Small D1 Conference tennis

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Clemson_tennis

Legend
This thread is for all the smaller conferences in D1. This year I will be going to quite a few matches at UIW, including this friday vs UL Lafayette which I will watch closely. UIW is now in the Southland, which is usually dominated by A&M-CC. UIW actually has a few decent home matches this year with ULL Friday and then Western Michigan later in the year, both of which were borderline top 75 teams last year and WMU led by the pretty good player Nadin Indre.


So if you have any insights on teams from the Southalnd/Southern/Ohio Valley/Colonial etc.. share them here.
 
J

JLyon

Hall of Fame
Southland is fun conference and now adding Abilene Christian, UIW and UNO will make it a good one to follow if you enjoy and cheer for the smaller guys.
 
Nostradamus

Nostradamus

Bionic Poster
does small D1 conferences have any chance of winning the NCAA title ever ? they have to compete with big time colleges with money
 
Nostradamus

Nostradamus

Bionic Poster
Clemson_tennis said:
well Pepperdine. VCU was runner-up once. But those programs have kinda separated themselves and this thread isn't really about them.
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yea, pepperdine and VCU is not exactly small program. they are considered a power house in D1 tennis. Their football and basketball programs suck so they put more attention to tennis.
I am talking like small small D1 colleges.
 
C

Clemson_tennis

Legend
Nostradamus said:
yea, pepperdine and VCU is not exactly small program. they are considered a power house in D1 tennis. Their football and basketball programs suck so they put more attention to tennis.
I am talking like small small D1 colleges.
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Yes that is what this thread is for. VCU's basketball is very good actually.


West Coast schools would qualify for this thread, outside of Pepperdine.
 
J

justinmadison

Semi-Pro
Does anyone have insights into University of Portland? Coaching staff or program. My son is considering joining the team for next year. They seem like a good bunch of guys from my limited interactions.
 
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Nostradamus

Nostradamus

Bionic Poster
justinmadison said:
Does anyone have insights into UP? Coaching staff or program. My son is considering joining the team for next year. They seem like a good bunch of guys from my limited interactions.
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yes,, University of Pacific has one Heck of #1 singles player. he will be ranked in top 20 in D1 tennis.
They have Newly resurfaced outdoor courts. Coaching staff is not big name but solid I hear. School is Party school, I hear. but academics are what you make of it. If you have Good GPA then you will do well in life with good Degree.
 
T

tennis5

Professional
justinmadison said:
Does anyone have insights into University of Portland? Coaching staff or program. My son is considering joining the team for next year. They seem like a good bunch of guys from my limited interactions.
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Your son should ask the coach if he can arrange for your son to spend a weekend ( Saturday night) at the school. Your son would then sleep over ( on the floor, he would bring a sleeping bag) in a room with one of the teammates. He can interact and get a better feel of the guys that way without parents or coaches around.
 
1

10s_plyr

New User
Southern Conference is fun to watch and the level of play is much higher than one might expect. Western Carolina has been the weakest team in this conference for a few years now. However, they have a very young (all sophomores), talented and enthusiastic team this year. They are adding a few recruits next year that are under-rated and will bring much needed depth to this squad. The new coaching staff is impressive. Look for WCU to compete with the elite in this conference over the next few years.
 
C

Clemson_tennis

Legend
I could go to UTSA matches as well. But looking at their home schedule they only play 1 match worth going to and that's vs Wichita State late in March.
 
J

JLyon

Hall of Fame
Clemson_tennis said:
I could go to UTSA matches as well. But looking at their home schedule they only play 1 match worth going to and that's vs Wichita State late in March.
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The Trinity Men are not bad either but they usually only play weaker DIII at home.

UTSA should have some decent matches, won;t be UT or A&M level but competitive. They are in the Sun Belt now so a step up from Southland and WAC from years before.
 
C

Clemson_tennis

Legend
Watched UIW vs ULL. I was able to get a nice high angle which was great.

The Cajuns won 6-1 with UIW's lone winning coming at #1 with Jair Asuncao winning 6-4 6-5. Asuncao is a good player. It's a shame he's a senior so this will be his only year to attempt to make an impact at the D1 level. His game reminds me a lot of Rafael Aita of UNCW. Has a heat-seeking forehand that can hot the corners and has just enough spin to make it dissect the court. UIW has two tall guys at 2 and 3 who are dangerous players in Ivic at 2 and Smoljan at 3. Ivic is 6'3 and Smoljan 6'5. Both of them lost very close matches, with Smoljan's being 10-8 in the 3rd set super tiebreak.

After that there is a drop off. 4-6 for UIW is not very strong and will be the source of issues this season.

ULL has a bunch of solid guys. Nobody stands out but they are all very solid players. Nothing special, flashy and nothing volatile. They will breakdown lesser teams but will not challenge teams better than them very much.
 
atatu

atatu

Legend
JLyon said:
The Trinity Men are not bad either but they usually only play weaker DIII at home.

UTSA should have some decent matches, won;t be UT or A&M level but competitive. They are in the Sun Belt now so a step up from Southland and WAC from years before.
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I don't know if anyone here is old enough to remember when Trinity was a national power, that would have been fun to see.
 
C

ClarkC

Hall of Fame
atatu said:
I don't know if anyone here is old enough to remember when Trinity was a national power, that would have been fun to see.
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I am certainly old enough! I saw SMU vs. Trinity matches that featured two teams ranked in the top 5 nationally. A lot has changed since then.
 
C

Clemson_tennis

Legend
10s_plyr said:
Southern Conference is fun to watch and the level of play is much higher than one might expect. Western Carolina has been the weakest team in this conference for a few years now. However, they have a very young (all sophomores), talented and enthusiastic team this year. They are adding a few recruits next year that are under-rated and will bring much needed depth to this squad. The new coaching staff is impressive. Look for WCU to compete with the elite in this conference over the next few years.
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Very even league with no dominant force. Samford has won it twice in a row but they have been far from dominant. Elon looks like they will be a force this year in the league.
 
1

10s_plyr

New User
Clemson_tennis said:
Very even league with no dominant force. Samford has won it twice in a row but they have been far from dominant. Elon looks like they will be a force this year in the league.
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I watched Appalachian State and UNCG both play Wake Forest over the past two weeks. Wake won both matches easily. Appalachian appeared to be the stronger of the two teams, but neither was very impressive. Elon will be competitive this year, but they will get a lot stronger next year once Kirsten Ward joins the team. (Just to clarify - my original comment was aimed at women's Southern Conference teams).
 
tennisbuck

tennisbuck

Hall of Fame
How about the Big sky? I think Sac. State will win this year. Hoping UND shows some improvement from last year
 
N

NLBwell

Legend
atatu said:
I don't know if anyone here is old enough to remember when Trinity was a national power, that would have been fun to see.
Click to expand...

I watched Trinity play Rice a couple of times (unfortunately for the Owls). Rice was top 20, but Trinity was fighting for #1 in the nation with Bill Scanlon at #1. Larry Gottfried was #4 and the 2 and 3 guys both played some on the ATP tour also.

University of Houston was also a very top team (coached by Lee Merry) with Nduka Odizor and David Dowlen and I don't think they even have a team anymore (Thanks, Title IX).

Many pros went to college back then (including McEnroe and Connors and Harold Solomon at Rice) and the Southwest Conference had a lot of good teams.
 
C

ClarkC

Hall of Fame
NLBwell said:
I watched Trinity play Rice a couple of times (unfortunately for the Owls). Rice was top 20, but Trinity was fighting for #1 in the nation with Bill Scanlon at #1. Larry Gottfried was #4 and the 2 and 3 guys both played some on the ATP tour also.

University of Houston was also a very top team (coached by Lee Merry) with Nduka Odizor and David Dowlen and I don't think they even have a team anymore (Thanks, Title IX).

Many pros went to college back then (including McEnroe and Connors and Harold Solomon at Rice) and the Southwest Conference had a lot of good teams.
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I was watching SMU matches as a high schooler in Dallas. The Southwest Conference was great. (Thanks, Arkansas and TV money for destroying it!) I recall attending an SMU-Trinity match at SMU when both teams were ranked about #4/#5 and the SMU coach said to me: Look at all these people, all dressed up and paying a lot of money to file into Moody Coliseum next to us, to see the big WTA event that was going on the same day, when they could watch a better level of tennis for free right here!

I think many people do not realize what they are missing out on by not attending college tennis matches that are available in their own cities.
 
C

ClarkC

Hall of Fame
NLBwell said:
Was Mark Vines playing at SMU then? He was a year or two behind me as a junior in Virginia.
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I believe Mark Vines, Mark Turpin, Chris Delaney, and Pem Guerry were the big recruiting class that SMU had who all graduated high school in 1975. Then Jai DiLouie from the class of 1976. I graduated from high school in 1977. During my last couple of years in high school, I went down to watch the matches, as well as the next year when I was at SMU.

Mark Vines had a good but not great freshman year, then went on a run and won the Southwest Conference tournament by surprise. The tournament was the old format of individuals playing in different flights but earning points (increasing points by round) for their teams. He won the top flight.
 
J

justinmadison

Semi-Pro
ClarkC said:
I believe Mark Vines, Mark Turpin, Chris Delaney, and Pem Guerry were the big recruiting class that SMU had who all graduated high school in 1975. Then Jai DiLouie from the class of 1976. I graduated from high school in 1977. During my last couple of years in high school, I went down to watch the matches, as well as the next year when I was at SMU.

Mark Vines had a good but not great freshman year, then went on a run and won the Southwest Conference tournament by surprise. The tournament was the old format of individuals playing in different flights but earning points (increasing points by round) for their teams. He won the top flight.
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I graduated from SMU in '87 so I was able to watch Richey Reneberg. He was a three time all American and two time SWC player of the year.
 
J

jdh008

New User
I just moved to Illinois, just across the river from St. Louis, so I'm looking forward to going to a few matches at SIU-Edwardsville. I previously lived in College Station, Texas and regularly attended matches at Texas A&M, so this will be an interesting change of pace from that.

Unfortunately, because the home schedule is back-loaded to try to avoid inclement weather, I'm going to have to wait until next month.
 
TopDawg

TopDawg

G.O.A.T.
jdh008 said:
I just moved to Illinois, just across the river from St. Louis, so I'm looking forward to going to a few matches at SIU-Edwardsville. I previously lived in College Station, Texas and regularly attended matches at Texas A&M, so this will be an interesting change of pace from that.

Unfortunately, because the home schedule is back-loaded to try to avoid inclement weather, I'm going to have to wait until next month.
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I just moved into the area as well about 4 months ago but haven't made it out locally to any matches yet.
 
C

chris-swede

Hall of Fame
SDSU can win the MWC maybe and get direct entry. Boise is not good this season, New Mexico also not too good. Utah State? Also not really. The rest also not. SDSU already has beaten Fresno, Nevada and BYU. A very german team, 5 german players at SDSU (i ve played vs Freddy Gelbrich 6 years ago..) Maybe Santa Clara is not that bad? i do not know.
 
C

Clemson_tennis

Legend
chris-swede said:
SDSU can win the MWC maybe and get direct entry. Boise is not good this season, New Mexico also not too good. Utah State? Also not really. The rest also not. SDSU already has beaten Fresno, Nevada and BYU. A very german team, 5 german players at SDSU (i ve played vs Freddy Gelbrich 6 years ago..) Maybe Santa Clara is not that bad? i do not know.
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want to re-think this? :)
 
C

chris-swede

Hall of Fame
yeah for sure...that was not a good idea from me..to post this... :) otherwise...SDSU still has a chance vs them. 3 out of 10 they truly can win
 
C

Clemson_tennis

Legend
George Washington gets a big win over UNCW. New Mexico with a big win over Denver. These unranked teams know that they have to start getting these ranked wins now. Good showings from the Colonels and Lobos.
 
TopDawg

TopDawg

G.O.A.T.
Clemson_tennis said:
That they did. They are a decent team for the Southland.


William & Mary went all the way out to California and had their natch vs Pepperdine cancelled. That's really gotta suck.
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W&M was playing the Pacific Coast Doubles Championship so that was the main reason they were out there.
 
C

chris-swede

Hall of Fame
GWU beats LLU 4-3 in a tough match between 2 ranked teams. on a 6game winning streak, 3 times vs ranked teams. @ LSU on Thursday could be nice.
 
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