2020 Waco (Kileen) TASR Major
by Fredric Hinkle
This is the first Major in 4 months. This is a clean slate.
Many players have been honing their game for months,
While others have travelled and found national success.
Gold
Quick as Frick - Luke Marshall and Blake Henke -Texas A&M
Luke and Blake will have to put serves on. They will surely be moving fast; in order for that to be useful they need to keep the serve percentage up. Blake and Luke will make TOUCHES the only question will be setting and hitting competency. 3rd
lukrightbal - Ethan McWhirter and Matthew Burrows - Texas and WySpike
This tournament comes after each of these players fell 2 spots on the T100. While both are crowd favorites it’s likely their result will just be, “Ok”. I’m not really sure how intensely these two will be playing. T-9
WySpike Crossbearers - Nic Noguez and Luke Mowry - WySpike
Will the meltdown happen in the RO16 or Finals? They are such good players, they just need to work together and play as a team. Keeping their spirits up will be an enormous battle for these two. If they put serves on we know they will play solid defense. I think the mental aspect will be key. T-5
Play-Doh - Brian Childs and Colton Mowry - Space City & WySpike
Colton and Brian have some weird results. Colton’s generated by his extremely inconsistent serve and Brian’s generated by his inconsistent serve receive. I anticipate a lot of defense as both excel here. Colton is likely the best off net setter in NHZ while Brian is sneaky good at out of system hitting. If either are on it will be a great day! 2nd
Nolan Ryan - Caleb Cummings and Matt Cole - Baylor
Historically the most successful Baylor players in Texas. This team has wowed us many times with their synergistic play and they will try to do it again on home soil. They are both long guys and have adjusted quickly to hitting with the NHZ. They have translated their game well. The question will be setting; Matt leads partners to succeed as hitters and Caleb will have to follow suit for them to go deep this tourney. T-5
Chicken Tenders - Fredric Hinkle and Noah Beinart - Texas A&M and Bellaire
It’s been 8 months since these two got 2nd in the Gold League. Noah is playing his first tournament with the NHZ and it will be interesting to see how he adjusts as a player. This team will be the strongest setting team in the field. If they find touches it’ll be game over for the others. 1st
Unexpected Toxicity - Chase Meyer and Seth Searcy - Baylor and Texas
Chase is coming off of a historic climb up the TT100 and Seth is looking to prove himself as a complete NHZ player. Seth played with Jack Granger in Gold in the stacked ATX event with mixed results while Chase returns off of his best finish yet. T-5
Filthy Casuals - Andrew 4th of July and Grayson Wills - Trinity and Texas
Andrew has exploded up the TT100 on this list. He’s a solid player and he just gets results. Grayson seems to do everything right, he just doesn’t have the results that he’s looking for. Maybe this is the combo to get the job done. They’ll have a very specific job this time as Andrew’s archnemesis could line up against him later in the day, and I think we’re all rooting for Andrew to defeat Dax. T-9
Riot - Rahul Murthy and Dax O’Hair - A&M and Baylor
Rahul is magic and has carried the most obtrusive of players through tournaments before. This time he’s playing with the human backpack. Dax has experience in the carry department as with Grant he beat the Worst(Rahul and Garrett). This team could lose in the quarters or win it all! 4th
Its Jager Time - Grant Laughlin and Dylan Keen - A&M
Dylan has played excellently with NHZ and has shown he still has a few mistakes in his game. I think he will have a great platform to create breaks playing with Grant. All Grant needs to do is hold and hit some bangers. If they both do their part, I see a terrific result. T-5
Author Predictions
Chicken Tenders
Play-Doh
Quick as Frick
Riot
Advanced
The top 2 teams in the Advanced Division will earn a Gold qualification for future majors!
Author Predictions
Maroon and Green
Mr. Brick and Nathan Wright
Jabez
Atrocious