For the very few Canes tennis fans out there, I did up a preview for the upcoming Men's tennis dual season.
2014 Hurricanes’ Men’s Team Tennis Preview
The long fall break is finally over and the Hurricanes tennis team season finally gets underway this month. The men start their dual season on January 12th, while the women’s team starts their season at the Miami Spring Invite on January 17th. I thought I’d take a look at the men’s season and make some predictions for the season.
The men’s team finished the 2013 team season with a record of 13-13 (ACC 2-9), a first round defeat in the ACC Championships and a final national ranking at No. 55. The team missed qualifying for the NCAA tournament for the second consecutive year and for the third time in the last four years. For a team that has made the tournament 45 times in the past, it’s been a disappointing few years. None of the singles players or doubles teams were ranked in the national rankings or invited to the NCAA championships as well.
The year 2013 was a bit of an improvement over 2012 and this year could see a bit more of an improvement as the team has three seniors on its roster.
Omar Aly (Sr.)
Gabriel Flores (Sr.)
Diego Soto (Sr.)
Wilfredo Gonzalez (Jr.)
Henrique Tsukamoto (Jr.)
William Albanese (So.)
Jack Murphy (So.)
Bernard Tefel (Fr.)
While they were not in the national rankings, three Canes were ranked in the Southeast Region rankings:
Wilfredo Gonzalez No. 15
Diego Soto No. 19
Henrique Tsukamoto No. 20
The second biggest team tournament of the year is the ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championship held in February. The first two rounds are called the ITA Kick Off Weekend which is held in the end of January, but for some unexplained reason, the Canes were the only team to forfeit their spot in the tournament. This was greatly disappointing as the Canes have always taken part in this tournament. Missing out on consecutive NCAA tournaments and now bypassing on a chance to play in the ITA tournament is a very disturbing trend that I hope will turn around in the near future.
Here is the schedule for the year. I also have predicted the games as a win, loss or toss-up. The ranking of the teams is from the ITA rankings on January 2nd.
Sun, Jan 12 Florida Atlantic Win
Sun, Jan 19 at UCF Win
Fri, Jan 31 Bethune-Cookman Win
Sun, Feb 02 Florida A&M Win
Fri, Feb 07 Texas Tech(#50) Win
Sun, Feb 09 South Florida (#70) Win
Sat, Feb 22 North Florida(#71) Win
Tue, Mar 04 Presbyterian Win
Tue, Mar 04 Xavier Win
Fri, Mar 07 at Clemson (#23) Loss
Sun, Mar 09 at Georgia Tech Win
Wed, Mar 12 Troy University Win
Sat, Mar 15 Boston University Win
Mon, Mar 17 Wisconsin (#65) Win
Fri, Mar 21 Wake Forest (#19) Loss
Sun, Mar 23 North Carolina State (#35) Loss
Fri, Mar 28 at Virginia (#1) Loss
Sun, Mar 30 at Virginia Tech (#38) Loss
Fri, Apr 04 Duke (#7) Loss
Sun, Apr 06 North Carolina (#43) Toss-Up
Fri, Apr 11 at Notre Dame (#29) Loss
Sun, Apr 13 at Boston College Win
Sat, Apr 19 Florida State(#36) Loss
Apr 24 - Apr 27 ACC Championships (Cary, NC)
May 09 - May 10 NCAA Regionals (TBA)
May 15 - May 18 NCAA Championships (TBA)
May 21 - May 26 NCAA Individual Championships (TBA)
So that leaves the Canes with a 13-8 record with one toss-up. College tennis rankings are determined by your opponent’s ranking and results so the Canes really need a couple of wins against opponents higher than them. The ACC is one of the top tennis conferences in the country, with defending national champion Virginia, Duke and North Carolina in the top 10 as well as Clemson and Wake Forest in the Top 20. Florida State and North Carolina State will be played in Coral Gables, so these two conference dual matches may be the Canes best bet for an upset. Without some upsets, the Canes might be left out of the NCAA tournament this year. And they must avoid getting upset against the unranked opponents.
With no clear No. 1 singles player or doubles team, it will be a dogfight throughout the whole season with a lot of 4-3 records. It will be interesting to see how Coach Rincon will have the players ready to meet the challenge and get back up a bit in the rankings and tournament this year.