10-14-2019, 10:50 AM
The ITA All-American Championships came and went in Tulsa without any Stanford women present (the men's team did go), and we still don't know why. But for the third straight tournament, Pepperdine's Ashley Lahey took the crown, this time beating UNC's Alexa Graham in the final. She's on quite the run of form, and while I'm bummed we don't appear to be playing Pepperdine this year (our schedule isn't out yet, but theirs is, and we're not on it), I don't relish the prospect of going up against them, either.
So, the next time Stanford will be in action is the ITA Northwest Regional Championships, held this weekend on our very own campus, welcoming players from Cal, UW, Wazzu, and Oregon, in addition to a host of other schools on the west coast (Gonzaga, San Jose State, Santa Clara, St. Mary's, Fresno State, Cal Poly, UC Davis, USF, Portland, Portland State, UOP, Sac State, Eastern Washington, and Seattle). The singles finalists qualify for ITA Fall Nationals in November, and so does the doubles champion.
Last year, Michaela Gordon won the singles tournament as the #2 seed, defeating Caroline Lampl in the final, sending both to Fall Nationals along with the impromptu doubles pairing of Niluka Madurawe and Kimberly Yee. From last year, we lose the #1 seed (UW's Stacey Fung), #3 (Melissa Lord), #8 (Cal's Olivia Hauger), and three #9 seeds (Carolina Lampl and Oregon's Shweta Sangwan and Daniela Nasser). We don't yet have the seeds for this year's tournament, but expect Gordon to be the top seed and the rest of our anticipated singles lineup to have a seed of one sort of another.
While we don't have seeds or draws yet, we do have confirmed appearances and doubles teams. Interestingly, Gordon is paired with Janice Shin, while Emily Arbuthnott is paired with freshman Angelica Blake. While it's odd to see what's been a successful doubles team be broken up, it's consistent with past practice under Lele. We often see an older player paired with a younger one, so matching a senior (Arbuthnott) with a freshman (Blake) makes a lot of sense. Stanford loses two singles players from last year's team, but three of six doubles players, so there is a need to find some balance. Shin has played some doubles, but Lele preferred to pair Melissa Lord with Madurawe last year. Madurawe and Choy make up the final doubles pairing, as neither Emma Higuchi nor Nicole Mossmer is entered in the doubles tournament. I found that odd, since this is a time to try and develop whatever doubles chemistry you can, and while Emma Higuchi hasn't played much doubles for us since her freshman year (when she had good success pairing with Caroline Lampl), you'd still expect to see them out there. But then I looked at the singles entrants, and neither Higuchi nor Mossmer was there, either. Both are on the roster, so I'm assuming this is injury-related caution in both cases, but it's worrisome not knowing.
We've got plenty of time before spring, so plenty of time to heal. But given the dearth of opportunities available to the 7th and 8th players in the lineup in match play, this would have been a useful time for Mossmer to get some collegiate match play under her belt.
In other news, Wazzu's Michaela Bayerlova, ranked #27, isn't scheduled to appear, though several of her teammates are. But aside from Bayerlova and Higuchi, the likely seeds are intending to appear.
So, the next time Stanford will be in action is the ITA Northwest Regional Championships, held this weekend on our very own campus, welcoming players from Cal, UW, Wazzu, and Oregon, in addition to a host of other schools on the west coast (Gonzaga, San Jose State, Santa Clara, St. Mary's, Fresno State, Cal Poly, UC Davis, USF, Portland, Portland State, UOP, Sac State, Eastern Washington, and Seattle). The singles finalists qualify for ITA Fall Nationals in November, and so does the doubles champion.
Last year, Michaela Gordon won the singles tournament as the #2 seed, defeating Caroline Lampl in the final, sending both to Fall Nationals along with the impromptu doubles pairing of Niluka Madurawe and Kimberly Yee. From last year, we lose the #1 seed (UW's Stacey Fung), #3 (Melissa Lord), #8 (Cal's Olivia Hauger), and three #9 seeds (Carolina Lampl and Oregon's Shweta Sangwan and Daniela Nasser). We don't yet have the seeds for this year's tournament, but expect Gordon to be the top seed and the rest of our anticipated singles lineup to have a seed of one sort of another.
While we don't have seeds or draws yet, we do have confirmed appearances and doubles teams. Interestingly, Gordon is paired with Janice Shin, while Emily Arbuthnott is paired with freshman Angelica Blake. While it's odd to see what's been a successful doubles team be broken up, it's consistent with past practice under Lele. We often see an older player paired with a younger one, so matching a senior (Arbuthnott) with a freshman (Blake) makes a lot of sense. Stanford loses two singles players from last year's team, but three of six doubles players, so there is a need to find some balance. Shin has played some doubles, but Lele preferred to pair Melissa Lord with Madurawe last year. Madurawe and Choy make up the final doubles pairing, as neither Emma Higuchi nor Nicole Mossmer is entered in the doubles tournament. I found that odd, since this is a time to try and develop whatever doubles chemistry you can, and while Emma Higuchi hasn't played much doubles for us since her freshman year (when she had good success pairing with Caroline Lampl), you'd still expect to see them out there. But then I looked at the singles entrants, and neither Higuchi nor Mossmer was there, either. Both are on the roster, so I'm assuming this is injury-related caution in both cases, but it's worrisome not knowing.
We've got plenty of time before spring, so plenty of time to heal. But given the dearth of opportunities available to the 7th and 8th players in the lineup in match play, this would have been a useful time for Mossmer to get some collegiate match play under her belt.
In other news, Wazzu's Michaela Bayerlova, ranked #27, isn't scheduled to appear, though several of her teammates are. But aside from Bayerlova and Higuchi, the likely seeds are intending to appear.