Women's Tennis: Spring 2025 - Printable Version
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Women's Tennis: Spring 2025 - ColoradoTree - 01-06-2025
With the preseason team rankings dropping today, seems like a good time to start a new thread for the spring season. Stanford is #3 preseason, though I have to think that ranking brings with it the expectation of Sasha Yepifanova playing, and that remains a big ol' question mark right now.
Here's the top 25, with scheduled opponents in italics:
1. Georgia
2. Texas A&M
3. Stanford
4. Oklahoma State
5. UCLA
6. UNC
7. Texas
8. Michigan
9. UVA
10. Pepperdine
11. Duke
12. Auburn
13. Cal
14. NC State
15. Ohio State
16. Oklahoma
17. USC
18. Tennessee
19. Florida
20. South Carolina
21. Vanderbilt
22. Alabama
23. Miami
24. Florida State
25. UCF
Lots of tough opponents in there, but we've grown accustomed to annual matches against Pepperdine and Texas, and they're not there. Obviously, no UCLA or USC, either. And our big national rival from the 90s and early 00s, Florida, isn't there, either.
But what you do get is seven Top 25 opponents from the ACC, with the likelihood that others will climb as the season goes on. And with Indoor Nationals in February, plus the ACC tournament at the end of April, we'll have plenty of chances to get the ten quality wins we need to be one of the top 8 teams and home courts through the Super Regional round of NCAAs.
Based on our current roster, here's my guess as to how our lineup will look this year if everyone's healthy:
1. Glozman
2. Ma
3. Yepifanova
4. Blokhina
5. Hui
6. Xu
That is absolutely a national championship-caliber roster. It's terrific. But Yepifanova didn't play the fall and I have no idea if she'll play the spring. The rest of the roster includes grad students India Houghton and Chidimma Okpara, junior Emma Sun, and freshman Morgan Shaffer. (Shaffer is a three-star recruit out of Orange, CA, so she was roughly the #150 player in her class, so she's effectively a practice player.) Houghton is definitely the first up out of that group, and Shaffer definitely last, but I don't have strong preferences between Sun or Okpara.
But the main story is that we're very strong up top and our top 6 can go toe to toe with anyone, but we don't have the same kind of depth we've had in the past if there's an injury or other absence in the top six. Houghton won't embarrass you at 6, but she won't be the kind of dominant force there that Xu would be.
RE: Women's Tennis: Spring 2025 - ColoradoTree - 01-06-2025
Here's the spring schedule (using today's updated rankings for the top 25, but last year's season-ending rankings beyond that):
Jan. 16: vs. UC Davis
Jan. 24: vs. #51 Memphis (ITA Kickoff Weekend)
Jan. 25: vs. either #44 Ole Miss or #49 Utah
Feb. 7-11: ITA Indoor Nationals
Feb. 26: vs. St. Mary's
Feb. 28: vs. #52 UCSB
Mar. 7: vs. #62 Syracuse
Mar. 9: vs. Boston College
Mar. 14: vs. #34 SMU
Mar. 15: vs. #13 Cal
Mar. 21: at Virginia Tech
Mar. 23: at #9 Virginia
Mar. 28: at #23 Miami
Mar. 30: at #24 Florida State
Apr. 4: vs. #6 UNC
Apr. 5: vs. #11 Duke
Apr. 11: at #43 Wake Forest
Apr. 13: at #14 N.C. State
Apr. 15-20: ACC Championships (Cary, NC)
May 15-18: NCAA Team Championships
So, our annual non-conference matches with Texas and Pepperdine fall by the wayside, as our increased ACC load means fewer dates we can fit in non-conference opponents. Glad we get UNC and Duke at home--not looking forward to that particular road trip in future years....
Of note, when this schedule was originally announced, we had kept our UCLA match as a non-conference tilt on February 22, but now that match has disappeared. (On UCLA's schedule, it has been replaced by a road match at SDSU, with a road match at USD the following day.)
Of note, the ACC teams not on our schedule are #25 Georgia Tech, #32 Notre Dame, #56 Clemson, and unranked Louisville, going by the season-ending rankings. There is potentially room that weekend of Feb. 22-23 for another couple of home matches, and we've also got just the one match the following weekend when we play UCSB on the Friday. (UCLA has that weekend of Mar 1-2 open; USC could play that Sunday. But there's probably not enough goodwill to schedule those.) But it'll be a tougher schedule on average, especially with another couple of good matches in the ACC tournament and at Indoor Nationals.
I bet Eleana Yu has April 5 circled. I bet we do, too.
A quick note on Yu: I've said it before and I'll say it again, Yu should have played #6 over Xu last season, though her play didn't merit playing her any higher than that, and it was hardly criminal to decide on Xu over Yu there. Keeping her mostly on the bench sure looks like a mistake in hindsight, though. Not sure where the lineup shakes out, but I'd love to watch a Xu-Yu match.
RE: Women's Tennis: Spring 2025 - TheFarm07 - 01-06-2025
Thank you as always ColoradoTree for your insight.
Have you gotten a chance to evaluate the field this season? You mentioned our current starting lineup is national title-worthy but would you say we are one of the top favorites or are the two teams ahead of us (Georgia and Texas A&M) in the rankings better? Are there multiple contenders or a clear favorite this year? Or is it too early to tell?
RE: Women's Tennis: Spring 2025 - BobK - 01-08-2025
Blokhina who is going pro is no longer on the roster.
Sasha is still on the roster
RE: Women's Tennis: Spring 2025 - ColoradoTree - 01-08-2025
(01-06-2025, 07:07 PM)TheFarm07 Wrote: Thank you as always ColoradoTree for your insight.
Have you gotten a chance to evaluate the field this season? You mentioned our current starting lineup is national title-worthy but would you say we are one of the top favorites or are the two teams ahead of us (Georgia and Texas A&M) in the rankings better? Are there multiple contenders or a clear favorite this year? Or is it too early to tell?
Our lack of depth makes me really nervous. We don't really go seven deep like we have in the past. The drop-off from Xu to Houghton is substantial, and it takes Court 6 and changes it from a line we should dominate to one that is a coin flip against even middling opponents.
So, in that sense, I'd need to wait and see how our lineup looks.
To that point, I just checked the roster, and Blokhina is no longer on it. Neither is Houghton. Driscoll has been added.
Houghton has a recent instagram post that notes a new apparel sponsor, L'Etoile Sport, suggesting that she has turned pro.
Nothing similar from Blokhina, but having seen nothing about a potential transfer, and given the number of ITF tournaments she played in the summer and fall, my assumption is that she is also turning pro.
Houghton gave us four and a half years, and while she never turned into the player we anticipated when she was such a highly-touted recruit, maybe she'll have her time in the sun on the tour. Best of luck to her!
As to Blokhina, leaving after two seasons of college tennis when you didn't crack the top half of the lineup seems shortsighted. She had a great fall, sure, but it also showed she still wasn't one of our top three (when Yepifanova is healthy). And even on Court 4, she didn't perform as well as I would've expected, given her background. She still did pretty well, mind you, but she often struggled to finish off lesser players, she took some surprising losses, and she didn't overpower players she should have. She played hard for the school we all love, so I'll always be grateful for that, but I find this decision very puzzling. I don't think she's ready. She could certainly prove me wrong! But I just don't see it.
In any event, it's a gut punch to our prospects this spring.
1. Glozman
2. Ma
3. Yepifanova
4. Hui
5. Xu
6. TBD
The top five themselves are fine in those spots, but do we play Driscoll at 6? Just like the drop-off from Xu to Houghton was considerable, the drop-off from Houghton to Okpara or Sun is similarly considerable. And this presumes Yepifanova's health, which as I said above, we shouldn't be doing. We could be talking about having both Sun and Okpara in the lineup.
Eleana Yu, if you'd just had a little patience, you would have had a firm place in the top 6 after all....
Anyway, with this lineup, #3 in the country seems way too high. We're going to need to see considerable dominance from our top 5 against some good teams before I reconsider that.
RE: Women's Tennis: Spring 2025 - Jamesy - 01-08-2025
(01-08-2025, 12:00 PM)ColoradoTree Wrote:(01-06-2025, 07:07 PM)TheFarm07 Wrote: Thank you as always ColoradoTree for your insight.
Have you gotten a chance to evaluate the field this season? You mentioned our current starting lineup is national title-worthy but would you say we are one of the top favorites or are the two teams ahead of us (Georgia and Texas A&M) in the rankings better? Are there multiple contenders or a clear favorite this year? Or is it too early to tell?
Our lack of depth makes me really nervous. We don't really go seven deep like we have in the past. The drop-off from Xu to Houghton is substantial, and it takes Court 6 and changes it from a line we should dominate to one that is a coin flip against even middling opponents.
So, in that sense, I'd need to wait and see how our lineup looks.
To that point, I just checked the roster, and Blokhina is no longer on it. Neither is Houghton. Driscoll has been added.
Houghton has a recent instagram post that notes a new apparel sponsor, L'Etoile Sport, suggesting that she has turned pro.
Nothing similar from Blokhina, but having seen nothing about a potential transfer, and given the number of ITF tournaments she played in the summer and fall, my assumption is that she is also turning pro.
Houghton gave us four and a half years, and while she never turned into the player we anticipated when she was such a highly-touted recruit, maybe she'll have her time in the sun on the tour. Best of luck to her!
As to Blokhina, leaving after two seasons of college tennis when you didn't crack the top half of the lineup seems shortsighted. She had a great fall, sure, but it also showed she still wasn't one of our top three (when Yepifanova is healthy). And even on Court 4, she didn't perform as well as I would've expected, given her background. She still did pretty well, mind you, but she often struggled to finish off lesser players, she took some surprising losses, and she didn't overpower players she should have. She played hard for the school we all love, so I'll always be grateful for that, but I find this decision very puzzling. I don't think she's ready. She could certainly prove me wrong! But I just don't see it.
In any event, it's a gut punch to our prospects this spring.
1. Glozman
2. Ma
3. Yepifanova
4. Hui
5. Xu
6. TBD
The top five themselves are fine in those spots, but do we play Driscoll at 6? Just like the drop-off from Xu to Houghton was considerable, the drop-off from Houghton to Okpara or Sun is similarly considerable. And this presumes Yepifanova's health, which as I said above, we shouldn't be doing. We could be talking about having both Sun and Okpara in the lineup.
Eleana Yu, if you'd just had a little patience, you would have had a firm place in the top 6 after all....
Anyway, with this lineup, #3 in the country seems way too high. We're going to need to see considerable dominance from our top 5 against some good teams before I reconsider that.
Yepifanova won't be playing this season.
RE: Women's Tennis: Spring 2025 - ColoradoTree - 01-08-2025
Yeah, if Yepifanova isn't playing this season, we're pretty well cooked. Heck, if Yu had stayed, she could be playing #4 in this lineup!
RE: Women's Tennis: Spring 2025 - VB Card - 01-08-2025
On the men's side, Nishesh Basavareddy is into the semis of the Auckland 250 after coming through qualies in this second ever ATP Tournament. He could be into the world top 100 as soon as Monday. He also has received a wild card into the Australian Open main draw. Former Cardinal Tristan Boyer plays Chris Eubanks later this evening in the final round of the Aussie Open qualifiers. Big things happening for a couple former Stanford players.
RE: Women's Tennis: Spring 2025 - TheFarm07 - 01-08-2025
(01-08-2025, 06:13 PM)VB Card Wrote: On the men's side, Nishesh Basavareddy is into the semis of the Auckland 250 after coming through qualies in this second ever ATP Tournament. He could be into the world top 100 as soon as Monday. He also has received a wild card into the Australian Open main draw. Former Cardinal Tristan Boyer plays Chris Eubanks later this evening in the final round of the Aussie Open qualifiers. Big things happening for a couple former Stanford players.
And Basavareddy draws Djokovic in the 1st round
RE: Women's Tennis: Spring 2025 - Spiny_Norman - 01-17-2025
Stanford won its first match of 2025 (and Frankie Brennan's first win as head coach) over UC Davis 7-0. However Hui and Yepifanova did not play.
https://gostanford.com/news/2025/01/16/sweep-to-start-wten-011625
RE: Women's Tennis: Spring 2025 - oldalum - 01-17-2025
(01-08-2025, 09:50 PM)TheFarm07 Wrote: And Basavareddy draws Djokovic in the 1st roundHe actually won the first set. That must have been exciting!
RE: Women's Tennis: Spring 2025 - Jamesy - 01-22-2025
On latest treecast, Frankie says that Yefupanova might be back in March or April. That is great news and definitely an encouraging update from what I heard previously.
RE: Women's Tennis: Spring 2025 - oldalum - 01-22-2025
he also said Driscoll wants to play this season but is awaiting some NCAA ruling on whether some tournament she played in will have some adverse effect on her eligibility. My take on his tone on Yepifanova, though, was that they're hoping for a March-April return for Yepifanova, but it was unlikely.
Either way, we're a much weakened team by the 2 departures.
RE: Women's Tennis: Spring 2025 - ColoradoTree - 01-23-2025
If Yepifanova is back for NCAAs, we might have something. A top 6 of Glozman, Ma, Yepifanova, Hui, Xu, and Okpara ain't too bad.
As it is, the order of the singles lineup against UC Davis is interesting. The top three of Glozman, Ma, and Xu are not surprising, but the bottom three of Okpara, Shaffer, and Sun is informative in terms of the pecking order.
That Glozman and Ma won easily (Glozman 6-0, 6-0; Ma 6-1, 6-1) is not surprising. That nearly everyone else struggled to win is. Shaffer was the only other player to book a straight sets win on Court 5, so kudos to the freshman there. But Xu dropped a set? So did Okpara? And Sun?
7-0 looks all well and good, but when you needed three match tiebreakers to go your way to get there, that's rough.
RE: Women's Tennis: Spring 2025 - ColoradoTree - 01-24-2025
Normally, there's no suspense with ITA Kick-Off Weekend, because we know we'll smoke whoever we play. But with all the injuries we have, that's not the case! It's not a foregone conclusion that we qualify for Indoor Nationals, so we'll see how it goes today versus Memphis.
Of note, we see the spring debuts of Katherine Hui and Caroline Driscoll, with those two pairing together on the #3 doubles court, with Glozman/Ma at 1 and Okpara/Xu at 2. Unclear whether Hui will play in singles, given how Frankie described her limitations in that TreeCast episode, but we'll see what the singles lineup looks like! No live streaming or scoring with the matches being out at Campus West due to ongoing construction.
Stanford takes the doubles point behind 6-1 wins on the top two courts (Driscoll/Hui were up 5-2). We'll see how they line up in singles shortly....
It'll be like this:
1. Glozman
2. Ma
3. Xu
4. Okpara
5. Driscoll
6. Shaffer
So, Hui's return is doubles-specific.
RE: Women's Tennis: Spring 2025 - GK3 - 01-24-2025
(01-24-2025, 03:11 PM)ColoradoTree Wrote: Normally, there's no suspense with ITA Kick-Off Weekend, because we know we'll smoke whoever we play. But with all the injuries we have, that's not the case! It's not a foregone conclusion that we qualify for Indoor Nationals, so we'll see how it goes today versus Memphis.So are Doubles going to be a positive this year?-
Of note, we see the spring debuts of Katherine Hui and Caroline Driscoll, with those two pairing together on the #3 doubles court, with Glozman/Ma at 1 and Okpara/Xu at 2. Unclear whether Hui will play in singles, given how Frankie described her limitations in that TreeCast episode, but we'll see what the singles lineup looks like! No live streaming or scoring with the matches being out at Campus West due to ongoing construction.
Stanford takes the doubles point behind 6-1 wins on the top two courts (Driscoll/Hui were up 5-2). We'll see how they line up in singles shortly....
It'll be like this:
1. Glozman
2. Ma
3. Xu
4. Okpara
5. Driscoll
6. Shaffer
So, Hui's return is doubles-specific.
RE: Women's Tennis: Spring 2025 - Jamesy - 01-24-2025
(01-24-2025, 07:00 PM)GK3 Wrote:(01-24-2025, 03:11 PM)ColoradoTree Wrote: Normally, there's no suspense with ITA Kick-Off Weekend, because we know we'll smoke whoever we play. But with all the injuries we have, that's not the case! It's not a foregone conclusion that we qualify for Indoor Nationals, so we'll see how it goes today versus Memphis.So are Doubles going to be a positive this year?-
Of note, we see the spring debuts of Katherine Hui and Caroline Driscoll, with those two pairing together on the #3 doubles court, with Glozman/Ma at 1 and Okpara/Xu at 2. Unclear whether Hui will play in singles, given how Frankie described her limitations in that TreeCast episode, but we'll see what the singles lineup looks like! No live streaming or scoring with the matches being out at Campus West due to ongoing construction.
Stanford takes the doubles point behind 6-1 wins on the top two courts (Driscoll/Hui were up 5-2). We'll see how they line up in singles shortly....
It'll be like this:
1. Glozman
2. Ma
3. Xu
4. Okpara
5. Driscoll
6. Shaffer
So, Hui's return is doubles-specific.
Too early to say. Opponents have not been good. Our #1 doubles should be able to compete with anyone. TBD on #2 and 3.
RE: Women's Tennis: Spring 2025 - Spiny_Norman - 01-24-2025
Stanford sweeps.
Glozman 6-1, 6-1
Ma 6-2, 6-0
Xu 6-3, 5-2 unf.
Okpara 6-4, 3-1 unf.
Driscoll 6-1, 6-0
Shaffer 2-6, 3-3 unf.
Ole Miss tomorrow at 1 pm.
RE: Women's Tennis: Spring 2025 - Spiny_Norman - 01-25-2025
Stanford lost the doubles point to Ole Miss. They are playing singles now.
Of note, Katherine Hui is playing her first singles match of the year. She is at #3. Xu drops to 4, Okpara to 5 and Driscoll to 6.
RE: Women's Tennis: Spring 2025 - Spiny_Norman - 01-25-2025
Stanford wins 4-2 to advance to ITA Indoor Nationals
Singles scores:
Ma 6-0, 6-0
Glozman 6-2, 6-3
Hui 6-3, 6-4
Xu 6-3, 4-6, 3-2 unf.
Okpara 4-6, 5-7
Driscoll 7-5, 4-6, 6-1 (clincher)