05-10-2021, 08:44 AM
OK, so, that was a bummer. We weren't going to win a national championship this year, but I still felt we were a Top 10 team, talent-wise (and UTR agrees with me, as we were something like the 8th-ranked team in terms of team UTR in the NCAA field). And a top 10 team ought to be in the final 16. I don't care what sport it is, it's just hard to beat the #5 team on their home courts.
* I'm so proud of Emma Higuchi, you guys. I didn't think she'd play much at all this year, given how it looked like she'd be leapfrogged by the freshmen, but not only did she stay in the lineup, she held it down. Just a terrific result yesterday.
* Ashley Lahey was the preseason #1 player for a reason, and if you're frustrated at Michaela Gordon for falling short against her, please don't be. Gordon matched her shot for shot until the very end, and it was a worthy heavyweight bout.
* Same goes for Angelica Blake. She played a top-20 player on her home courts and she forced a third set before falling short. I had chalked this match up as a near-certain loss, and Blake made it a match. That bodes well for the future.
* Sara Choy, again, fought tooth and nail against Pepperdine. She's got grit, and I'm glad she's on our team.
* It's Emily Arbuthnott who warrants some of that scrutiny. Playing down a line from last time, giving her a better chance to win than last time, she basically didn't show up. Just a nightmare finish to her career.
* Geller lost and I figured she'd lose, as Fukuda was a longtime #1 for a good team in Ohio State before spending this year as a grad transfer and making Pepperdine into something of a superteam. And she showed good fight in that second set, even though she couldn't force a third.
All in all, Pepperdine is a more talented team than we are, and we still nearly beat them on their home courts. I gave Pepperdine a clear edge at 2 and 4, a solid edge at 1, and a toss-up/Stanford lean on 3, 5, and 6 (at least, based on talent--Arbuthnott's form this year turned that court from a solid Stanford edge to a toss-up). We needed everything to go right for us, and it very nearly did. For a brief moment there, it was easy to see us getting a third point from Gordon and the clincher from Choy, but it wasn't to be.
So, thus concludes what has to be seen, results-wise, as the worst season in Stanford women's tennis history. It was the first time Stanford wasn't seeded in the postseason, the first time they didn't host the first two rounds, and the first time they didn't make the sweet 16. (To rub salt in the wound, UCLA, Cal, and USC all advanced, with USC pulling the upset to get there.)
Next is NCAA singles/doubles in a couple of weeks. I'm curious to see whether Gordon expresses an intent to return or whether she'll move on after graduating. With Shin plummeting to the bottom of the lineup, while Shin could technically come back for a fifth scholarship year due to covid, I'd be surprised if she did if she weren't going to play. (And with the firepower coming in, she's not going to play.)
I'll do a full preview for next year once we have a better sense of what the roster will look like, but here's what the roster could look like:
Fifth year: Gordon
Seniors: Choy and Madurawe
Juniors: Blake and Mossmer (maybe, if she doesn't medically retire)
Sophomores: Geller and Houghton
Freshmen: Connie Ma and Alexandra Yepifanova (and also maybe Valencia Xu, who is still showing as committed to Stanford even though she hasn't signed a NLI, presumably because we'd be at our scholarship max without her)
If Gordon returns, I don't know how Lele sorts out that lineup. She and Blake play, obviously. Geller plays. You can't leave out Ma and Yepifanova--they're the two best seniors in the country! Do you really leave off Houghton or Choy? This is where the fall season will be invaluable, getting good-quality tournament matches to see what our pecking order is.
* I'm so proud of Emma Higuchi, you guys. I didn't think she'd play much at all this year, given how it looked like she'd be leapfrogged by the freshmen, but not only did she stay in the lineup, she held it down. Just a terrific result yesterday.
* Ashley Lahey was the preseason #1 player for a reason, and if you're frustrated at Michaela Gordon for falling short against her, please don't be. Gordon matched her shot for shot until the very end, and it was a worthy heavyweight bout.
* Same goes for Angelica Blake. She played a top-20 player on her home courts and she forced a third set before falling short. I had chalked this match up as a near-certain loss, and Blake made it a match. That bodes well for the future.
* Sara Choy, again, fought tooth and nail against Pepperdine. She's got grit, and I'm glad she's on our team.
* It's Emily Arbuthnott who warrants some of that scrutiny. Playing down a line from last time, giving her a better chance to win than last time, she basically didn't show up. Just a nightmare finish to her career.
* Geller lost and I figured she'd lose, as Fukuda was a longtime #1 for a good team in Ohio State before spending this year as a grad transfer and making Pepperdine into something of a superteam. And she showed good fight in that second set, even though she couldn't force a third.
All in all, Pepperdine is a more talented team than we are, and we still nearly beat them on their home courts. I gave Pepperdine a clear edge at 2 and 4, a solid edge at 1, and a toss-up/Stanford lean on 3, 5, and 6 (at least, based on talent--Arbuthnott's form this year turned that court from a solid Stanford edge to a toss-up). We needed everything to go right for us, and it very nearly did. For a brief moment there, it was easy to see us getting a third point from Gordon and the clincher from Choy, but it wasn't to be.
So, thus concludes what has to be seen, results-wise, as the worst season in Stanford women's tennis history. It was the first time Stanford wasn't seeded in the postseason, the first time they didn't host the first two rounds, and the first time they didn't make the sweet 16. (To rub salt in the wound, UCLA, Cal, and USC all advanced, with USC pulling the upset to get there.)
Next is NCAA singles/doubles in a couple of weeks. I'm curious to see whether Gordon expresses an intent to return or whether she'll move on after graduating. With Shin plummeting to the bottom of the lineup, while Shin could technically come back for a fifth scholarship year due to covid, I'd be surprised if she did if she weren't going to play. (And with the firepower coming in, she's not going to play.)
I'll do a full preview for next year once we have a better sense of what the roster will look like, but here's what the roster could look like:
Fifth year: Gordon
Seniors: Choy and Madurawe
Juniors: Blake and Mossmer (maybe, if she doesn't medically retire)
Sophomores: Geller and Houghton
Freshmen: Connie Ma and Alexandra Yepifanova (and also maybe Valencia Xu, who is still showing as committed to Stanford even though she hasn't signed a NLI, presumably because we'd be at our scholarship max without her)
If Gordon returns, I don't know how Lele sorts out that lineup. She and Blake play, obviously. Geller plays. You can't leave out Ma and Yepifanova--they're the two best seniors in the country! Do you really leave off Houghton or Choy? This is where the fall season will be invaluable, getting good-quality tournament matches to see what our pecking order is.