Weekend Results

Several teams were in action this weekend and let's take a look at some of their results. I already covered Chicago's matches so I'll review 2 from CMU, 1 from Emory and 1 from Redlands. Trinity (TX), Carleton and Gustavus were also in action.

CMU wins 2

Positives and negatives to take away from this weekend as the Tartans begin preparation for Cal Lutheran. Any Patriot League team is going to play solid doubles so I thought it was great for them to get up 2-1. I like it any time a D3 team beats a D1 team, but this is a good doubles result. 2 and 3 doubles will be huge spots for CMU during the season. Singles was close, but CMU managed to pull out 4 close matches even after they fell asleep during a couple sets in 3 of their wins. This was a good result against a decent D1 team. Another good doubles result from CMU against a ranked D2 opponent. Again, I can't emphasize enough how important it is for them to take a 2-1 lead against CLU. They won both matches comfortably, but the thing that worries me is the bottom of the lineup was not rock solid. They absolutely need wins at 5 and 6 against CLU because they are huge underdogs at 1 and 2, and 3 and 4 seem fairly even. I'll say this now, if they don't win both 5 and 6, they will not beat CLU.

Emory d. Shorter 8-1

The Eagles were nothing short of dominant and are a heavy favorite heading into Indoors. Their singles lineup is fantastic and if they can actually get away with a Pottish/Egan combo at #3 doubles, those 2 will never lose either. That pretty much solves the problem of getting swept in doubles and it's a smart move by Browning, but I don't consider their top 2 teams all that strong compared to who they will be playing. Their singles is just so good though that they can win 4 of 6 against anyone in the country on the right day. Shorter is a good team and Emory crushed them. If they play like this, I see them cruising to the Indoors title.

Redlands falls to UCSD

This is clearly a stronger team with Jeff Hammond, who wasn't in action this weekend. I'm just not impressed by their lineup and I think they have a lot of work to do. Don't take much from this because UCSD is a great team and I don't think Redlands had much of a chance. We'll see what kind of shape Redlands is in during March, but I don't see them having the depth to make NCAAs right now.

Gustavus lost to BYU-Hawaii 6-3 and Carleton defeated Saint Cloud St. 8-1. I'll discuss those tomorrow. Also, Trinity (TX) played very short-handed and lost to D2 power Abilene Christian 9-0. Cocanougher wasn't in the match and they will certainly need him healthy to have a shot at Indoors. No box score available yet.