NCAA Championship Women's Tennis: National Champions! - Printable Version
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RE: Women's Tennis: National Champions! - terry - 05-22-2018
Stanford defeated the #1, #2, #3, and #7 seeds. That's about as difficult as the path to a title can be. Stanford didn't benefit from any upsets in the bracket; rather, Stanford beat the best teams out there. Well done.
RE: Women's Tennis: One Last Match - ColoradoTree - 05-22-2018
(05-22-2018, 01:30 PM)BostonCard Wrote:(05-21-2018, 09:21 PM)ColoradoTree Wrote: ... Should be a fun one.
Prediction
Doubles is tight. Again. But this time, folks, we pull off a win on Courts 2 and 3 to get the doubles point. Higuchi is the first player to book a victory (exorcising her NCAA final demons from last year when she got double-bageled against Florida), and Shin follows suit soon after. Sharma books a win for Vandy over Gordon at 1, Lord has her hands full at 2, and Lampl is in a dogfight at 3, so it's Emily Arbuthnott who clinches a 4-1 Stanford win. If we lose doubles and need a 4th point, then the path to victory gets a lot murkier, but you'd be happy to take your shot with Melissa Lord or Caroline Lampl, given how well they've been playing. Lampl is technically favored by UTR, but Rosca took it to her in the second and third sets in Nashville back in February. But Caroline is a different player right now.
I've said time and time again that our championship hopes will depend on how well Lampl and Arbuthnott played. They were there for us today. We'll need them tomorrow.
When is it again?
1:00pm Eastern/10:00am Pacific. It'll be played on the Leighton Family Courts, and you can find the links to the live stream and live stats here: http://www.wakeforestsports.com/ncaatennis/
Not exactly, but pretty darned close. Didn't get the doubles point, so we had to go to plan B. Lord indeed had her hands full, but won it in three sets. Higuchi and Shin cruised in straight sets, as predicted. Sharma did indeed win in straight sets but Gordon played her tough, taking the first set to a tiebreaker. The surprise, I guess was Lampl, who cruised to a straight sets win.
The sentence I bolded was prescient.
BC
Hey, when Higuchi and Shin just crush people on the regular, just keep predicting it to happen and you'll look pretty smart. And yeah, how about Caroline Lampl, folks? Rosca beat Lampl back in February 3-6, 6-0, 6-2. She turned on the jets in the second set and just left Lampl in the dust. But Lampl has improved so much over the course of the year, and today, it was Lampl turning on the jets in the second set.
In other turnaround news, Shin lost 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 to Summer Dvorak then (Dvorak was playing #5), while Higuchi lost 7-6, 7-5 to Emma Kurtz at Court 4. Today, they switched opponents and both dominated.
Sometimes it's hard to remember Gordon is a freshman, because she's beaten so many good players this year, and because no matter how highly-touted a freshman is, they so rarely play #1 for us. Nicole Gibbs didn't. Kristie Ahn didn't. She'll be so much better next year, and she'll be preseason top 10 next year, along with Lord. And we'll be the preseason #1 team yet again.
Like I said in the first post in this thread: the ITA had it right with their preseason rankings, with Stanford at #1 and Vanderbilt at #2. The road here was winding, but the destination sure feels good.
(05-22-2018, 01:30 PM)BigEasyCard Wrote:(05-22-2018, 01:21 PM)ColoradoTree Wrote: Hot damn I love this team.
Your posts on Women's Tennis have brought great insight as we have followed the team on this amazing journey from pre-season #1 to #46 and back! Thank you CT for enriching the experience.
And well deserved congratulations to the Cardinal Women's Tennis team who bring home National Championship #117.
Geaux Cardinal!
P.S. Someone has already updated the count on Wikipedia.
It's absolutely my pleasure. Like I've said before, it's a great deal to be a big Stanford Women's Tennis fan. We give them some attention, and they give us dramatic seasons, "underdog" stories, and a national championship every couple years or so. Heck of a deal.
RE: Women's Tennis: National Champions! - terry - 05-22-2018
ColoradoTree, that was a great series of posts throughout the tournament. Thanks.
RE: Women's Tennis: National Champions! - PVTree - 05-22-2018
What an emotional rollercoaster! Enjoyed the ending very much, but didn't get much work done during this time.
Ok, back to writing my speech for the workplace efficiency conference I'm attending.
RE: Women's Tennis: One Last Match - CornFed - 05-22-2018
(05-22-2018, 01:30 PM)BigEasyCard Wrote:(05-22-2018, 01:21 PM)ColoradoTree Wrote: Hot damn I love this team.
Your posts on Women's Tennis have brought great insight as we have followed the team on this amazing journey from pre-season #1 to #46 and back! Thank you CT for enriching the experience.
And well deserved congratulations to the Cardinal Women's Tennis team who bring home National Championship #117.
Geaux Cardinal!
P.S. Someone has already updated the count on Wikipedia.
Yes, CT. Thank you for your obvious labor of love. I have lurked your write-ups all season and was able to understand the roller coaster ride we had this season. You kept things balanced but provided a hopeful perspective when things got tough earlier in the year. As our momentum grew and we entered the postseason, your insights about why we were becoming a juggernaut made the outcome totally satisfying. That was a fun ride. Congratulations to the team. Truly remarkable competitors!!
RE: Women's Tennis: National Champions! - stupac2 - 05-22-2018
(05-22-2018, 02:10 PM)PVTree Wrote: Ok, back to writing my speech for the workplace efficiency conference I'm attending.
Does it start with "don't be a Stanford sports fan if you want to get work done during NCAA championships"?
RE: Women's Tennis: National Champions! - ColoradoTree - 05-22-2018
Here's some post-match video from the Pac-12 Network that includes a nice interview with Lord:
https://twitter.com/Pac12Network/status/999022460124119041
RE: Women's Tennis: One Last Match - BostonCard - 05-22-2018
(05-22-2018, 01:57 PM)ColoradoTree Wrote: It's absolutely my pleasure. Like I've said before, it's a great deal to be a big Stanford Women's Tennis fan. We give them some attention, and they give us dramatic seasons, "underdog" stories, and a national championship every couple years or so. Heck of a deal.
Given that there have been 37 Women's tennis National Titles, and we've won 19 of them, it's more frequent than every "couple of years".
BC
RE: Women's Tennis: National Champions! - d4cohn - 05-22-2018
Amazing thing about this team is that all 6 starters, and all but one player out of 11, will be returning next year. Present and future both incredibly bright for Stanford's most successful program by far.
RE: Women's Tennis: National Champions! - 2006alum - 05-22-2018
Yeah, winning more than 50% of the possible national championships in a sport that's been around this long is pretty insane. Talk about a legacy!
And the crazy thing about our team this year is that it would have included CiCi Bellis if she hadn't gone pro, so we won our national championship without our top frosh recruit.
RE: Women's Tennis: One Last Match - SpokaneLee - 05-23-2018
(05-22-2018, 02:53 PM)BostonCard Wrote:BC, hmmm. I don't know why you are saying that. The ratio of 19 out of 37 is so close to 1 out of 2, it is pathetic. I translate "every couple years or so" to being very close to saying "every two years or so". So why are you picking nits and saying it is more frequent than 'every couple of years'? Are you trying to interpret 'every couple of years' as a 2 year gap, as in winning in year 1, 4, 7, etc. etc.? I read 'every couple of years' as winning in year 1,3,5,7, etc.(05-22-2018, 01:57 PM)ColoradoTree Wrote: It's absolutely my pleasure. Like I've said before, it's a great deal to be a big Stanford Women's Tennis fan. We give them some attention, and they give us dramatic seasons, "underdog" stories, and a national championship every couple years or so. Heck of a deal.
Given that there have been 37 Women's tennis National Titles, and we've won 19 of them, it's more frequent than every "couple of years".
BC
RE: Women's Tennis: One Last Match - BostonCard - 05-23-2018
(05-23-2018, 06:00 AM)SpokaneLee Wrote:(05-22-2018, 02:53 PM)BostonCard Wrote:BC, hmmm. I don't know why you are saying that. The ratio of 19 out of 37 is so close to 1 out of 2, it is pathetic. I translate "every couple years or so" to being very close to saying "every two years or so". So why are you picking nits and saying it is more frequent than 'every couple of years'? Are you trying to interpret 'every couple of years' as a 2 year gap, as in winning in year 1, 4, 7, etc. etc.? I read 'every couple of years' as winning in year 1,3,5,7, etc.(05-22-2018, 01:57 PM)ColoradoTree Wrote: It's absolutely my pleasure. Like I've said before, it's a great deal to be a big Stanford Women's Tennis fan. We give them some attention, and they give us dramatic seasons, "underdog" stories, and a national championship every couple years or so. Heck of a deal.
Given that there have been 37 Women's tennis National Titles, and we've won 19 of them, it's more frequent than every "couple of years".
BC
Mostly I was just trying to work in the statistic that we've won more than half of the available national championships in women's collegiate tennis history. Perhaps not the most elegant way to do so.
BC
RE: Women's Tennis: National Champions! - 2006alum - 05-23-2018
Let's translate this for mathaphobes: we've just about owned the women's tennis NCAA trophy, and we have no plans to let up soon! Seed us #1000, ITA, we will gut it out and find a way to win no matter what!
RE: Women's Tennis: National Champions! - ColoradoTree - 05-23-2018
I am legit delighted by the fact that a thread about Stanford sports has turned into a debate on word choice, syntax, and linguistics. You are truly my people.
(For the record, I meant "every couple years or so" in the sense of "roughly every other year" with the "or so" included to give me wiggle room to address the fact that in recent years, it's sometimes been two years in between titles rather than just one--quelle horreur!--as it was 2010, then two years off, then 2013, then two years off, then 2016, then one year off, then 2018.)
Here's another statistic. Since Stanford won in 1997, the longest gap between NCAA titles for Stanford women's tennis is 3 years, so every single class since then has won a national championship. (The longest gap between titles ever was in the '90s, as Stanford won in '91 but didn't win again until '97.)
FYI, I tied for first in the slam.tennis women's NCAA bracket challenge--a lot of folks went with chalk, or picked Stanford to get an upset or two but eventually fall--and the prize was a year's membership at tennisrecruiting.net (if Arbuthnott hadn't lost, it would've been two years due to the final match score tiebreaker), so I should be able to pick up some more insights into who's considering Stanford over the next year. (Only 69 entries, though--college tennis fandom is certainly a niche fandom--so it's not like winning a basketball bracket challenge.)
It's academic at this point, but Stanford finishes #1 in the final USTA poll, #1 in slam.tennis's ELO-type rankings, and is required by rule to finish #1 in the final ITA ranking, regardless of how the calculation actually turns out (though adding wins over the #1, #2, #3, #7, and #17 teams in the last rankings might get our total there anyway).
And one thing I didn't mention about Lord earlier--this is her third straight year on the All-Tournament team. She made it at #6 singles her freshman year, at #2 singles last year, and at #2 singles again this year. Lampl's honor is her second, as she made the team at #5 singles her freshman year. Of the current lineup, 5 of 6 singles players have been named to the All-Tournament Team at least once, as Lord, Lampl, Shin, and Higuchi were honored this year, Lord and Arbuthnott (at #5 singles) last year, and Lord and Lampl the year before.
(FYI, and you likely already know this, but the All-Tournament Team isn't just the top six singles players; to reflect the team nature of the sport, the NCAA honors the top player at each singles position. Doubles, too, but we haven't been honored in that way the last three seasons.)
RE: Women's Tennis: National Champions! - ColoradoTree - 05-23-2018
The ITA's annual national awards just came out, and Lele Forood is the Coach of the Year, while Michaela Gordon is the Rookie of the Year.
The write-up for Lele:
Quote:Forood guided Stanford to its 19th NCAA National Championship in program history in 2018, as the No. 15 Cardinal edged No. 1 Vanderbilt 4-3 in a thrilling women’s team final. Forood was named Pac-12 Coach of the Year, earning her sixth conference coach of the year honor but first since 2011. The Cardinal posted an 18-3 overall record and went 9-0 in Pac-12 play for the program's 11th undefeated conference slate. The Cardinal was without the services of junior All-American Melissa Lord due to injury, as she did not compete until the final week of March. Forood was instrumental in providing leadership to a young roster without a senior in its starting singles or doubles lineups. Stanford won its second straight Pac-12 Tournament title, collecting its third consecutive conference title overall for the first time since a similar stretch in 2010-12. On April 27, Stanford picked up win No. 1,000 in program history, defeating Washington State 4-0 in the semifinals of the Pac-12 Tournament. During Forood's coaching tenure, the Cardinal has compiled a 438-43 record, participated in 17 NCAA Tournaments and captured nine NCAA team championships, the last two coming as a No. 15 seed (2016 and 2018).
And for Michaela:
Quote:At the time of awards nominations, Gordon had posted a 21-8 overall record, including a 12-7 mark in dual matches. She was named the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year, Stanford's first selection since 2011. She is ranked No. 15 nationally. Has played all of her dual matches at the top spot of the lineup, serving as a stabilizing force while junior All-American Melissa Lord was out due to injury. Selected to compete in the NCAA National Singles Championship. Ranks second on the team with four clinchers. Was 11-3 against Pac-12 players and 8-6 against nationally-ranked opponents. ITA Northwest Regional Championships singles champion in her collegiate debut.
As the national award winners, they also won the same awards for the Northwest Region (the ITA does regional awards, too). Congrats!
In the final ITA team rankings of the year (the final singles/doubles rankings will come out after the current tournament), Stanford obviously finished first, but here's how the rest of the Pac-12 looked:
1. Stanford
10. UCLA
28. Oregon
36. Arizona State
42. Washington State
43. Washington
49. USC
52. Cal
The final team rankings go to 75, while most of the season they only go to 50. Only Arizona, Colorado, and Utah finished the season outside the top 75. (Colorado's future looks even dimmer after its lone bright spot this year, #1 player Linda Huang, announced she was transferring to Rice. Her former classmate in high school in Australia was a freshman at Rice this year, which helps explain it, I suppose, but Colorado had three other Australians on this year's roster, so culture shock couldn't have been too severe. And goodness, it puts Colorado's place in the NCAA tennis firmament in rather stark relief, as it's not like Rice is that good--it finished 44th and barely made the tournament this year. But when both the tennis and the academics are better at Rice, I can't judge Huang for the move.)
RE: Women's Tennis: National Champions! - BostonCard - 05-23-2018
(05-23-2018, 12:25 PM)ColoradoTree Wrote: The ITA's annual national awards just came out, and Lele Forood is the Coach of the Year, while Michaela Gordon is the Rookie of the Year.
And for Michaela:
Quote:At the time of awards nominations, Gordon had posted a 21-8 overall record, including a 12-7 mark in dual matches. She was named the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year, Stanford's first selection since 2011. She is ranked No. 15 nationally. Has played all of her dual matches at the top spot of the lineup, serving as a stabilizing force while junior All-American Melissa Lord was out due to injury. Selected to compete in the NCAA National Singles Championship. Ranks second on the team with four clinchers. Was 11-3 against Pac-12 players and 8-6 against nationally-ranked opponents. ITA Northwest Regional Championships singles champion in her collegiate debut.
Interesting that "clinchers" is kept as a stat. It's a bit odd, because it basically rewards being the third (or fourth) best player on the team, adjusted for position, and thus unfairly punishes players that are so good as to sweep their opponent in straight sets (like Shin and Higuchi). Obviously to be a "clincher" you have to be good enough to win, and can't still be on the court once the match is decided, but if you win too fast, that actually hurts.
BC
RE: Women's Tennis: National Champions! - ColoradoTree - 05-23-2018
(05-23-2018, 01:31 PM)BostonCard Wrote:(05-23-2018, 12:25 PM)ColoradoTree Wrote: The ITA's annual national awards just came out, and Lele Forood is the Coach of the Year, while Michaela Gordon is the Rookie of the Year.
And for Michaela:
Quote:At the time of awards nominations, Gordon had posted a 21-8 overall record, including a 12-7 mark in dual matches. She was named the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year, Stanford's first selection since 2011. She is ranked No. 15 nationally. Has played all of her dual matches at the top spot of the lineup, serving as a stabilizing force while junior All-American Melissa Lord was out due to injury. Selected to compete in the NCAA National Singles Championship. Ranks second on the team with four clinchers. Was 11-3 against Pac-12 players and 8-6 against nationally-ranked opponents. ITA Northwest Regional Championships singles champion in her collegiate debut.
Interesting that "clinchers" is kept as a stat. It's a bit odd, because it basically rewards being the third (or fourth) best player on the team, adjusted for position, and thus unfairly punishes players that are so good as to sweep their opponent in straight sets (like Shin and Higuchi). Obviously to be a "clincher" you have to be good enough to win, and can't still be on the court once the match is decided, but if you win too fast, that actually hurts.
BC
I've always felt that way, too. I mean, I suppose it's somewhat valuable, if we think of it is an imperfect way to measure "this player hung tough and found a way to grind out a win," and perhaps it indicates that a player doesn't tighten up when the match is on her shoulders. But that only addresses a subset of clinchers. A "clinch" when a match is 4-0 is useless and indicates nothing other than being the 3rd- or 4th-slowest player to beat an overmatched opponent--the ability to finish off a match against San Jose State or Sacramento State doesn't tell me anything about a Stanford player. A clincher like Lord's yesterday, though? That is worth measuring, and tells me everything about a player. (I think Taylor Davidson had approximately 1,000 such clinchers in her time here.)
RE: Women's Tennis: National Champions! - ColoradoTree - 05-30-2018
A few things to wrap up the season:
1. The four eligible singles players made the Pac-12 All-Academic team, with Emily Arbuthnott leading the way on the First Team, and Lord, Lampl, and Higuchi getting honorable mention. (Freshmen are ineligible for the team, so that's why no Gordon or Shin.) Arbuthnott has a very impressive 4.12 (or 4.21, according to the Pac-12) GPA going this year. Congrats!
2. The final singles rankings of the year came out, and here's how our team finished up:
21. Gordon (down 6 due to a lack of good wins at NCAAs)
25. Lord (up 15, but still 5 spots away from All-American status--she probably needed a couple wins in the singles tournament to get her ranking in the top 20, but that would have given her the status anyway)
38. Arbuthnott (up 5)
71. Lampl (up 22)
84. Shin (up 12)
93. Higuchi (up 9)
3. The final doubles rankings of the year came out, and here's where things ended:
6. Arbuthnott/Gordon (down 3)
30. Lampl/Yee (up 54!)
That'll be it, rankings-wise, until September. FYI, Lord finished 19th last season and was the preseason #7 player this season, so expect similar jumps for both Gordon and Lord in the fall (assuming both return--there remains the curious situation of how we just signed 2 blue chips for the incoming freshman class while we have 7 blue chips on the roster already in a 8-scholarship sport).