Special from
Division3Tennis.com
| Share: |  |
|  | |
|
|
Throughout the world of sports, there's always debate on how to build a championship team. In professional sports, teams with salary caps have to decide whether to hold on to star players or create more balanced teams.
In college sports, it's a bit different. All college coaches simply want to get the best talent they can. Given the flexibility of college rosters, one might ask the question - "What makes for a great college tennis team?"
It's absolutely no secret that freshmen play a key part in a team's success. We routinely see freshman recruits come into schools and play extremely important spots in the lineup, whether it be at the No. 1 or No. 6 spot. Coaches are often looking for that great combination of talent and intangibles in their freshmen as well. A player that has all the talent in the world but no drive isn't going to be valuable to a team in the long run. It's important in the recruiting process to find your freshmen that will contribute both now and later.
With more and more highly-ranked recruits entering the D-III Tennis landscape, it's becoming more and more important for teams to have large recruiting classes. Just last year, a freshman battle at No. 5 singles decided a Sweet 16 matchup between two Top-10 men's teams, Case Western and Carnegie Mellon. Four freshmen were named to our Division III All-NCAA Men's Teams last year - with more being honorably mentioned. On the women's side, freshmen took the year by storm, with freshmen holding down tons of roster spots across the Top 5 teams and making their impact felt in the NCAA Elite 8.
With that being said, I'm going to take you through this year's freshman class, giving you 35 names across D-III that we think will make a big impact for their teams this year. I guess you could say that I'm giving you a list of "Freshmen to Watch" for this year!
Central Region
It only makes sense to begin with the Central region, as they have some freshmen that have already made an impact on their teams. Nicolas Chua, a freshman at Chicago, came into the year in the Top 100 in the Tennis Recruiting rankings. He spared no time in making an impact, as he ended up winning the Fall ITA National Championship and is currently ranked No. 1 individually. Chicago's women's team also got an impact recruit in Ariana Iranpour, who also came into the year ranked in the top 100. Ariana is projected to play at No. 2 singles and No. 1 doubles this year.
