[ColoradoTree]

Who is a bigger get - Ma or Yu?

Great question! Ma was the no-doubt top recruit of the class, it was a deep class of elite players anyway that year, and there was a chance coming in that she could supplant Gordon at 1 (this was when we thought Gordon might be coming back for the whole year). Yu isn't quite at that level. That's nothing to be ashamed of, and she's got a heck of a resume in her own right, and she's not THAT far off. But the answer is Ma. 

Let's say all players on the current roster came in as freshmen the same year, we know nothing about their subsequent performance/development, and so we're really just looking at the "recruiting win" aspect of it. I think the recruiting rankings pecking order would have been like this:

1. Ma
2. Yepifanova
3. Yu
4. Houghton
5. Blokhina
6. Xu
7. Geller
8. Blake
9. Choy
10. Sun

But that's making some fine distinctions, and it probably would've been really close between Yepifanova and Yu. Ma is the best freshman we've had in a long time. Yu should make the middle of our lineup look over their shoulders, though, for sure. Here's a guess at the singles lineup next year if Blake doesn't come back:

1. Ma
2. Yepifanova
3. Yu
4. Blokhina
5. Xu
6. Hui

Yep, two seniors on the bench. Geller should be in that mix, but injuries and fitness have been concerns. And if you'd told me when we signed her that a healthy India Houghton would be on the bench her senior year, no way I'd have believed you. She came in as an absolute beast of a recruit, with wins over players like Sarah Hamner (this year's preseason #2), Emma Jackson (#100), Elaine Chervinsky (#56), Carmen Corley (#22), etc. She was an elite, elite recruit. And it just hasn't translated so far for some reason. Hopefully this is the year when she takes a leap.

And not that it's of terribly great use to us now, but back in 2019, Yu beat Xu in three sets, lost to Yepifanova 0&4, and beat South Carolina's Hamner in three. That same year, she also beat now-UNC sophomore Carson Tanguilig in three sets, and ... drum roll ... Tanguilig will be Connie Ma's next opponent after Ma beat Gomez Alonso 6-4, 6-1. 

In consolation action, Yepifanova won her first set over Kuczer 6-4 but is down 0-4 in the second. Blake is down 1-5 in the first to UCLA's Hance. Wake up, Angelica!

FYI, 4th-seeded Madison Sieg withdrew with an injury after outlasting Blake yesterday, so Blake clearly pushed her to her limit. Injury withdrawals are pretty common in these fall tournaments, as the cost-benefit analysis just doesn't justify pushing through--potentially aggravating a minor injury in the NCAA tournament is one thing, but for matches that don't help your team win, it's quite another. (I have no idea what Sieg's injury is, just noting the norm for the record.) Smarter to just sit and rest something minor before it turns into something major.

[ColoradoTree]

Who is a bigger get - Ma or Yu?

Great question! Ma was the no-doubt top recruit of the class, it was a deep class of elite players anyway that year, and there was a chance coming in that she could supplant Gordon at 1 (this was when we thought Gordon might be coming back for the whole year). Yu isn't quite at that level. That's nothing to be ashamed of, and she's got a heck of a resume in her own right, and she's not THAT far off. But the answer is Ma. 

Let's say all players on the current roster came in as freshmen the same year, we know nothing about their subsequent performance/development, and so we're really just looking at the "recruiting win" aspect of it. I think the recruiting rankings pecking order would have been like this:

1. Ma
2. Yepifanova
3. Yu
4. Houghton
5. Blokhina
6. Xu
7. Geller
8. Blake
9. Choy
10. Sun

But that's making some fine distinctions, and it probably would've been really close between Yepifanova and Yu. Ma is the best freshman we've had in a long time. Yu should make the middle of our lineup look over their shoulders, though, for sure. Here's a guess at the singles lineup next year if Blake doesn't come back:

1. Ma
2. Yepifanova
3. Yu
4. Blokhina
5. Xu
6. Hui

Yep, two seniors on the bench. Geller should be in that mix, but injuries and fitness have been concerns. And if you'd told me when we signed her that a healthy India Houghton would be on the bench her senior year, no way I'd have believed you. She came in as an absolute beast of a recruit, with wins over players like Sarah Hamner (this year's preseason #2), Emma Jackson (#100), Elaine Chervinsky (#56), Carmen Corley (#22), etc. She was an elite, elite recruit. And it just hasn't translated so far for some reason. Hopefully this is the year when she takes a leap.

And not that it's of terribly great use to us now, but back in 2019, Yu beat Xu in three sets, lost to Yepifanova 0&4, and beat South Carolina's Hamner in three. That same year, she also beat now-UNC sophomore Carson Tanguilig in three sets, and ... drum roll ... Tanguilig will be Connie Ma's next opponent after Ma beat Gomez Alonso 6-4, 6-1. 

In consolation action, Yepifanova won her first set over Kuczer 6-4 but is down 0-4 in the second. Blake is down 1-5 in the first to UCLA's Hance. Wake up, Angelica!

FYI, 4th-seeded Madison Sieg withdrew with an injury after outlasting Blake yesterday, so Blake clearly pushed her to her limit. Injury withdrawals are pretty common in these fall tournaments, as the cost-benefit analysis just doesn't justify pushing through--potentially aggravating a minor injury in the NCAA tournament is one thing, but for matches that don't help your team win, it's quite another. (I have no idea what Sieg's injury is, just noting the norm for the record.) Smarter to just sit and rest something minor before it turns into something major.