Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center – Chapel Hill, NC
[2] North Carolina Tar Heels (25-4) vs. [49-64] College of Charleston Cougars (19-6) – Saturday Noon ET – North Carolina got in as an at-large after falling to Virginia in the semifinals of the ACC Tournament while Charleston punched its ticket by defeating UNC Wilmington in the finals of the Colonial Conference Tournament. Charleston went 1-5 against ranked opponents with the one win coming over UNC Wilmington. Charleston went 0-2 against ACC opponents falling to Virginia Tech and Clemson by a combined score of 13-1. Charleston has two starters that began their collegiate careers elsewhere with Juan Estevarena transferring in from Mississippi State while Garrett Gordon transferred in from Georgia Tech.
Doubles Records: North Carolina 22-7, College of Charleston 15-9
FYI, the number beside the player’s school is the player’s Universal Tennis Rating as of May 12th. For more details about UTR check out their website.
The UTR Power 6 is the combined UTRs of the starting 6 (rounded to a whole #). An individual win/loss to anyone with a UTR difference of 1.0 or greater would be considered an upset.
2. #28 Ronnie Schneider (UNC 14.07) vs. Rodrigo Encinas (COFC 12.51)
3. #46 Brett Clark (UNC 14.21) vs. Charlie Ghriskey (COFC 12.05)
4. Jack Murray (UNC 13.90) vs. Zach Lewis (COFC 12.72)
5. #117 Robert Kelly (UNC 13.95) vs. Vasily Kichigin (COFC 12.30)
6. Anu Kodali (UNC 13.23) vs. Garrett Gordon (COFC 11.82)
O: Bo Boyden (UNC 13.24)
COFC: Lewis 7, Estevarena 5
Charleston won’t be intimidated by North Carolina but it just won’t have the firepower to keep up with the National Indoor Champions. I like UNC in doubles and Clark, Kelly, and Kodali in singles. Prediction: North Carolina 4-0.
[17-32] Tulane Green Wave (15-8) vs. [33-48] Dartmouth Big Green (18-8) – Saturday 9am ET – Both teams got in as at-larges after Tulane fell to South Florida in the semifinals of the American Tournament while Dartmouth finished second in the Ivy League (no conference tournament). Dartmouth won the regular season meeting 4-3 in a match that was played indoors at Dartmouth back in late January. The matches at No. 1 and No. 2 will be the same while everything else will be different. Tulane played just about every match outdoors with the exception of a few including the earlier meeting at Dartmouth while Dartmouth played just about every match indoors. The weather forecast on Saturday looks good with temps expected to be in the low 70s.
Regular Season Meeting
#42 Dartmouth College 4, #32 Tulane 3
Jan 31, 2016 at Hanover, N.H. (Boss Tennis Center)
Singles competition
1. #1 Koepfer, Dominik (TLN 14.35) def. #18 Sakinis, Dovydas (DART 13.98) 6-2, 6-4
2. #63 Schmitz,Constantin (TLN 13.79) def. Riccardi, Ciro (DART 13.25) 6-3, 6-1
3. Tannenbaum, Brendan (DART 12.73) def. Van Cott,Alex (TLN 12.86) 5-7, 6-3, 6-2
4. Fliegner, Max (DART 13.03) def. #111 Rey,Sebastian (TLN 13.65) 6-3, 6-4
5. Wall, George (DART 12.75 ) def. Jao,Chi-Shan (TLN 13.53) 6-1, 6-0
6. Schmidt, Max (DART 12.69) def. Schick,Tyler (TLN 13.10) 7-5, 6-2
Doubles competition
1. #17 Jao,Chi-Shan/Koepfer, Dominik (TLN) def. Dovydas/Tannenbaum (DART) 6-4
2. Glasnovic, Roko/Schmidt, Max (DART) def. Van Cott,Ian/Van Cott,Alex (TLN) 6-2
3. Rey,Sebastian/Schmitz,Constantin (TLN) def. Wall, George/Fliegner, Max (DART) 6-4
Match Notes:
Tulane 4-2; National ranking #32
Dartmouth College 5-1; National ranking #42
Order of Finish: Doubles (2,3,1); Singles (5,2,1,4,6,3)
Doubles Records: Tulane 15-7, Dartmouth 18-8
Projected Singles Lineups
2. #99 Constantin Schmitz (TUL 14.10) vs. Ciro Riccardi (DART 13.06)
3. Sebastian Rey (TUL 13.55) vs. George Wall (DART 13.19)
4. Chi-Shan Jao (TUL 13.47) vs. Max Fliegner (DART 13.45)
5. Ian Van Cott (TUL 12.62) vs. Brendan Tannenbaum (DART 12.71)
6. Alex Van Cott (TUL 12.79) vs. Max Schmidt (DART 12.65)
O: Tyler Schick (TUL 13.01); Roko Glasnovic (DART 13.16); Eddie Grabill (DART 13.02)
Dartmouth has Brendan Tannenbaum slotted at No. 5 but he’s only played once since last February so I wouldn’t be surprised if he sat and Schmidt and Glasnovic/Grabill moved up a spot.
Projected Singles Lineups
Illinois’s strength has been its top three with Vukic and the Hiltziks going 53-12 in dual-match play while WMU’s strongest performers have been Greiner (17-1), Loebel (18-4), Hamilton (14-5), and Cahn (10-2)
4. Julian Childers (ILL 13.59) vs. Ruben Greiner (WMU 12.57)
6. Asher Hirsch (ILL 12.80) vs. Andrew Cahn (WMU 12.34)
O: Alex Jesse (ILL 12.90)
Who Is Streaking (Consecutive Wins >2)
ILL: Hirsch 3
WMU: Cahn 6, Hamilton 5, Greiner 4, Kecic 3, Loebel 3
Ryan Peniston was Memphis’s top performer with a dual-match record of 14-6 (6-3 at 1 and 8-3 at 2) while Nuno Borges led the way for MSU with a dual-match record of 18-3 (2-0 at 1, 7-2 at 2, 9-1 at 3).
Doubles Records: Mississippi State 10-13, Memphis 14-10
Projected Singles Lineups
2. #54 Rishab Agarwal (MSU 13.91) vs. #92 Ryan Peniston (MEM 14.26)
3. #70 Nuno Borges (MSU 14.31) vs. Kai Lemke (MEM 13.33)
4. Niclas Braun (MSU 13.66) vs. Chris Patzanovsky (MEM 12.95)
5. Strahinja Rakic (MSU 13.67) vs. Felix Rauch (MEM 12.71)
6. Trevor Foshey (MSU 12.64) vs. Shakeel Manji (MEM 12.42)
O: Luka Sucevic (MSU 12.90); Louis Asser (MEM 11.78)
MSU: Borges 5
January Hidden-Dual
#6 Illinois 7, #27 Mississippi State 5
Jan 15, 2016 at Fort Myers, Fla. (Three Oaks Tennis Center)
Singles competition
#21 Jared Hiltzik (ILL) def. Nuno Borges 6-3, 2-6, 7-6;
Rishab Agarwal (MSU) def. Aleks Vukic 6-7, 6-2, 6-4
#41 Aron Hiltzik (ILL) def. Mate Cutura 6-2, 6-3;
Niclas Braun (MSU) def. Alex Jesse 6-2, 6-0;
Julian Childers (ILL) def. Strahinja Rakic 6-4, 6-3;
Vaughn Hunter (MSU) def. Brian Page 6-4, 6-1;
Asher Hirsch (ILL) def. Luka Sucevic 6-3, 4-6, 10-6;
Pablo Landa (ILL) def. Lucas Sanchez 6-2, 6-3;
Doubles competition
J. Hiltzik/Jesse (ILL) def. Rakic/Sucevic 6-1;
Page/Childers (ILL) def. Borges/Cutura 6-3;
Braun/Hunter (MSU) def. Vukic/A. Hiltzik 7-5;
Agarwal/Sanchez (MSU) def. Hirsch/Landa 6-4
Projected Singles Lineups
4. Julian Childers (ILL 13.59) vs. Niclas Braun (MSU 13.66)
6. Asher Hirsch (ILL 12.80) vs. Trevor Foshey (MSU 12.64)
O: Alex Jesse (ILL 12.90); Luka Sucevic (MSU 12.90)
Illinois and Mississippi State didn’t play an actual countable match this year but they did meet in January in a hidden-dual that was set up just like a dual-match. None of the individual matches will be a rematch but it was close then and it’ll probably be close on Saturday. Nuno Borges is probably Mississippi State’s best player, at least on paper, but he’ll play at No. 3 singles where he went 9-1 on the year (also went 2-0 at 1 and 7-2 at 2).
Weather alert: There is probably a better than average chance that this match gets played indoors because the weather forecast on Saturday calls for winds just in excess of 20 miles per hour. If it does get played outdoors it won’t be very pleasant for the spectators with overcast skies and temperatures expected to be in the mid 50s. Playing indoors would definitely favor Illinois because Mississippi State doesn’t host many indoor matches at its 2-court indoor facility.
I like Illinois in doubles and Aleks Vukic and Jared Hiltzik should both win up top but that fourth point will have to come from someone in the lower half of the lineup. I like MSU’s Nuno Borges, Niclas Braun, and Strahinja Rakic at 3, 4, and 5 but Illinois freshman Asher Hirsch will clinch the win in a dramatic third set tiebreak at No. 6. Prediction: Illinois 4-3
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