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.

#24 TCNJ defeats #11 Bowdoin

TCNJ handed Bowdoin its second straight loss in a big upset today. The Lions used strong singles play to beat Bowdoin. Bowdoin played without their #4 singles player Alex Caughron and this came back to haunt them as he definitely would have turned the match in favor of the Polar Bears. We will see how much TCNJ moves up in the new rankings after this win.

#17 Carnegie Mellon defeats #11 Bowdoin

This is a minor upset that will definitely shake up the rankings in the 10-18 range.

Match Preview: #20 Denison vs. #23 Washington & Lee

An early-season match up of two teams who normally are at the top of D3. Both teams are struggling so far this season, particularly Washington & Lee, who has had several lackluster performances. Both of these teams have the players to be top 15 teams, so maybe they just need some belief in themselves to finally get going. Doubles is a strong suit of both teams. W&L's 3 doubles team has looked superb, including a win over CMS. I would expect WL to win 3, but I like Denison to take 1 and 2. Denison should win 4 and 6, and I like WL at 3 and 5. The match will be decided at the top 2 spots. I like WL and at 2 singles, and I think this should go 5-4 either way, depending on #1 singles. This match could help the winning team to break into the top 20 and eventually top 15 in the country. Should be a very tight match.

Probable Starters:
1. Lofgren/Newman (D) vs. Ross/Estes (WL)
2. Davis/Buehler (D) vs. McCardell/Hopson (WL)
3. Hodgkiss-Lilly/Verbofsky (D) vs. Sanford/Brooke (WL)

1. Jordan Buehler (D) vs. #44 Tim Ross (WL)
2. James Davis (D) vs. Nat Estes (WL)
3. Randy Lofgren (D) vs. Seth Feibelman (WL)
4. Kevin Newman (D) vs. Jamie McCardell (WL)
5. Tom Hodgkiss-Lilly (D) vs. Morgan Hopson (WL)
6. Evan Verbofsky (D) vs. Nelson Bunn (WL)


Stag-Hen preview coming tomorrow along with a couple others.

D3tennis.com Team Rankings March 11, 2008

Team Rankings:
1. Gustavus
2. UC Santa Cruz
3. CMS
4. Washington U
5. Emory
6. Middlebury
7. Williams
8. Trinity (TX)
9. Mary Washington
10. Kenyon
11. Bowdoin
12. DePauw
13. Johns Hopkins
14. Redlands
15. Amherst
16. Chicago
17. Carnegie Mellon
18. Whitman
19. Christopher Newport
20. Denison
21. Coe
22. Kalamazoo
23. Washington & Lee
24. TCNJ
25. Trinity (CT)

Recent Scores (March 3 - March 9)

#1 Gustavus d. Grinnell 8-1, #1 Gustavus d. St. Johns 7-2, #1 Gustavus d. St. Thomas 8-1, #1 Gustavus d. Macalester 9-0, Drake d. #1 Gustavus 7-0, #3 CMS d. #9 Mary Washington 7-2, #3 CMS d. Wabash 8-1, #6 Middlebury d. Union 9-0, #6 Middlebury d. NYU 6-0, #6 Middlebury d. Bates 9-0, #6 Middlebury d. Brandeis 9-0, #8 Trinity d. Millsaps 9-0 #8 Trinity d. Incarnate Word 6-3, #9 Mary Washington d. Wabash 9-0, #9 Mary Washington d. Pomona 9-0, #9 Mary Washington d. #14 Redlands 6-3, #12 DePauw d. Ferris State 7-2, #15 Carnegie Mellon d. Chapman 7-2, #17 Chicago d. Carthage 7-2, #18 Christopher Newport d. Chowan 9-0, #20 Whitman d. Pacific Lutheran 9-0, #20 Whitman d. Puget Sound 9-0, #20 Whitman d. Lewis & Clark 9-0, #23 Denison d. Northern Kentucky 7-2, #24 TCNJ d. NYU 9-0

Match Preview: #10 Bowdoin vs. #15 Carnegie Mellon

Both of these teams are known for switching their lineups constantly so it is nearly impossible to figure out who is going to play who, but getting past all that I will look at analysis for the match. Carnegie's doubles is traditionally weak, and while Bowdoin's is not outstanding, it should be good enough to take 2 if not all 3 of the doubles points. I would predict that Bowdoin will lead 2-1 after doubles. Carnegie's best chance is probably at the 3 spot. Both of these teams are defined by depth. The singles matches are toss-ups throughout the lineup. I definitely see a 3-3 singles split. Bowdoin is probably a little stronger at the top, and CMU is a little stronger at the bottom, so I would expect the 3 and 4 positions to decide the match. Bowdoin hasn't played a match this season, so it's hard to say how they will respond to this test. The winner of this match could secure themselves a top 12 spot in the rankings.

Probable Starters:
1. #19 Gates/Sullivan (BC) vs. Muliawan/Mactaggart (C)
2. D'Elia/Neely (BC) vs. Clearfield/Raghavan (C)
3. Anderson/Fried (BC) vs. Nemerov/Spero (C)

1. # 25 Garrett Gates (BC) vs. #31 Alex Nemerov (C)
2. Eric D'Elia (BC) vs. #46 James Muliawan (C)
3. Stephen Sullivan (BC) vs. Andrew Clearfield (C)
4. Jamie Neely (BC) vs. Jon Spero (C)
5. Alex Caughron (BC) vs. Bobby MacTaggart (C)
6. Tyler Anderson (BC) vs. Ravi Raghavan (C)



Upcoming: Recent Scores coming shortly. StagHen preview coming in a few days and I am undecided as to when I will publish new rankings. I am tempted to wait for the invitational to finish and publish new team, singles and doubles rankings next week at this time.

Match Preview: #9 Mary Washington vs. #14 Redlands (March 8)

Mary Washington looks to bounce back after its loss to CMS against another top 15 team. Redlands is very strong in doubles and will provide an excellent test for the Eagles. I expect doubles to go in favor of Redlands, as this is usually their strong suit. The 2 doubles team of Mary Wash has been struggling as of late, so look for Redlands to capitalize. I would give Redlands 2 of 3 doubles points. Singles is a different story. Mary Washington is just a little too deep. They should not only dominate at the top with their 1-2 punch of James/Loden, but they should also win at least 2 of the matches at 3 through 6. Redlands will have a very hard time winning 3 singles matches in my opinion. I would give 3 and 4 to Redlands, but the rest of the matches look to be in favor of UMW. It should be an exciting contest on Saturday and a very important one for UMW to get back on track. Redlands will be hosting 3 top 25 teams in the upcoming week, so this could give them momentum.

Probable Starters:
1. #15 Loden/Murata (UMW) vs. #18 Wagar/Cook (UR)
2. #20 Goff/Parrish (UMW) vs. Reading/Hasenyager (UR)
3. James/Detweiler (UMW) vs. Hammond/Wong (UR)

1. #9 John James (UMW) vs. #48 Matt Liebman (UR)
2. #13 Randy Loden (UMW) vs. #36 Eric Wagar (UR)
3. Evan Goff (UMW) vs. Aron Ouye (UR)
4. Eddie Carver (UMW) vs. Mike Reading (UR)
5. Jason Dunn (UMW) vs. Ransom Cook (UR)
6. Bryce Parrish (UMW) vs. Chris Trippel (UR)

CMS-Mary Washington Wrap-Up and some Q&A with Coach Settles

The #3 ranked Stags of Claremont-Mudd-Scrips defeated the #9 ranked Eagles of Mary Washington 7-2 in a highly anticipated matchup yesterday in Claremont, California. The Stags started strong with 8-3 and 8-4 wins at 1st and 2nd doubles, respectively. These positions, particularly 2 doubles, were expected to be highly contested. Despite being down and early 2-0, the Eagles kept themselves in the match by taking the 3 doubles spot with John James/Zach Detweiler winning 8-5 over the team of Mikey Lim and Michael Starr.

The singles matches all had highly contested first sets, first 4 of 6 first sets going to tiebreakers. The problem for the Eagles was that the Stags won all 4 of those breakers. After winning 5 of 6 first sets, CMS looked well on its way to victory. Michael Starr made the score 3-1 with a win at #3 singles and Eric MacColl pushed the score to 4-1 with a 6-4, 6-0 win against Eddie Carver at #4 singles. However, both of these matches were expected CMS wins so there was still a lot of tennis to be played. In a battle of top 15 players, Lawrence Wang defeated Fall Regional ITA Champion Randy Loden 7-6, 6-1 in a match that was expected to be highly contested. This gave CMS the 5-1 victory and they clinched the match. Of the remaining points, CMS took #1 and #6 singles and Mary Washington was able to squeeze out another win at #5. I asked Coach Settles a few questions after the match and he was kind enough to share his answers with me.

Q&A with Coach Paul Settles of CMS

How did you feel about the team performance overall in doubles? And in singles?
-We played very well at #1 and #2. The key to our success at those positions has been getting out to good starts - early breaks and easy holds. We were victimized by our own strategy at #3 doubles and lost an early break and then never really recovered from it. Doubles will really be a focus of ours going into the Stag-Hen, as we'll try to continue to get better at #1 and #2 and shore up the #3 position. In singles I was so proud of our guys winning four tie-breaks in four of six first sets. Wang and Sabater both fought back to tough out their first sets and were rewarded with more convincing second set efforts. Overall a good singles effort against a tough UMW team.

Individually, who really stepped up for you today against a very tough opponent?
-I'm probably most proud of Mikey Lim, who is learning how to beat good players at the #1 position even when he isn't at his best. James made him work very hard but Mikey showed good patience and toughness when he needed it most.

Mary Washington is typically a very gritty and confident team. Do you think the homecourt advantage helped you at all with breaking their spirits?
-I think getting the doubles advantage and going up 2-0 was important. I think the home court advantage was most critical in the four first set breakers we played. Had we lost two of those, the dual match result could have been much different.

How is the health of Michael Starr? When will you expect him to be back at full strength?
-Mike is improving every day - he gets a little stronger and a little more confident with each match he plays. His attitude has been great and he is excited to be back with his team and contributing.

Any comments on the upcoming StagHen invitational?
-It should be another terrific tournament. I am excited to see how well Kenyon, Trinity (TX), and Bowdoin are playing, as all of these teams are loaded with talent. I hope you will be covering the event!

Great Article about Gustavus Tennis

Steve Saltarelli of the University of Chicago tennis team wrote this article for Sports Illustrated about Gustavus Adolphus Men's Tennis. I found it very interesting and extremely well done. Definitely worth reading.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/tennis/02/26/gustavus/index.html



Other notes:

Tomorrow expect to see the Mary Washington-Redlands preview along with a post-match analysis of CMS-Mary Washington. Coach Settles of CMS was kind enough to answer a few questions I asked him, so look for the Q&A with him as well.