Women's Tennis: ITA Northwest Regionals

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Women's Tennis: ITA Northwest Regionals - ColoradoTree - 10-17-2019

Starting tomorrow, the ITA Northwest Regionals will be contested at Taube on campus, welcoming Pac-12 rivals Cal, Oregon, Washington, and Washington State, as well as a number of other schools from Fresno to Seattle. The singles finalists will earn berths at the ITA Fall Nationals in November, as do the doubles champions.

Logistics:

* The draws are up, and you can find them (and track results) here: https://tennislink.usta.com/tournaments/...&s=7Draws3

* Since the tournament is at Stanford, live video/scoring will be available for the Taube courts (but not the Taube South courts) here: http://streamingtennis.com/Cardinal/?DB_OEM_ID=30600

The draws:

Here are the seeds in singles, with ITA preseason ranking in parentheses:

(1) Michaela Gordon (#6)
(2) Julia Rosenqvist (Cal, #24)
(3) Emily Arbuthnott (#30)
(4) Haley Giavara (Cal) -- this is a bit of a surprise (I figured she'd be a 9), but this is a sign that the coaches think Giavara is Cal's #2 over Anna Bright
(5) Valentina Ivanov (Cal) -- another surprise; watch this space, as this cohort of Cal freshmen looks to make Cal a much more dangerous team than I would have expected coming into the year.
(6) Anna Bright (Cal, #42) -- not surprising that she's a top 8 seed, but absolutely shocking that she's the fourth Cal player seeded
(7) Vanessa Wong (UW, #54)
(8) Janice Shin (#60)

(9) Angelica Blake (#8 newcomer)
(9) Sara Choy (#87)
(9) Niluka Madurawe (#93)
(9) Klara Kosan (UOP)
(9) Erin Richardson (Cal, #10 newcomer)
(9) Natsuho Arakawa (UW)
(9) Mariia Kozyreva (St. Mary's, #68)
(9) Maddie Pothoff (Santa Clara, #76)

And here are the seeds in doubles:

(1) Rosenqvist/Ivanov (Cal)
(2) Arbuthnott/Blake
(3) Gordon/Shin
(4) Bright/Giavara (Cal)
(5) Arakawa/Wong (UW)
(5) Gevargiz/Pothoff (Santa Clara)
(5) Kozyreva/McIntyre (St. Mary's)
(5) Dunk/Richardson (Cal)

The top 4 seeds have a bye into Saturday morning's second round. Choy/Madurawe are unseeded.

Schedule

Play starts tomorrow, with some doubles starting at around 8:30am, with singles following at 10:00am. Here's what tomorrow's schedule looks like:

9:15am: Choy/Madurawe vs. Ellis/Hummel (Fresno State)

10:00am: (1) Gordon vs. Nikita Pradeep (UC Davis)
11:30am: (9) Blake vs. Allison Mulville (Oregon)
12:30pm: (9) Choy vs. Chiho Mushika (USF)
1:00pm: Taylor Lallas (the lone walk-on on our team) vs. Nina Nikitovic (Portland State)
2:00pm: (3) Arbuthnott vs. Jane Ellis (Fresno State)
3:00pm: (8) Shin vs. Ella Husrefovic (Fresno State)
3:00pm: (9) Madurawe vs. Jamie Schroer (Santa Clara)

Second round singles matches will start on a rolling basis, with the first set of matches starting at 3:30 and the last set starting at 6:30.

Quick Analysis

* This is on campus, so head on down to Taube if you're free at all this weekend, particularly from Saturday afternoon on once we're into the later rounds.

* This is a tournament with a wide range of quality, so don't expect many early round upsets. If a top 8 seed doesn't reach at least the Round of 16, it should count as a major upset. Starting in the Round of 16, though, there should be some great tennis, once the seeds start playing each other.

* The committee that put these seeds together basically thinks that Cal every bit the team that Stanford is, if not better. Stloukalova, who played a lot of #3 for Cal last year, isn't even seeded, while four Cal players (including two freshmen) are top 8 seeds, and another Cal freshman is a 9 seed. Bright is the #42 player in the preseason rankings, and the tournament thinks she's their fourth-best player. Yikes. Yes, we have six seeded players overall, and our #1 and #2 players are seeded higher than theirs, but their #3 and #4 are seeded higher than ours. You never really know who you have until they start playing matches, of course, but as for right now, the coaches who put the seeds together think the Cal freshmen are legit. And that Cal has an edge in doubles, with three seeded pairs to our two. We knew we wouldn't be quite as good as last year after losing Lord and Lampl (and Yee in doubles), but let's see how our players respond.

* That said, keep in mind that Higuchi would be seeded if she were playing (albeit as a #9), so our depth, as always, is our greatest strength.

* Wong is the other top 8 seed in Gordon's quarter, but Richardson may be the more dangerous player, as the Cal freshman is one of the top 10 newcomers. But Gordon should expect to emerge from her quarter.

* I'm eager to see the Giavara-Blake matchup in the Round of 16, assuming both freshmen get there. The ITA ranked Blake as the #8 newcomer and omitted Giavara from the list, and Blake was more highly-regarded as a recruit, but the seeding committee here gave Giavara the edge. That match (if it happens) would be Saturday at 1:30pm

* Arbuthnott is in line to get Kozyreva in the Round of 16, and the Gael has proven to be a pretty tough out, so that should be a good match. The quarterfinal would be Cal's Anna Bright, which would've struck me as a preview of the regular season #2 line, but that may no longer be the case with Cal's freshman class.

* Shin's Round of 16 matchup is slated to be Santa Clara's Maddie Pothoff, and that's another great matchup of comparably ranked players. It's these kinds of matches that Shin needs to win to show us what kind of season we can expect.

* Madurawe gets Cal's Rosenqvist in the Round of 16 (again, assuming they both get there), and while Rosenqvist clearly has the edge, Madurawe is a gritty player that could absolutely pull off the upset.

* Another likely Cal-Stanford matchup in the Round of 16, with Choy slated to play freshman Valentina Ivanov.

Basically, if you hate Cal, and you love Stanford, then get thee to Taube on Saturday at 1:30pm, because three different Cal-Stanford matchups will start then, though we're not necessarily favored in any of them (three players expected to play in the back half of our lineup against Cal's top three).

RE: Women's Tennis: ITA Northwest Regionals - newguy - 10-17-2019

i played #2 singles on my high school team, but not nearly good enough to play for Stanford.
unfortunately, i'm too far away to see our girls play in this tournament.

RE: Women's Tennis: ITA Northwest Regionals - ColoradoTree - 10-18-2019

There are supposed to be matches going on right now, but the Stanford live stream isn't active, so perhaps they're not going matches this tournament? That would be odd, and a departure from past practice.

RE: Women's Tennis: ITA Northwest Regionals - ColoradoTree - 10-18-2019

So far, so good. Choy/Madurawe won their first round match, 8-1, over the Fresno State pair, and they'll play LaMette/Stone of Cal Poly tomorrow at 9:00am.

If all went to plan, then Gordon should be off court by now. Blake's match is scheduled to start now, Choy's is at 12:30, Arbuthnott's is at 2:00, Shin and Madurawe both play at 3:00, and then the cycle starts all over again with Gordon's second round match starting at 3:30.

As expected, Gordon had little trouble in her first round match. She won 6-1, 6-2, and she'll play again at 3:30 or so against Danielle McIntyre from St. Mary's. Blake beat Oregon's Alison Mulville (the Ducks' #5 last year) 6-0, 6-1, and she'll play Wazzu's Pang Jittakoat at 4:30.

One surprising upset so far: 9th-seeded Erin Richardson of Cal lost 6-4, 6-3 to Gonzaga's Kate Ketels. (Side note: Michaela Gordon's younger sister Jennamarie joined the Gonzaga tennis team this year. She was a very good recruit (a 5-star recruit on TRN), but not a blue chip like her sister was.) Ketels primarily played at #5 and #6 singles for Gonzaga last year but should be more like #3 this year. She's a senior, and Richardson is only a freshman, but Richardson was one of the top 10 newcomers, too, so I expected greater things from her.

RE: Women's Tennis: ITA Northwest Regionals - oldalum - 10-18-2019

(10-17-2019, 12:12 PM)ColoradoTree Wrote: Wong is the other top 8 seed in Gordon's quarter, but Richardson may be the more dangerous player, as the Cal freshman is one of the top 10 newcomers.

Richardson lost her first match. :)

RE: Women's Tennis: ITA Northwest Regionals - ColoradoTree - 10-18-2019

(10-18-2019, 01:01 PM)oldalum Wrote:
(10-17-2019, 12:12 PM)ColoradoTree Wrote: Wong is the other top 8 seed in Gordon's quarter, but Richardson may be the more dangerous player, as the Cal freshman is one of the top 10 newcomers.
Richardson lost her first match. :)

I'll take it! There's really no excuse for Gordon not emerging from this quarter.

RE: Women's Tennis: ITA Northwest Regionals - ColoradoTree - 10-18-2019

Gordon, Arbuthnott, Shin, and Blake are through to the Round of 32 after straightforward wins. Choy is through as well, though it took her three sets against Julia Eshet, an Oregon mainstay. But Madurawe is out, having lost in three sets to Neli Sunjic of Portland, a Croatian freshman. A surprise, that, but it’s hard to know how much stock to put in it since Sunjic is an unknown quantity.

All the Round of 32 singles matches tomorrow are at 10:30am, and the Round of 16 starts at 1:30pm. Doubles starts at 9:00am.

RE: Women's Tennis: ITA Northwest Regionals - ColoradoTree - 10-19-2019

In doubles, all three teams are into the Round of 16, which starts tomorrow at 10:00am, with the quarterfinals to start tomorrow afternoon:

* Choy/Madurawe take on 5th-seeded Arakawa/Wong of UW, with top seed Ivanov/Rosenqvist (Cal) likely waiting in the wings
* (3) Gordon/Shin play a Gonzaga pair
* (2) Arbuthnott/Blake play another Gonzaga pair

In singles, Gordon and Shin are through to the quarterfinals, with Gordon cruising and Shin only being challenged in the Round of 16 by Cal’s Stloukalova before prevailing.

Blake and Choy fell in the round of 32, Blake due to a first-set illness retirement, and Choy in a tight two-set match to Broerman from Gonzaga, a lesser player who proceeded to get crushed by Cal’s Valentina Ivanov. Bummer about Blake—I had a feeling she’d make a deep run here, so hopefully she feels better soon.

Arbuthnott made the Round of 16, but lost in straight sets to Kozyreva from St. Mary’s.

Quarterfinals are tomorrow at noon, with the matchups as follows:

(1) Gordon vs. Kate Ketels (Gonzaga)
(4) Haley Giavara (Cal) vs. Valentina Ivanov (Cal)
(6) Anna Bright (Cal) vs. Mariia Kozyreva (St. Mary’s)
(8) Shin vs. Katarina Kopcalic (UW)

It chaps my hide that there are more Golden Bears left in the singles draw than Cardinal, but at least two of them play each other tomorrow.

An all-Stanford final hasn’t been ruled out yet, but this tournament is already a bit disappointing compared to recent years. Two players in the quarters? Last year we had seven! Two years ago, both semifinals were all-Stanford. And this year, Cal looks resurgent, which only adds to the frustration.

Sigh. I don’t want to overreact based on one tournament, but I’m going to doubt Arbuthnott is a legit #2 until she proves me wrong, and Shin at #3 worries me, too. For us to do well this year will require consistency from the 4-6 lines, but then again, ‘twas ever thus.

RE: Women's Tennis: ITA Northwest Regionals - oldalum - 10-20-2019

(10-19-2019, 09:36 PM)ColoradoTree Wrote: I don’t want to overreact based on one tournament, but I’m going to doubt Arbuthnott is a legit #2 until she proves me wrong, and Shin at #3 worries me, too.

For the past 2 years our numbers 2 and 3 players (Lord/Lampl) were better than almost every other teams'. We could usually get 2 points out of them, every match. The unfortunate fact is, those days are over unless Arbuthnott and Shin improve a lot this year (which is not impossible, but less likely at this stage in their college careers. More likely to happen between first and second year, like Lord did). Unless one of the frosh turns out to be good enough to play at #2 (thus increasing our strength at 3-6), this may be a slightly down year for us (compared to last year, when we and Georgia were clearly the two best teams throughout the spring season).

RE: Women's Tennis: ITA Northwest Regionals - Lorcan - 10-20-2019

(10-20-2019, 08:21 AM)oldalum Wrote:
(10-19-2019, 09:36 PM)ColoradoTree Wrote: I don’t want to overreact based on one tournament, but I’m going to doubt Arbuthnott is a legit #2 until she proves me wrong, and Shin at #3 worries me, too.
For the past 2 years our numbers 2 and 3 players (Lord/Lampl) were better than almost every other teams'. We could usually get 2 points out of them, every match. The unfortunate fact is, those days are over unless Arbuthnott and Shin improve a lot this year (which is not impossible, but less likely at this stage in their college careers. More likely to happen between first and second year, like Lord did). Unless one of the frosh turns out to be good enough to play at #2 (thus increasing our strength at 3-6), this may be a slightly down year for us (compared to last year, when we and Georgia were clearly the two best teams throughout the spring season).

This is definitely solidified by Shin's loss today to Washington's #3 from last year in Kopcalic as she falls 5-7 6-4 6-1. Gordon is the last Stanford player standing to wage battle against Cal. Gordon dispatched Ketels from Gonzaga in dominant fashion 6-0 6-1. Next up is Ivanov from Cal. I still haven't seen if Gordon and Shin won their doubles match against UDub yet.

RE: Women's Tennis: ITA Northwest Regionals - ColoradoTree - 10-20-2019

Of course, if Gordon is going to keep mauling people like this, then we’ll have a more dominant #1 than we’re used to having, which would be a nice change.

We’re often like a baseball rotation made up of #2 starters. But this year, it feels like we have an unquestioned ace and a bunch of third/fourth starters. I’d anticipate a bunch of closer scorelines than we’re used to having, but then again, I’m pretty excited about Blake’s potential, so perhaps we see her slotted in at #2 or #3 instead of the back courts, relieving pressure on Shin, at least.

RE: Women's Tennis: ITA Northwest Regionals - ColoradoTree - 10-21-2019

Singles

So, Gordon's match against Cal's Ivanov takes place today at noon (Ivanov handled her fellow Cal freshman, Haley Giavara, in routine fashion, 6-2, 6-4). The other semi (UW's Katarina Kopcalic vs. St. Mary's Mariia Kozyreva) is at the same time. Gordon has the chance to be the first 3-time Northwest Regionals champion in as long as I can remember. With her second title last year, she matched Kristie Ahn's two titles (in 2010 and 2013), but I don't know if there's ever been a 3-time winner, let alone 3 in a row. She has to beat Ivanov first, though, and that'll be no easy task. Even making the final will punch a ticket to Fall Nationals for Michaela (though she seems reasonably likely to get in as an at-large bid, given her high preseason ranking). Arbuthnott's ranking likely would've been high enough to get her in as an at-large bid, but you need the combination of rank and reaching either the quarterfinals of the ITA Masters (which Stanford skipped), the Round of 16 at ITA All-Americans (which Stanford skipped), or the quarterfinals at a regional championship (she lost in the Round of 16). Shin made the quarterfinals, so she has an outside chance of making it as an at-large selection, but I think her ranking will be too low given how many other players have racked up quality wins so far this fall.

Kopcalic was UW's #3 last year, and figures to play #2 this year, so I suppose it shouldn't be altogether shocking that she won a three-setter against Shin. That was an interesting quarter of the draw. Kopcalic beat Sunjic (the player who upset Madurawe), and then beat WSU's Melisa Ates, who got the most shocking upset of the tournament in beating 2nd-seeded Julia Rosenqvist of Cal in two routine sets. Shin was the first seed Kopcalic played; she kept beating the players who'd upset the seeds she would have been due to play.

Same goes for Kozyreva. She's a very good player (she steamrolled Cal's Anna Bright, the 6th seed, 6-1, 6-3), so Arbuthnott losing a competitive match to her is no great shame. It's just--sigh. We're gonna be a good team this year. A very good team, even. I'm just not sure we'll be a great team.

Doubles

Gordon/Shin lost to UW's Gallagher/Kopcalic 8-4 in the quarterfinals, but Arbuthnott/Blake won their match against Oregon's Eshet/Mould 8-6, so they'll take on Cal's Bright/Giavara in the semifinals today at 1:30pm.

Logistics

FYI, the live streaming looks like it's finally working, so you should be able to see that match, though I don't know if the live scoring will work. Again, Gordon's semifinal is at noon, and Arbuthnott/Blake have their doubles semifinal at 1:30. Both matches are against Cal, so there's plenty of motivation.

RE: Women's Tennis: ITA Northwest Regionals - oldalum - 10-21-2019

I watched a little of the Giavara-Ivanov match yesterday. They are both good, heavy hitters, clearly going to be a problem for us for the next 4 years. Giavara unfortunately reminds me of Lampl as a freshman.

Looks like 6 out of 10 players on Cal's roster now are foreign, including 4 of the likely top 6.

RE: Women's Tennis: ITA Northwest Regionals - ColoradoTree - 10-21-2019

(10-21-2019, 12:17 PM)oldalum Wrote: I watched a little of the Giavara-Ivanov match yesterday. They are both good, heavy hitters, clearly going to be a problem for us for the next 4 years. Giavara unfortunately reminds me of Lampl as a freshman.

Looks like 6 out of 10 players on Cal's roster now are foreign, including 4 of the likely top 6.

No idea what the score is in the Gordon-Ivanov match since I haven't been following every point, but Ivanov just broke Gordon and then held to consolidate. Anyone at the match to provide some details?

Gordon held and then broke Ivanov; Ivanov then broke back and held; Michaela then held for what I presume is the first set, since Michaela was serving first after the changeovers and they just sat down after she won her service game. Because Michaela went 3-4 in the games I saw, presumably she got out to a 3-0 lead, Ivanov broke and held to 3-2, Gordon held and broke to 5-2, Ivanov then got it to 5-4 before Michaela closed out the set.

Gordon just broke Ivanov to start the second set. In that game, at least, it seemed more that Ivanov was trying to be aggressive and was missing shots a few inches long rather than Gordon necessarily dictating points, but I'll take whatever we can get! (Now my streaming isn't working, though. Court 2 works, just not Court 1. There's no match on that court, though, since Kozyreva dispatched UW's Kopcalic fairly quickly, it seems.)

RE: Women's Tennis: ITA Northwest Regionals - ColoradoTree - 10-21-2019

Anybody at the match or with a working stream of Court 1? All I can tell is that they're still playing.

OK, my stream is working again, and I got just one game--a Gordon hold, and then they came to the net! So, Gordon won, but I don't yet know what the scoreline was.

(Side note: It's fall season, so not the end of the world, but they need to get the streaming bugs worked out, and I don't know why we didn't have live scoring for a match like this. I can see not having it the whole tournament, but why not starting in the quarters/semis?)

In any event, Gordon moves on, and Arbuthnott/Blake are now out on Court 1 getting ready to take on Cal's Bright/Giavara in the second Stanford-Cal match of the day.

RE: Women's Tennis: ITA Northwest Regionals - ColoradoTree - 10-21-2019

Indeed, the reported scoreline is Gordon winning 6-4, 7-5. She'll play Kozyreva (who won 6-1, 6-0) in tomorrow's final.

Take this with a brobdingnagian grain of salt, because I've watched Angelica Blake play zero minutes of singles and just a handful of games in doubles, but here are some quick thoughts:

* She is smooth.
* Her ground strokes are powerful and she makes it look easy.

RE: Women's Tennis: ITA Northwest Regionals - oldalum - 10-21-2019

nice win for Gordon; especially since, from what I could see in the oft-frozen live stream, she looked early-season rusty.

An annoying Cal coach was coaching Ivanov after every point. Really??!!

Our doubles match is over; can't tell who won except the Cal team left the court while we are lingering (might be a good sign).

RE: Women's Tennis: ITA Northwest Regionals - ColoradoTree - 10-21-2019

(10-21-2019, 03:15 PM)oldalum Wrote: nice win for Gordon; especially since, from what I could see in the oft-frozen live stream, she looked early-season rusty.

An annoying Cal coach was coaching Ivanov after every point. Really??!!

Our doubles match is over; can't tell who won except the Cal team left the court while we are lingering (might be a good sign).

Arbuthnott/Blake won, as both teams went to the net after we clearly won a point, but I don't yet know the score. So, the prospect of Stanford sweeping the titles like last year is still there!

RE: Women's Tennis: ITA Northwest Regionals - oldalum - 10-21-2019

6-2, 6-1!

RE: Women's Tennis: ITA Northwest Regionals - oldalum - 10-21-2019

Gordon played Kozyreva (from Russia) last January, and was losing 4-6, 3-4 when the match was halted. So she'll have her hands full. A competitive matchup for us in doubles too.