thought it would be more like 2 or 3. I think this is encouraging for them going forward when it comes to winning the conference. With a homecourt advantage I think they could sweep doubles against Carleton and also manage to find 2 singles wins. Gustavus could finish the year in the top 20 but they have work to do.

DePauw - The Tigers played great against Emory and wilted a bit after that loss. I expected them to take 2 of the doubles against Hopkins and when they didn't do that they were done. They have a huge weekend next weekend and we will really see what they are made of. They could get a really nice jump towards an Pool C NCAA Bid if they can knock off both Chicago and Kzoo on their homecourts. If I'm the Tigers I'm pretty happy with my weekend because we saw flashes of brilliance from them on Day 1.

Carnegie Mellon - I should have mentioned the word volatility in their season preview. I thought CMU would be a new team after their Fall Amherst win but they were the same old team this weekend. They let Cruz off the hook and weren't nearly as close as I thought they would be against Hopkins. They need to watch out for a tricky CNU team next Tuesday. Also, we will see what they learned from this weekend when they go to Cali. 3 top 15 teams out there. 0 wins = very overrated, 1 win = their typical 12-15 season, 2 wins = potential Elite 8 contender, All 3 wins = national championship contender. I'm not sure if that near upset of Cruz was a fluke or not.

Johns Hopkins - Yes they went 2-1, but the Day 1 match is the one they really needed for their confidence. They beat 2 good teams on Day 2, but they are also better than those teams. They have a month of down time from D3 play and their next match is against a very dangerous NCW team. This is a must win for Hopkins. I expected a lot more from them at the 3 through 5 singles positions. This is supposed to be their strength and the wins weren't coming. They need to start winning at these spots if they want to make a national title run. Doubles has room for improvement but they got better as the weekend progressed.

Kenyon - Maybe the most disappointed team after this weekend. A good showing against GAC, the doubles loss is expected against the fired up Gusties. The Cruz match is the one I thought they would run through. Their seniors let them down and this is the core of their team. If they are down 2-1 in doubles, their top 2 need to win or they are done. They just don't have the depth to match the other top 5 teams in my eyes. I still think this team can win a national title, I just expected a Finals appearance from them this weekend and they didn't produce.

Emory - Overall, a pretty shaky tournament from the Eagles. They could have lost to DePauw, but used their experience to grind through that one. The Eagles are always a national championship contender no matter what happens in the early portion of their season. They lost to their heated rival, but bounced back nicely against Kenyon. The good thing about this weekend from Emory is they will see all 3 of these teams again during their season so they will find out how they've progressed a team. I'm still searching for an update on Lopp because I think he can make a huge difference.

Wash U - An amazing first 2 days from the Bears followed by a poor finals performance. They were just flawless on Day 1 crushing a potential top 5 opponent and then followed it up by beating a very good Emory team with a doubles sweep and some good singles play by the bottom of their lineup. They showed they have the depth to compliment Watts at the top of the lineup. They play Kenyon in 3 weeks so we'll see if they learned from the Cruz match. I was expecting them to roll through the finals but it goes to show that even the top teams still need work.

Cruz - What can we say about these guys besides what a performance. They won 3 matches which they should have lost and took home another Indoor title. They funny thing is if they played Wash U every day for the next 10 days at a neutral site, I'll take the Bears in 8 of those. Just an amazing coaching job by Hansen and unbelievable leadership by Pybas and Vartabedian taking the team on their shoulders and leading them in all 3 matches. Even though they won the whole thing, as Hansen said in the match recap, a lot of work still needs to be done before they can defend their national title. A great 3 day performance, but I'm not a believer yet.

Besides the final of Indoors, the most surprising result for me is Kzoo over Chicago. The first thing that pops into my head is it's not even March and Chicago is already in a huge hole for NCAAs. Pool C is too deep to have losses like this, even if Kzoo ends up being a top 20 team. Chicago needs to rebound and beat DePauw next weekend or they can basically count themselves out of the tournament already. How do you go from losing 5-4 to the Indoors finalists to losing 7-2 to a team outside the top 20? I give Kzoo credit. They played a decent match against Kenyon and this match showed they are making great strides as they won every match easily. This is a top 20 team to me after this weekend and they could pull an upset this year when we are least expecting it.

CMS lost to an NAIA team 5-4. That same NAIA team was beaten by Cruz 8-1. This worries me a little bit. CMS isn't getting production from the middle of their lineup. They need to step up given the depth in the top 10 this year.

Cal Lu is a team to watch, as is CNU. Both have started well this season and both have top 20 potential if all their players play well. CLU got a good start with a win against Pomona-Pitzer on the road, winning 5 singles matches. CNU has been playing mostly D1 teams and they have a match that I'm really looking forward to this Sunday against Vassar.

Weekend Thoughts Feb 12-14

A few observations and then Wash U-Chicago thoughts...

-Redlands had two matches. Reading and Hammond were both nowhere to be found. They had a lot of new guys in their lineup so I was surprised by this.

-Trinity (TX) took my advice and picked up their singles play a little bit. They lost 5-4 to the #1 JuCo school, which I feel is a very strong result for the Tigers and good to see for them going forward.

-Christopher Newport is a team to watch this year after seeing their lineup this weekend. Heyer at #4 singles is very tough and they could actually pose a threat to NC Wesleyan in the USA South.

-CMU had a good win over a ranked D2 team sweeping doubles which is promising for them going into this weekend.

-CMS was excellent at the top of the lineup against the #5 D2 school. I was very impressed by Erani and Lim. A great start to the year for those two.

-Whitman barely snuck by Pacific Lutheran. Take nothing away from PLU, but I expected a bit more from Whitman. After this match, I'm actually less impressed with Santa Cruz, because PLU was also able to take 2 of the doubles from Whitman, actually in more dominating fashion than Cruz.

I was shocked at Wash U's result with Case Western on Saturday. It was actually a pretty close 8-1. I thought the Bears may have just underestimated them and weren't ready to play, getting out some early season jitters. I was on target with the doubles results in the Wash U-Chicago match, but the singles was a shocker. This was an extremely close 5-4 which Wash U could have easily lost. I thought Woods could be the best 4 in the country but he lost, and Levy certainly is not back to his old form. If the Bears don't raise their level, they will lose to Hopkins. I can understand Putterman losing, but Chicago's 3 was also a freshman so that has to be alarming for the Bears as well. The other possibility is that I am really underestimating Chicago this year. They could be quite a bit stronger with 4 new guys in their starting lineup from last year including a new 2-3-4. My guess is they played very well and Wash U wasn't on top of their game. I'll be interested to see how the Bears respond because they barely got by on Sunday.