SCIAC Mid-Conference Review

My final mid-conference review is on the SCIAC and unquestionably this is the most difficult conference to call as they head into their last 8 conference matches. The SCIAC is unique in the West Region in that only 4 teams make the conference tournament. If you are scoring at home, you now realize that every West Region conference has a unique way of handling their tournament or, in the case of the NWC, don’t have a tournament. There are 9 teams in the SCIAC and the schools play a home and home match against each other and there are typically 2 or 3 matches played in a week. The SCIAC teams are grouped the closest of any West Region Conference but with the SoCal freeways I’m sure it doesn’t feel that way at times. Interesting tidbit is that UCLA used to be a SCIAC member in the 20’s. The SCIAC is currently at the midway point of the season and the current standings look like this:

Order	Schools	ConferenceRecord
1	Claremont-Mudd-Scripps	7-1
2	La Verne	6-2
3 – Tie	Whittier	5-3
3 – Tie	Chapman	5-3
5 – Tie	Occidental	4-4
5 – Tie	Cal Lutheran	4-4
7	Pomona-Pitzer	3-5
8	Redlands	2-6
9	Caltech	0-8

CMS looks to be the odds on favorite of taking the first seed having only lost away to Chapman. They do have to travel to both La Verne and Whittier so certainly nothing is set in stone, and to make my point CMS has played 4 conference away matches and has only swept Caltech. The first seed is important in the SCIAC as they get to host the conference tournament. *Update – A reader informed me the #1 and #2 seeds host their semi-final match now. Thanks!*

La Verne is in the middle of their worst stretch of play this season but luckily it occurred when there was only one conference match on the schedule. Their two losses are away to CMS and Whittier so they will get both teams at home. They do have to play Chapman away and get Cal Lutheran away tonight. The Cal Lutheran match will give us a good indication as to where the Leos play is right now.

Whittier is the unquestioned surprise team of the conference and I have to say the West Region. Their conference losses are to Chapman and CMS away and Cal Lutheran at home. Chapman is the big unknown of the top 4 right now due to an injury to senior Kylie Cooke. With her in the lineup they went 5-0 and without her 0-3. They play tonight at Whittier and this should tell us if they have figured out how to compensate for the loss, yet. Without Cooke, Chapman is the most likely team to fall out of the top 4.

Outside looking in for the moment is a team I’ve given very little love to this season and that is Occidental. There schedule is rough as they have Whittier, CMS and Chapman away but one upset of the three might be enough to squeeze them into the top 4. It certainly is strange not to be talking about Cal Lutheran at this point in the season but they are lurking folks. Since losing their first three conference matches (La Verne, Chapman and Pomona-Pitzer), they are 4-1 with an away win over Whittier. They draw La Verne at home tonight and Chapman away on Friday. If they can get by those teams and avoid another loss to Pomona on Saturday, they will instantly be a favorite to get into the conference tournament and I can’t think of anyone in the SCIAC outside a Regal that would want that.

Will 9-7 be good enough to make the conference tournament? If it is then Pomona might have enough wiggle room to sneak in if they can go 6-2 the rest of the way. Home matches against Whittier, CMS and Chapman will help but it starts tonight at Occidental where they really can’t afford to lose. Redlands and Caltech round out the conference table and at this point I believe they are just playing for the final standings, although Redlands can still trip someone up if they are not careful.

Looking back at my preseason predictions and the conference preseason poll we both had CMS first and Cal Lutheran second followed by La Verne and Chapman (in different order). As I said earlier the big surprise team is Whittier as the conference had them finishing 7^th and I had them in 8^th. I believe the SCIAC has the deepest talent pool in the West Region and coupling that with only 4 teams making the conference tournament it’s by far the most competitive (and fun).

This was the last of the mid-conference reviews so check out the others if you missed them.