03-03-2020, 12:33 PM
(This post was last modified: 03-03-2020, 12:39 PM by ColoradoTree.)
#9 Stanford kicks off an important week of tennis with something of a warm-up today, St. Mary's, at 3:00pm. Then it's #37 USC at home on Friday at 1:30pm, and #3 UCLA at home on Saturday at noon.
St. Mary's
The Gaels are 6-3, with wins over bad teams (including Oregon), and losses to USC, UCLA, and Long Beach State. But they have one major weapon, #21 Mariia Kozyreva. While everyone on Courts 2-6 should be favored, expect a tight match on Court 1. Should be excellent tennis between Gordon and Kozyreva today.
USC
USC (7-4) started the season with high expectations but got upset by Princeton and didn't get out of ITA Kick-Off Weekend. After a few straightforward wins over lesser California teams, they had a big chance in Orlando at the USTA National Campus against Notre Dame, but lost 4-3, without #1 player Salma Ewing in the lineup. Then another few wins over lesser teams, before a road loss to San Diego and a home loss to UCLA. That UCLA match wasn't entirely lopsided, though. UCLA took doubles and got straightforward wins at #1 and #3 to go up 3-0 before USC's Ana Neffa beat Annette Goulak on Court 5, with the remaining three matches in third sets. USC lost on Court 6 to clinch the match for UCLA and give them a 4-1 lead, but USC's Cayetano beat Abbey Forbes on Court 2 to make it 4-2 before Abi Altick beat USC's Danielle Willson for the final 5-2 margin.
UCLA
UCLA is really good and they've shown it all year. Not only did they beat Stanford 4-0 at Indoor Nationals, they thrashed Florida State by the same score, and their only loss is to #1 UNC. After Indoor Nationals, they beat Cal 7-0, USC 5-2, and Pepperdine 4-3. The Pepperdine match showed what Pepperdine was capable of (beating UCLA on Courts 1, 5 (due to an injury withdrawal after a second-set tiebreaker pushed it to a third), and 6), but UCLA won behind the doubles point, Forbes on Court 2, Hart on Court 3, and Altick on Court 4.
Right now, UCLA is better than Stanford is. That's not a knock, that's just fact. That said, playing outdoors and at home is better than playing indoors in Chicago. I think it is highly unlikely that Stanford loses 4-0 again. We might still lose, but I expect this one to be competitive.
Predictions:
I'll say we beat St. Mary's 4-0 (though 6-1 if it's played out wouldn't surprise me), USC 4-1 (with Shin losing on #4), and that we lose 4-3 to UCLA, with UCLA winning the doubles point and getting singles wins on Courts 2, 3, and 4. I like Michaela to bounce back and beat Bolton at home, and for Higuchi and Choy to win close matches, but I don't think it's enough in the end. Happy to be wrong, of course, but we don't quite measure up in doubles. And while Blake has been amazing on Court 3, beating a player like Jada Hart is probably too big of an ask for the freshman.
How to watch: http://streamingtennis.com/Cardinal/?DB_OEM_ID=30600
FYI, the new singles rankings are out:
12. Gordon (down from 9)
97. Shin (up from 115, somehow)
117. Blake (down from 111)
121. Arbuthnott (down from 66)
UCLA has four ranked singles players: #8 Forbes, #9 Bolton, #17 Hart, and #113 Vagramov. USC has two: #27 Kulikov and #44 Cayetano. St. Mary's just has Kozyreva.
In doubles, UCLA has just one ranked team, but it's #1 Bolton/Hart. That's surprising, because UCLA's depth in doubles is outstanding. USC has two teams, but because Kulikov is on both, they'll only have one ranked duo in the lineup: #16 Kulikov/Cayetano and #34 Kulikov/Willson. For our part, Stanford has #19 Arbuthnott/Blake and #43 Choy/Higuchi.
St. Mary's
The Gaels are 6-3, with wins over bad teams (including Oregon), and losses to USC, UCLA, and Long Beach State. But they have one major weapon, #21 Mariia Kozyreva. While everyone on Courts 2-6 should be favored, expect a tight match on Court 1. Should be excellent tennis between Gordon and Kozyreva today.
USC
USC (7-4) started the season with high expectations but got upset by Princeton and didn't get out of ITA Kick-Off Weekend. After a few straightforward wins over lesser California teams, they had a big chance in Orlando at the USTA National Campus against Notre Dame, but lost 4-3, without #1 player Salma Ewing in the lineup. Then another few wins over lesser teams, before a road loss to San Diego and a home loss to UCLA. That UCLA match wasn't entirely lopsided, though. UCLA took doubles and got straightforward wins at #1 and #3 to go up 3-0 before USC's Ana Neffa beat Annette Goulak on Court 5, with the remaining three matches in third sets. USC lost on Court 6 to clinch the match for UCLA and give them a 4-1 lead, but USC's Cayetano beat Abbey Forbes on Court 2 to make it 4-2 before Abi Altick beat USC's Danielle Willson for the final 5-2 margin.
UCLA
UCLA is really good and they've shown it all year. Not only did they beat Stanford 4-0 at Indoor Nationals, they thrashed Florida State by the same score, and their only loss is to #1 UNC. After Indoor Nationals, they beat Cal 7-0, USC 5-2, and Pepperdine 4-3. The Pepperdine match showed what Pepperdine was capable of (beating UCLA on Courts 1, 5 (due to an injury withdrawal after a second-set tiebreaker pushed it to a third), and 6), but UCLA won behind the doubles point, Forbes on Court 2, Hart on Court 3, and Altick on Court 4.
Right now, UCLA is better than Stanford is. That's not a knock, that's just fact. That said, playing outdoors and at home is better than playing indoors in Chicago. I think it is highly unlikely that Stanford loses 4-0 again. We might still lose, but I expect this one to be competitive.
Predictions:
I'll say we beat St. Mary's 4-0 (though 6-1 if it's played out wouldn't surprise me), USC 4-1 (with Shin losing on #4), and that we lose 4-3 to UCLA, with UCLA winning the doubles point and getting singles wins on Courts 2, 3, and 4. I like Michaela to bounce back and beat Bolton at home, and for Higuchi and Choy to win close matches, but I don't think it's enough in the end. Happy to be wrong, of course, but we don't quite measure up in doubles. And while Blake has been amazing on Court 3, beating a player like Jada Hart is probably too big of an ask for the freshman.
How to watch: http://streamingtennis.com/Cardinal/?DB_OEM_ID=30600
FYI, the new singles rankings are out:
12. Gordon (down from 9)
97. Shin (up from 115, somehow)
117. Blake (down from 111)
121. Arbuthnott (down from 66)
UCLA has four ranked singles players: #8 Forbes, #9 Bolton, #17 Hart, and #113 Vagramov. USC has two: #27 Kulikov and #44 Cayetano. St. Mary's just has Kozyreva.
In doubles, UCLA has just one ranked team, but it's #1 Bolton/Hart. That's surprising, because UCLA's depth in doubles is outstanding. USC has two teams, but because Kulikov is on both, they'll only have one ranked duo in the lineup: #16 Kulikov/Cayetano and #34 Kulikov/Willson. For our part, Stanford has #19 Arbuthnott/Blake and #43 Choy/Higuchi.