In years past if you advanced to the D2 finals site you started in the Round of 16 but due to COVID the field was trimmed and thus we go straight to the Elite 8. Usually each of the 8 regions are split into two regionals but this year there was just 1 per region so that’s how we ended with 8 instead of 16. The men will be playing three straight days starting on Tuesday so it’s going to be survival of the fittest in the hot desert sun with temperatures expected to be in the mid to high 90s.
The top two seeds, Columbus State and Barry, are the only two remaining that have won a National Championship. Columbus State won the title in 2018 while Barry is the defending champion and has titles in 2019, 2015, 2013, and 2010.
The most competitive match should be the 4 versus 5 between #22 Concordia NY and and #6 Hawaii Hilo and in fact that’s only match where I’m not predicting a 4-0 final.
[2] Barry vs. [7] #21 Northwest Missouri State (5:00 pm ET)
Road to the Super Regionals
#2 Barry def. #4 St. Leo in R1; def. #7 West Florida 4-1 in R2
#21 Northwest Missouri State def. #20 Washburn 4-3 in R1; def. #17 Southern Arkansas 4-2 in R2
All-Time Series: Barry 1-0
Most Recent Meeting: 2017 NCAA Round of 16 – Barry 5-1
NCAA H2H: Barry 1-0
Match Notes:
- This is Northwest Missouri State’s third all-time appearance in the Elite 8
- Barry is into the Elite 8 for the 22nd time since 1995
- NWMSU’s Andrea Zamurri had his 18-match winning streak snapped in the last round by Southern Arkansas’s Sander Jans
- NWMS’s Agustin Velasco has won 8 straight and Fabien Calloud has won his last 5
- Barry’s Alessandro Giuliato had his 9-match winning streak snapped in the last round by UWF’s Serdar Bojadjiev
- Barry’s Alejandro Palacios has won 5 straight and Arnau Rodriguez has won 5 of his last 6
Prediction: I know UTR doesn’t mean everything but when you see almost a 5 1/2 point difference between the players in the starting six it’s hard to ignore – Barry 4-0
[3] #11 Indianapolis vs. [6] Bluefield State (5:00 pm ET)
Road to the Super Regionals
#11 Indianapolis def. #30 Hillsdale 4-0 in R1; def. #15 Southwest Baptist 4-1 in R2
Bluefield State def. #46 Edinboro 4-0 in R1; def. #36 Charleston 4-3 in R2
All-Time Series: Unknown
Most Recent Meeting: Unknown
NCAA H2H: First Meeting
Match Notes
- Bluefield State has advanced to the finals site 9 seasons in a row – 2015 was the only time the Big Blue advanced past the Round of 16 (lost to 5-0 to Hawaii Pacific in QF)
- UIndy is making its fifth appearance at the finals site – 2018 was the only time the Greyhounds advanced past the Round of 16 (lost to Barry 5-3 in SF)
- UIndy’s undefeated Tom Zeuch has only dropped 4 sets all season
- UIndy’s Jason Gerweck has won 8 straight
- UIndy’s Yoann Viel avenged his only regular season loss in the last round – won 6-3, 6-1
- BSU’s Frederik Bau-Madsen has lost 5 of his last 6 while Mohamed Khalil has won 5 of his last 6
- BSU’s Tom Schmieta has won 6 straight and Fabian Avila has won 6 of his last 7
Prediction: While doubles could go either way UIndy will be heavily favored at 2, 4, and 5 singles and if they take doubles you’re probably looking at a 4-0 score – Indianapolis 4-0
[4] #22 Concordia NY vs. [5] #6 Hawaii Hilo (5:00 pm ET)
Road to the Super Regionals
#22 Concordia NY def. #47 Franklin Pierce 4-0 in R1; def. #41 Le Moyne 4-0 in R2
#6 Hawaii Hilo def. #14 Concordia CA 4-0 in R1; def. #12 Hawaii Pacific 4-3 in R2
All-Time Series: Unknown
Most Recent Meeting: Unknown
NCAA H2H: Unknown
Match Notes
- Concordia has advanced out of the East Regional to the finals site 15 times since 2005
- Hawaii Hilo has advanced to the finals site 3 years in a row (made semis in 2019)
- Concordia only yielded 8 points this year with every starter riding a nice winning streak
- Oskar Irdoja has only dropped 1 set while going 12-0
- Tobias Lentz has won 7 straight matches
- Henry Masters has only dropped 3 sets while going 9-1
- Jonatan Lundahl has won 6 straight matches
- Jan Godfrey Seno has only dropped 3 sets while going 11-1
- William Nilsson has only dropped 3 sets while going 8-1
- Hawaii Hilo’s Martin Soukal has won 5 straight matches with 2 of those over top 25 opponents
- Hawaii Hilo’s Joshua Liu has won 7 straight matches with 5 of those in straight sets
- Hawaii Hilo faced 9 teams in the top 15 this year going 7-2 while the highest ranked opponent Concordia faced was #41 Le Moyne
Prediction: The Clippers of Concordia have played great doubles all season so I’ll give them the edge there but the Hawaii Hilo Vulcans will be looking to take three of the top four singles spot and then trying to find one other point. It’s tough to tell how good Concordia really is because of the lack of competition they’ve faced this year but this one should be tight – Hawaii Hilo 4-3
[1] #1 Columbus State vs. [8] #29 Cameron – 5:00 pm ET
Road to the Super Regionals
#1 Columbus State def. #19 Wingate 4-0 in R1; def. #10 North Georgia 4-0 in R2
#29 Cameron def. #37 St. Mary’s TX 4-0 in R2 (bye in R1)
All-Time Series: Unknown
Most Recent Meeting: Unknown
NCAA H2H: Unknown
Match Notes
- Columbus State has won 30 straight matches
- CSU won 18 of their 21 matches this year by shutout including the last 9
- CSU is appearing in the Elite 8 for the 6th time since 2010 (they’ve advanced to at least the semis in all 5)
- Cameron has advanced to the finals site for the 3rd time in the last 5 seasons – the only time they’ve advanced past the Round of 16 was in 2015 – never been past the Elite 8
- CSU Winning Streaks
- Javier Cueto Ramos has won 16 straight matches (won 29 straight sets)
- Alvaro Regalado has won 12 straight (won 20 of his last 21 sets)
- Pietro Martinetti has won 12 straight (only dropped 2 sets all season)
- Justin Weiz has won 11 straight (only dropped 2 sets all season)
- Tommaso Schold has won 8 straight (won 17 of his last 18 sets)
- Christian Garay has won 7 straight (won 16 straight sets)
- Cameron’s Carlos Vidal has won 8 straight matches and Joao Duleba has won 6 of his last 7
Prediction: Columbus State is going to be favored everywhere and anything other than a shutout win would be a surprise – Columbus State 4-0
Live scoring for each match is available on my NCAA page and if links for streaming video are available I’ll update those as well.
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