Women's Tennis: SoCal comes to town - Printable Version

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Women's Tennis: SoCal comes to town - ColoradoTree - 03-21-2022

Fresh off coach Lele Forood's 500th win, Stanford continues its homestand with a week that will test where this young team stands. #30 UCSB comes to town tomorrow at noon for a rare Tuesday match, and then it's #18 USC at 1:30 on Friday and #13 UCLA at 12:00pm on Saturday.

UCSB (8-5)

Key matches: lost 6-1 to Cal (took the doubles point); beat St. Mary's 4-0; beat Washington State 7-0; lost 4-3 to LMU; beat USC 4-3; beat Texas Tech and TCU by 5-2 scores
Ranked players include #91 Shakhnoza Khatamova and the #61 doubles team of Honer/Reuter

UCSB is dangerous, and their top three of Khatamova, Kiss, and Volodko can do damage. Against St. Mary's, Khatamova was locked in a battle with Kozyreva when the match was clinched. Against Cal, UCSB pushed four matches to third sets, at 1, 2, 3, and 5. Against USC, Khatamova was in a third-set tiebreaker against Cayetano, Kiss lost in three to Ewing, and it was UCSB's depth that beat out USC by taking wins on courts 4-6. So, this isn't a team to look past by any stretch. They are a very good team, and while I think Stanford could win this one by a 4-0 or 4-1 score, it would likely be a lot closer. Don't be surprised to see UCSB take a couple of matches and push a couple more to third sets. 

USC (10-8, 3-1 Pac-12)

Key matches: beat Loyola 4-0; beat #23 Miami 4-3 and #22 Baylor 4-3 to qualify for Indoor Nationals; lost 4-1 to Texas; lost 4-1 to Texas A&M, 4-1 to Oklahoma State, lost 4-0 to #2 Oklahoma; lost 4-1 at UCLA; lost 4-3 vs. UCSB; lost 4-2 at Utah; beat ASU 4-1; lost 5-2 at Pepperdine
Ranked players: #6 Eryn Cayetano, #29 Salma Ewing, #60 Snow Han, and the doubles teams of #29 Ewing/Han and #49 Cayetano/Piper

It's a classic USC team--lots of talent but not putting it all together. This is a dangerous team that is underperforming so far this season, but if they click, they could absolutely pull off a big result. I think Stanford takes the doubles point, and then here's how it likely lines up in singles:

1. Ma vs. Cayetano -- as good as Cayetano is, I'm not picking against Ma ever. 
2. Yepifanova vs. Salma Ewing -- should go the distance and would be a marquee win for Sasha
3. Blake vs. Snow Han -- I like Blake here
4. Houghton vs. Grace Piper -- #4 has been a weakness for both teams this season
5. Xu vs. Naomi Cheong -- surprised to see Cheong playing #5, I'd have thought she'd be at 3, but Han and Piper have supplanted her
6. Choy vs. Danielle Willson -- Willson gave Higuchi fits because of her height, an

I'll say 4-2 Stanford. It's a more talented team from USC than we saw last year, with Han and Piper joining in the middle of the lineup. But playing at home, we should have enough to get past them. 

UCLA (8-3, 4-0 Pac-12)

Key matches: lost 4-3 at home to both Loyola Marymount and UW in a pair of January shockers; beat UCSB 4-0; lost 5-2 at Pepperdine; beat Cal 6-1; beat USC 4-1
Ranked players: #42 Abigail Forbes, #69 Elysia Bolton, #115 Kimmi Hance, and the doubles teams of #23 Catanzarite/Forbes, #33 Bolton/Wagle, and #64 Ong/Wagle.  

UCLA started very slow but appears to have turned the corner, and they're reminding everyone why they're one of the teams to beat. They're always tough in doubles, though their top duo has been more vulnerable than usual. I'm used to chalking up a loss to UCLA in the doubles point every time, but we have a real shot this year. Here's how we'd line up in singles:

1. Ma vs. Abbey Forbes -- battle of titans
2. Yepifanova vs. Elysia Bolton -- heck of an undercard
3. Blake vs. Sasha Vagramov -- Blake ought to win here in a tight one
4. Houghton vs. Kimmi Hance -- this is where matches are won and lost, and I'm just not overly confident in our #4s
5. Xu vs. Elisa Wagle -- I like Xu here in a battle of freshmen
6. Choy vs. Ava Catanzarite -- I'll take Choy here. 

I'll predict Stanford 4-2 or 4-3 in a match that should let the tennis world know who's at the top of the Pac-12.

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RE: Women's Tennis: SoCal comes to town - ColoradoTree - 03-22-2022

Live stats and video are available here: https://gostanford.com/sports/2022/3/17/womens-tennis-live-video-stats.aspx

Stanford 0, UCSB 0

1. Blake/Ma lead Khatamova/Volodko 4-1
2. Xu/Yepifanova trail Reuter/Honer 2-4
3. Geller/Madurawe trail Kiss/Gonzalez 2-4

So far, UCSB is on track for the doubles point, so Stanford needs to bounce back.

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1. Blake/Ma lead 5-1
2. Xu/Yepifanova trail 2-5
3. Geller/Madurawe trail 2-5

Ugh.

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UCSB 1, Stanford 0

1. Blake/Ma win 6-1
2. Xu/Yepifanova lose 2-6
3. Geller/Madurawe lose 2-6

So that's disappointing. Granted, UCSB seems to be a team that overperforms in doubles vs. singles (they took the doubles point vs. Cal, for example), but I just feel like a team that feels like it has a shot at a national championship ought not to be losing doubles to UCSB. We're not clicking on all cylinders yet....

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RE: Women's Tennis: SoCal comes to town - ColoradoTree - 03-22-2022

UCSB 1, Stanford 0

1. Ma trails Khatamova 2-3
2. Yepifanova trails Volodko 2-3 
3. Blake trails Kiss 1-4
4. Houghton trails Honer 2-3
5. Xu trails Bruu-Syversen 1-2
6. Choy leads Reuter 3-2 (up a break) 

Playing without chair umpires, which is interesting. Anyway, we're up a break on one court (6), on serve on four courts (1, 2, 4, and 5), and down a break on one court (3). 

Slower start than I would've hoped. Let's see if they shake the cobwebs loose soon.

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UCSB 1, Stanford 0

1. Ma trails 4-5
2. Yepifanova leads 5-4
3. Blake tied 5-5
4. Houghton trails 2-6, 0-0
5. Xu trails 3-4 
6. Choy leads 6-3, 1-0

Starting to see us assert ourselves a little on courts 2 and 3. Choy is the first to book a set, with Houghton dropping hers soon after.

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RE: Women's Tennis: SoCal comes to town - BostonCard - 03-22-2022

Ma lost her first set 6-4
Yepifanova won hers 6-4
Blake is in a first set tiebreaker
Houghton lost her first set 6-2
Xu is down 5-4 in her first set
Choy won her first set 6-3

Looks to be an uphill climb for us after losing the doubles point.

BC

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RE: Women's Tennis: SoCal comes to town - ColoradoTree - 03-22-2022

UCSB 1, Stanford 0

1. Ma trails 4-6, 2-1
2. Yepifanova leads 6-4, 1-2
3. Blake trails 6-7, 0-0
4. Houghton trails 2-6, 2-1
5. Xu trails 4-6, 0-0
6. Choy leads 6-3, 4-1

I mean, nowhere near good enough. Time to wake up. (That goes for our players and the folks updating the scores, because that's been atrocious. Some of these scores haven't been updated in 15 minutes or more.)

I am really, really hoping that Blake doesn't repeat her recent practice of dropping a close-fought first set and then folding. Because the way the rest of the team is playing, we can't afford it. Really disappointing all around (except for Sara Choy), but especially on 1, 3, and 5. Gotta be better there.

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I am trying not to overreact to a disappointing start to a Tuesday noon match. Maybe we flip the switch and do what Cal did and win four three-setters. Maybe. 

But if we lose this match, just fair warning: you're gonna hear some doom and gloom out of me.

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Choy wins 6-3, 6-1 on Court 6 and the match is tied at 1-1.

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Stanford 1, UCSB 1

1. Ma tied 4-6, 6-3, 0-0 
2. Yepifanova tied 6-4, 3-6, 0-0
3. Blake trails 6-7, 4-4
4. Houghton trails 4-6, 4-3
5. Xu trails 4-6, 2-2

Blake was down 1-3 and I thought "here we go again," but she's fighting back, which is encouraging to see.

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RE: Women's Tennis: SoCal comes to town - martyup - 03-22-2022

Blake lost (6-7, 4-6).  We're down 2-1. We're on a 3rd set on 3 courts.

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RE: Women's Tennis: SoCal comes to town - ColoradoTree - 03-22-2022

UCSB 2, Stanford 1

1. Ma leads 4-6, 6-3, 2-1 
2. Yepifanova tied 6-4, 3-6, 2-2 
3. Blake loses 6-7, 4-6
4. Houghton tied 2-6, 6-4, 0-0
5. Xu trails 4-6, 2-3

Massively disappointing effort from Blake. Absolutely should not have lost that match. Ugh. 

But there's good news, as Ma forces a third and then goes up an early break. Yepifanova leads on serve, and Houghton forced a third. 

Four matches left on court, and we need three of them, while UCSB can split them and still win.

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UCSB 2, Stanford 1

1. Ma trails 2-3 in the third, now down a break
2. Yepifanova leads 5-2 in the third
4. Houghton trails 0-3 in the third
5. Xu trails 4-6, 4-5

Sara Choy did her job well today. Other players might end up doing their jobs today, but she did it best. 

Xu/Yepifanova have been playing well in doubles, so maybe this was just a bad match. But Geller/Madurawe laid an egg against Oregon, too. I think it's time to shake up that spot in the lineup and either try Choy/Houghton or mix up the pairings some other way, but we need more out of that spot.

Not looking great, folks....

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3-1 UCSB as Xu drops her match 6-4, 6-4. A jaw-droppingly bad loss for Xu. 

Just a matter of time now as Houghton is down 3-0 in her third set. Even wins from Ma and Yepifanova won't be enough. Just awful.

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3-2 UCSB as Yepifanova takes her third set 6-2 over Volodko. Good win for Sasha there. Volodko is a tough out. Ma goes up 4-3 in her third, but the abject failures by Blake and Xu loom large as Houghton is down 4-0 in her third.

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RE: Women's Tennis: SoCal comes to town - ColoradoTree - 03-22-2022

Ma makes it 3-3 as she takes her third set 6-3 over Khatamova, but Houghton is down 0-5. 

If you'd have told me that Ma and Yepifanova both won their matches, I'd have assumed we won 4-0 or 7-0. Those were the two toughest matches by far.

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And that's that. Goodness.

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RE: Women's Tennis: SoCal comes to town - Spiny_Norman - 03-22-2022

A foundation of past success has been dominant play on the backcourts in positions 4, 5 and 6. That does not seem to be the case with the current team.

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RE: Women's Tennis: SoCal comes to town - ColoradoTree - 03-22-2022

(03-22-2022, 03:26 PM)Spiny_Norman Wrote:  A foundation of past success has been dominant play on the backcourts in positions 4, 5 and 6. That does not seem to be the case with the current team.

Court 4 especially, this year. Xu laid an egg today, but she's generally been very good on 5. And while Choy was solid today, she hasn't been as good as she should be. Sigh.

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RE: Women's Tennis: SoCal comes to town - TheFarm07 - 03-23-2022

Are we hoping this is an aberration? Hopefully, the matches against the SoCal schools will show one way or another

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Sakibomb25 - Sakibomb25 - 03-23-2022

(03-23-2022, 02:21 PM)TheFarm07 Wrote:  Are we hoping this is an aberration? Hopefully, the matches against the SoCal schools will show one way or another

Well we are still a young team, so you are going to see some inconsistencies. I am still hoping the Lele will get them in championship form come May, when it really matters.

Yes Choy should have won and same with Blake, but Xu and Houghton are still underclassmen (and Houghton barely saw the court last year).

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RE: Women's Tennis: SoCal comes to town - BostonCard - 03-23-2022

I don’t suppose Lele could entice Gordon to come back, could she?

BC

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RE: Women's Tennis: SoCal comes to town - ColoradoTree - 03-25-2022

Doubles on now, and it looks like Geller has been dropped from that lineup: Choy/Madurawe is our #3 doubles team.

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Oh, and the UCLA match this weekend has been cancelled due to covid protocols at UCLA. Unclear whether (and if so, when) they'll be rescheduled. Could make for an exciting last weekend of the regular season!

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RE: Women's Tennis: SoCal comes to town - ColoradoTree - 03-25-2022

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Stanford 1, USC 0

1. Ma leads 6-4, 0-0 
2. Yepifanova leads 7-5, 0-0
3. Blake leads 6-4, 1-2 (Blake was down 15-40 in the last game of the first set but fought back to deciding point and took the set; on serve in the second)
4. Houghton trails 2-6, 1-2
5. Xu leads 6-4 (momentum has swung Xu's way on this one after being down 1-4 initially)
6. Choy leads 6-2, 1-2 (on serve)

Courts 1 and 2 were going in opposite directions very quickly, but can Yepifanova reset and take back control? Yepifanova was up 4-1, then Cayetano won four straight before Yepifanova staved off a set point by winning deciding point to make it 5-5, and then she broke Cayetano to go up 6-5. 

Meanwhile, on 1, Ma broke on deciding point on Ewing's serve to go up 4-3, then held to 5-3. Ewing held, and then Ma served for it up 5-4. She went down 0-40 before getting it back to deciding point, and she took it!

That's five first sets. Good stuff so far.

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RE: Women's Tennis: SoCal comes to town - ColoradoTree - 03-25-2022

Stanford 1, USC 0

1. Ma leads 6-4, 1-3
2. Yepifanova leads 7-5, 1-3 
3. Blake leads 6-4, 3-3 
4. Houghton trails 2-6, 1-5
5. Xu leads 6-4, 4-0
6. Choy leads 6-2, 4-3 (up a break)

USC is about to tie the match with a win on Court 4. Little bit of a momentum surge back USC's way in some of these second sets. Xu is coming on strong, though. Last player to win her first set, and she might be the first player to close out a win the way she's going. 

Top two courts may not end up deciding things, if we can get wins on 3, 5, and 6.

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RE: Women's Tennis: SoCal comes to town - ColoradoTree - 03-25-2022

And indeed, it’s 4-1 Stanford as courts 3-6 go in straight sets.

Ma leveled the second at 4-4, and she just held to level it again at 5-5. Yepifanova dropped her second 6-2, and she’s now up 7-5 in the match tiebreaker as they change ends again.

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Ma forces a deciding point on Ewing's serve and breaks to go up 6-5! She’ll serve for her match next. 

On 2, Cayetano goes from 6-8 down to win it 10-8. Sigh….

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Why does Ma do this to herself? Several games now, she’s gone down 0-40 on her serve. Sometimes she fights back and sometimes not, but she puts herself in unnecessarily difficult situations….

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