[ColoradoTree]

A little preview of the semifinal match vs. Ohio State.

One other interesting comparison between Ohio State and Stanford that I forgot to mention is experience.  Ohio State plays seniors at the #3, #4, #5, and #6 courts.  (Di Lorenzo, OSU's #1, is a sophomore, and Sanford, the #2, is a junior.)  Stanford plays just two seniors, Doyle at #1 and Davidson at #3.  But as Stanford showed last year and is showing this year, relying on freshmen to lock down the back courts can work out just fine. 

Of course, there is experience and there is experience. This is Ohio State's first semifinal appearance in women's tennis.  It is Stanford's thirty-first (to go along with 18 NCAA titles since the NCAA started sanctioning the sport in 1982).  18 titles and 31 semifinal appearances in 36 years of sanctioning to date is just laughable.  So, while Ohio State may have more seasoned individual players, our players have been there before.  Everyone except for Higuchi and Arbuthnott have won a national title, and our freshmen sure don't seem scared of the moment. 

I mean, I know how good Stanford women's tennis is, and that statistic still shocks me.  They've made the semis 31 out of 36 times.  Tough to adequately capture that dominance in words. 

[ColoradoTree]

A little preview of the semifinal match vs. Ohio State.

One other interesting comparison between Ohio State and Stanford that I forgot to mention is experience.  Ohio State plays seniors at the #3, #4, #5, and #6 courts.  (Di Lorenzo, OSU's #1, is a sophomore, and Sanford, the #2, is a junior.)  Stanford plays just two seniors, Doyle at #1 and Davidson at #3.  But as Stanford showed last year and is showing this year, relying on freshmen to lock down the back courts can work out just fine. 

Of course, there is experience and there is experience. This is Ohio State's first semifinal appearance in women's tennis.  It is Stanford's thirty-first (to go along with 18 NCAA titles since the NCAA started sanctioning the sport in 1982).  18 titles and 31 semifinal appearances in 36 years of sanctioning to date is just laughable.  So, while Ohio State may have more seasoned individual players, our players have been there before.  Everyone except for Higuchi and Arbuthnott have won a national title, and our freshmen sure don't seem scared of the moment. 

I mean, I know how good Stanford women's tennis is, and that statistic still shocks me.  They've made the semis 31 out of 36 times.  Tough to adequately capture that dominance in words.