Special from
Division3Tennis.com
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I'm more than excited to do a joint article with D3WestWomen's for a preview of the SCIAC and NESCAC Conference Championships, a recap of the UAA Conference Championships, as well as a bonus section of a couple of other Conference Championships.
As you may know, these three conferences are the top conferences in the nation for D-III tennis. In the SCIAC, we have five nationally ranked teams - No. 4
CMS, No. 9
Pomona, No. 18
Redlands, No. 24
La Verne, and No. 32
Chapman. In the NESCAC, all the conference tournament teams are nationally ranked - No. 1
Williams, No. 3
Amherst, No. 8
Middlebury, No. 10
Bowdoin, No. 17
Wesleyan, and No. 33
Trinity (CT). And in the UAA, six of the eight tournament teams are nationally ranked: No. 2
Emory, No. 7
CMU, No. 11
Wash U, No. 15
Chicago, No. 21 Case Western, and No. 27 Brandeis. Needless to say, we are in for some very good tennis!
SCIAC Preview
Location: Occidental College
Dates: 4/28-5/2
Play-In Round (4/28):
Caltech (No. 8) vs. Occidental (9)
Quarterfinals (5/1):
Claremont Mudd-Scripps (1) vs. Caltech (8) / Occidental (9)
Pomona-Pitzer (2) vs. Whittier (7)
La Verne (3) vs. Cal Lutheran (6)
Redlands (4) vs. Chapman (5)
Semifinals (5/1):
No. 1 or No. 8 / No. 9 vs. No. 4 or No. 5
No. 2 or No. 7 vs. No. 3 or No. 6
Finals (5/2):
Semifinal Winners
Quarterfinal Previews:
Claremont Mudd-Scripps (1) vs. Caltech (8)
The play-in match will see No. 8 Caltech battle No. 9 Occidental on home territory for the Tigers. Personally, I see a fairly routine win for Tech simply with depth, 6-3.
On to the main draw of SCIACs, where Caltech moves on to play No. 4 Nationally ranked CMS. Caltech will face a very tough afternoon in LA as CMS will sweep all positions until decision is called. Ward/Kuzy, Kukino/Scott & Brown/Smith will coast through doubles, and the singles wins come from Brown and Smith.
Pomona-Pitzer (2) vs. Whittier (7)
Pomona will face Whittier in the opening round of the SCIACs following a solid season for the Sagehens. Back in late March, the Poets fell 9-0 to Pomona without winning more than four games in any set. While I do not think that this match will be as dominating for Pomona (someone will get to 7-5), Pomona did sit Lea Lynn Yen/Grace Hruska from doubs in that match and Yen for the entire match. That being said, Pomona 9-0s Whittier without their standard starters in... oh dear... Unfortunately, the end result will remain the same: a sweep in favor of Pomona
La Verne (3) vs. Cal Lutheran (6)
Another tough matchup for the lower seed in the opening round of SCIACs. La Verne has been picking itself back up as of late following a few surprise losses while Cal Lu arrives on an improved seeding from last year at No. 6. Look for the Leopards to take this one with relative ease thanks to dominance at the top positions.
