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Women's Tennis Preview Vol. III: ITA Fall Nationals - Printable Version

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Women's Tennis Preview Vol. III: ITA Fall Nationals - ColoradoTree - 11-06-2018

Tomorrow, the ITA Fall National Championships kick off from Surprise, Arizona. The tournament website is here, which should eventually get us some live scoring links and draws, though they're not up yet. (I'll post them when they're up.) The draws should get finalized at the coaches' meeting later today.  \

Wait, what's going on?

Fall Nationals are the culmination of the fall tennis season, which is a series of individual tournaments meant to get players ready to go for the spring season, which is team play. This is a 64-player singles tournament and a 32-team doubles tournament (both are single elimination) made up of the top players and doubles teams in the country. Automatic qualifiers either advanced sufficiently far at other national tournaments this fall, or made the final of a regional tournament, with 20+ spots available for at-large bids. This tournament is a great early test, and it's also vital for getting quality wins over ranked opponents, which you need to keep your ranking high enough to qualify for the NCAA singles and doubles championships later in the spring. 

Cool. Which Stanford players are going?

Michaela Gordon and Caroline Lampl qualified automatically by making the final of the Northwest Regional tournament (which Gordon won). Melissa Lord and Emily Arbuthnott also made it as at-large bids, which was expected. I'd thought that Janice Shin would sneak in as one of the last at-large bids, but she must have just missed out. 

In doubles, we have two teams in the field, Arbuthnott/Gordon and Lampl with Kimberly Yee.

To put that into context, no school has five singles players, and just three others--Michigan, North Carolina, and Vanderbilt--have four. (Domination by Stanford, UNC, and Vanderbilt is par for the course, but Michigan was a surprise--the Wolverines were boosted by a weak Regional and other Big Ten teams being down.) 

Elsewhere in the Pac-12, UCLA has two singles selections and two doubles teams (Elysia Bolton and Abi Altick in singles, and Andrews/Broomfield and Hart/Bolton in doubles), Cal has two singles selections and a doubles team (Olivia Hauger and Julia Rosenqvist in singles, and Bright/Dunk in doubles), USC has one of each (Salma Ewing in singles and Kulikov/Valdes in doubles), and ASU has a doubles team (Hattingh/John-Baptiste). UW's Stacey Fung wasn't eligible for an at-large bid due to her loss to Lampl at Northwest Regionals, so she's not there, and neither is WSU's Michaela Bayerlova, who was eligible for an at-large bid but whose ranking must have slid due to a fall spent mostly at ITF (i.e., low-level pro) tournaments rather than college events. 

Speaking of rankings, the next singles/doubles rankings will be out on November 14th, after Fall Nationals, and the first team rankings of the year will be on January 2nd (if we're not first, I'll be shocked). 

Schedule:

Wednesday, 11/7: Round of 64 singles; Round of 32 doubles
Thursday, 11/8: Round of 32 singles; round of 16 doubles; also consolation draw
Friday, 11/9: Round of 16 singles and then the quarterfinals as well; then the doubles quarterfinals; also consolation draw
Saturday, 11/10: Singles semifinals; Doubles semifinals; also consolation semis in singles/doubles
Sunday, 11/11: Singles final; Doubles final; consolation finals

I'll update this with specific match information for our players once the draws are posted, though if it happens too late in the day, I might not get to it before the morning due to watching election returns and staving off the related crushing anxiety.

Where is it?

I already told you: Surprise, Arizona. Admission is free if you live nearby. If you can make it, it'll be great tennis. If a Stanford player makes it that far, the singles final will be streamed live on ESPN3 and the ESPN App, and later aired on ESPNU. Live streaming and live scoring, if available for all matches, will be at the link above. 

RE: Women's Tennis Preview Vol. III: ITA Fall Nationals - ColoradoTree - 11-06-2018

Draws are out!  In singles, Melissa Lord is the 8th seed, Gordon is the 14th seed (surprised she's not higher), and Arbuthnott and Lampl are unseeded.  In doubles, Arbuthnott/Gordon got the 1 seed, while Lampl/Yee got the 3!  Shocked to see them that high, but I'm really excited for what that means for the dual season. 

Overview:

Gordon's seed is a bit lower than expected, but she did have a disappointing All-Americans, so there aren't a ton of data points. All four Stanford players are in different quarters, which is a welcome bit of luck. If Gordon wins her first round against Purdue's Ambrosio, she'll get the winner of Michigan's Chiara Lommer or USC's Salma Ewing. Ewing is a terrific freshman, so she's a bit of a wild card here. If Gordon advances further, she's in line to get top seed Fernanda Contreras (who lost to Lord in the deciding match of the NCAA final last year) in the Round of 16 on Friday. No shame in losing to Contreras, but I'd really like to at least see her get there by beating USC's Ewing. 

Lord's quarter is pretty wide open. If she gets past UGA's Gonzalez, she'll get the winner of Tea Jandric (Ole Miss) and Nina Khmelnitckaia (Kansas), neither of whom should be a serious threat. Then it would be 11th-seeded Kate Fahey of Michigan, who has played #1 for the Wolverines at least the past two years (last year, she took the first set off Gordon 7-5, but Gordon was serving for the second set, up 5-1, when the match was clinched 4-0 in the NCAA second round; two years ago, she beat Caroline Doyle 6-3, 1-6, 6-2 for Michigan's lone point of the day in a 4-1 loss to Stanford in the NCAA Round of 16). In the quarterfinal, she might play 3rd-seeded Levashova of Pepperdine, which would be a great match, but Lord has the talent and the draw to make a deep run here. 

Arbuthnott, if she gets past Vanderbilt's Meyer in the first round (I think she should), she'll likely get 10th-seeded Makenna Jones of UNC (who is ranked #2) in the Round of 32 and then 7th-seeded Meible Chi of Duke (ranked #31) in the Round of 16. So, a tough path. Jones took the first set from Gordon 7-6 in the NCAA Round of 16 last year, but Gordon was up a break in the second, so that match was pretty even. In last year's NCAA semis, Lord beat Duke's Chi 6-2, 7-6, but Chi was just a freshman then, and she's had a great fall. 

Lampl has the toughest first-round assignment, getting 5th-seeded Kelly Chen of Duke, but if she can pull off that upset, she'd likely get Vanderbilt's Christina Rosca, who Lampl beat 6-4, 6-2 in last year's NCAA final, but whoever she plays in the Round of 16 after that will be a very tough out (that pod of four players might be the toughest group in the draw). 

Singles, Round of 64:
All times Pacific (Arizona is now on MST, since it doesn't observe Daylight Saving Time):

7:00am:

(14) Gordon vs. #72 Silvia Ambrosio, Purdue, on Court 7. Ambrosio's ranking doesn't pop, but she's here because she won the Milwaukee Tennis Classic (mostly Midwestern players).

#47 Lampl vs. (5) Kelly Chen (Duke), on Court 19. In last year's NCAA semis, Chen was on serve in the third set against Arbuthnott at #4 when the match was clinched (by Lampl at #3, as it happens). But Chen has been great this fall, so Lampl will have to continue to play at the top of her game to advance. 

#24 Arbuthnott vs. #79 Amanda Meyer (Vanderbilt), on Court 9. Meyer won the Ohio Valley Regional to qualify, and it means we get a great rematch from last year's national championship match, where Meyer beat Arbuthnott 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 at the #4 spot. In last year's dual match, Meyer beat Kimberly Yee 7-6, 7-6, at #6, so Meyer appears to have improved over the course of the year and through this fall as well. 

8:45am:

(8) Lord vs. #76 Marta Gonzalez, Georgia, on a court TBD. Lampl rolled through Gonzalez 6-4, 6-2 in last year's NCAA quarterfinals, but you never know with fall tennis tournaments outside the team context--you can get funky results. 

Doubles, Round of 32: 

2:00pm:

(3) Lampl/Yee vs. Kowalska/Krunic (Penn), on a court TBD. The Penn duo got here as an at-large pick from among the regional runners-up, but they're not currently ranked. Something of a mystery, but I'd expect Lampl/Yee to advance. 

2:30pm:

(1) Arbuthnott/Gordon vs. Hart/Bolton (UCLA), on Court 13. Man alive, that is a rough first round draw. Hart/Bolton are ranked 29th, but UCLA is so tough at doubles and Bolton is a future star (she's the #3 "newcomer" in the rankings). It would be an upset if we lost, but it wouldn't be shocking and shouldn't be all that disappointing if it happens. Hart/Bolton are good enough to win the whole thing. (So are we, of course.)

RE: Women's Tennis Preview Vol. III: ITA Fall Nationals - Lorcan - 11-07-2018

Just in case anyone is a tennis junkie and needs live scoring, you can follow this link.
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[url=http://scores.tennisticker.de/usa/ita/sb.html?tournid=3927]http://scores.tennisticker.de/usa/ita/sb.html?tournid=3927


Gordon on serve, Lampl is down a break to Kelly Chen, and Arbuthnott is up a break against Meyer. Meyer does have 3 break points right now though to get it back though.
Lampl just lost a deciding point on her serve at 5-5 to get broken. She has to break back to stay in this set. 

Arbuthnott took the first set 6-4, but Gordon is down a break at 5-3. She's serving to stay in the set at 0-30.

RE: Women's Tennis Preview Vol. III: ITA Fall Nationals - Lorcan - 11-07-2018

Ouch. Lampl put up a heck of a fight, but 5th seed Kelly Chen takes the first set 7-6(8). 

Gordon lost the first to Ambrosio (Purdue) 6-3, and is on serve so far in the second. 

Arbuthnott did win the first 6-4, but is now staring at a 4-0 hole in the second.

RE: Women's Tennis Preview Vol. III: ITA Fall Nationals - Lorcan - 11-07-2018

Well, that's not a great start. Lampl, Arbuthnott, and Gordon have all been bundled out of the Fall Nationals. Lord is left alone to carry the banner, and she just lost the first set 6-4.....

RE: Women's Tennis Preview Vol. III: ITA Fall Nationals - oldalum - 11-07-2018

I was going to say, Lord help us! but Lord lost the second set 6-2 for a clean sweep of our singles players. On to the doubles!

RE: Women's Tennis Preview Vol. III: ITA Fall Nationals - ColoradoTree - 11-07-2018

Darn, that's a disappointing morning in singles. Let's hope doubles goes well and that our singles players redeem themselves in the consolation bracket!  

Lampl/Yee are rolling, up 6-0, 1-0, while Arbuthnott/Gordon just got started.

RE: Women's Tennis Preview Vol. III: ITA Fall Nationals - oldalum - 11-07-2018

Lampl and Lee lost the second set in a tiebreaker, but won the third set tiebreaker 10-5.
Arbuthnott Gordon lost in 2 sets.

RE: Women's Tennis Preview Vol. III: ITA Fall Nationals - ColoradoTree - 11-08-2018

Looks like Melissa Lord may have been hampered by an injury yesterday. The consolation draw already shows a walkover in favor of her opponent.  Let's hope it's not anything major, because we need her if we're going to get one of those top 8 seeds in NCAAs and the regional and super regional hosting duties that come along with it. 

For our other three players, however, it's time to shake off the opening round disappointment and go rack up a couple of wins. Wins in the consolation draw count the same as wins in the main draw, so go beat some good players and give your individual ranking and UTR a boost!

Singles consolation action:
(All times Pacific)

12:30pm: (14) Gordon vs. #61 Chiara Lommer (Michigan). If Gordon doesn't win here, it'll be a massive disappointment, as Lommer is Michigan's #3 (or at least she was last year). Lampl was leading Lommer at #3 in last year's NCAA second round 7-6, 2-2 when the match was abandoned, and they also played the year before at #4 in the Round of 16, with Lampl leading 7-5, 6-6 when the match was abandoned. Lommer's no slouch, certainly, but Gordon should beat her. And looking at the consolation draw, there's no reason Gordon shouldn't at least make the semifinal. (Though UNC's Cameron Morra, a well-regarded freshman and thus something of a mystery, looms in the next round.)

1:00pm: Lampl vs. #124 Janet Koch (Kansas). Lampl is better than Koch, and should handle this match, though Koch has had a surprisingly good fall. But she's in a tough quarter of the consolation draw, so she'll need to punch above her weight class to keep advancing. 


1:45pm: Arbuthnott vs. #39 Jaeda Daniel (Auburn). This should be a pretty even match, so it's a great test for Arbuthnott. If she wins, she'll play the winner of Cal's Olivia Hauger and #11 Carla Touly of Florida State, so she'll have her hands full next match, too, but her quarterfinal match would be a little easier if she can get there.  

Main Draw Doubles

At 5:30, 17th-ranked and 3rd-seeded Lampl/Yee will face off against a very tough Pepperdine duo, Lahey/Levashova (ranked #26). Ignore seeding--those are two great players, so I'll be very happy with a win, and not too bummed out with a loss. 

Doubles Consolation:

A tough assignment for Arbuthnott/Gordon in their consolation match, as they get Florida's McCartney Kessler/Victoria Emma tonight at 6:30.

RE: Women's Tennis Preview Vol. III: ITA Fall Nationals - oldalum - 11-08-2018

Gordon retired from her consolation singles match, losing at the time 4-6 0-2.
Good thing this is the end of the fall season; hopefully our players will be able to heal up before the spring.

RE: Women's Tennis Preview Vol. III: ITA Fall Nationals - oldalum - 11-08-2018

Lampl/Yee lost a close one to Pepperdine, 7-5 7-6(5).
Lampl lost in consolation singles to the Kansas player 6-4 in the third set, but Arbuthnott advances easily 6-2 6-2.

RE: Women's Tennis Preview Vol. III: ITA Fall Nationals - Hulk01 - 11-09-2018

FIRE THE COACH!!  CLEAR COACHING MALPRACTICE!

THIS DOWNWARD TREND HAS BEEN OBVIOUS TO ANYONE.  EVEN MY EX-WIFE, WATCHING ON TV, SEES IT!!

RE: Women's Tennis Preview Vol. III: ITA Fall Nationals - ColoradoTree - 11-09-2018

(11-09-2018, 07:06 AM)Hulk01 Wrote:  FIRE THE COACH!!  CLEAR COACHING MALPRACTICE!

THIS DOWNWARD TREND HAS BEEN OBVIOUS TO ANYONE.  EVEN MY EX-WIFE, WATCHING ON TV, SEES IT!!

Right?  I mean, what has Lele Forood really done, besides winning 9 NCAA team championships in her 18 years as head coach, that gives ANY confidence that she'll win another?  I swear, of all the reigning NCAA champion head coaches in women's tennis, she is the absolute worst.

Thanks for the moment of levity, Hulk. As oldalum noted, I'm glad this is it for the fall season. Let's get everyone healthy, and we'll get right back out there in the spring when it matters. 

But Emily's not done playing! As you'd expect with Gordon's retirement from singles, she withdrew from doubles as well, so the other team advanced in a walkover over Arbuthnott/Gordon, but Emily's still alive in consolation singles. She plays #11 Carla Touly of Florida State today at 10:00am Pacific, which would be a terrific win for her. IF she wins, she'll have a very winnable match in the quarterfinals this afternoon at 2:00pm.

As a result of this tournament, you'll see Gordon and Lord drop in the rankings, but not too badly. Arbuthnott/Gordon should drop a bit, and don't be shocked if Lampl/Yee are actually ranked higher in the next doubles rankings of the year. But overall, I'd expect to see Lord ranked about where she is now, Gordon in the high teens, Arbuthnott a few spots behind, Lampl jumping into the high 30s/low 40s, and Shin and Higuchi dropping just a bit. In short: we're just as good as we thought we'd be, and our depth continues to be incredibly difficult for other teams to match.

RE: Women's Tennis Preview Vol. III: ITA Fall Nationals - oldalum - 11-09-2018

This is all good. Instead of being the #1 target --- returning champions with everyone back plus new good frosh -- we are fooling everyone into thinking we've lost it. Then in the spring, after doing our usual massive improvement thing, we'll slam 'em where it hurts!

RE: Women's Tennis Preview Vol. III: ITA Fall Nationals - 2006alum - 11-09-2018

I know you guys were injecting levity into some somewhat disappointing proceedings, but I will say this: it seems like we always perform substantially better during spring team play than during fall individual play. And I have to imagine coaching matters much more for team play. All of which is to say- Forood isn't just attracting blue chip recruits and making them into great individual players, but she's also figured out how to turn one of the most individually-oriented of all sports into a truly team sport and to make the whole consistently greater than the sum of the parts. It's really quite something...

...EVEN IF YOU EX-WIFE CAN'T SEE IT WATCHING ON TV, Hulk. ;)

RE: Women's Tennis Preview Vol. III: ITA Fall Nationals - ColoradoTree - 11-09-2018

FYI, Arbuthnott has decided to stick around a little longer! She absolutely rolled over #11 Carla Touly of Florida State, 6-3, 6-0. In her quarterfinal match this afternoon at 2:00pm Pacific, she'll face VCU's Paola Delgado, who took out St. Mary's Kozyreva (ranked #85), 7-6, 6-4. If she wins that one, she'll face either South Carolina's Ingrid Gamarra Martins (ranked #45) or Vanderbilt's Emily Smith (unranked) in the semifinal.

RE: Women's Tennis Preview Vol. III: ITA Fall Nationals - ColoradoTree - 11-09-2018

And Arbuthnott keeps rolling! 6-3, 6-2 over VCU's Delgado, and she's into the consolation semifinals!  Her opponent is likely South Carolina's Ingrid Gamarra Martins, who currently leads 6-3, 3-1.

RE: Women's Tennis Preview Vol. III: ITA Fall Nationals - oldalum - 11-09-2018

Nice to have one player doing well, even if it's the consolation bracket.
By comparison, though, Vanderbilt has 2 players into the quarterfinals of the championship bracket, in addition to another player in the consolation QF.

RE: Women's Tennis Preview Vol. III: ITA Fall Nationals - ColoradoTree - 11-10-2018

Arbuthnott was down 5-2 in her first set, with her opponent serving for the set, but Emily stormed back to take the first set in a tiebreaker and took the second set 6-2! Into the consolation final!

RE: Women's Tennis Preview Vol. III: ITA Fall Nationals - oldalum - 11-10-2018

Emily has such a fighting spirit (as do they all). Reminds me of Krista Hardebeck when she was a freshman in the semifinals of the NCAA tournament: Krista lost the first set to the Florida player and was losing 1-5 in the second set, but she came back to win the second set in a tiebreaker and then won the third set, clinching the 4-3 victory and sending us on to the championship which we won.