05-05-2025, 01:04 PM
So, long time no see, folks! Can't say that I thought we'd be in this position of not just pulling off an upset against a higher seed to win the regional, but doing so pretty solidly. But that's a happy surprise for sure.
Some overall thoughts:
* Wait, we won doubles against a seeded team?
* Two absolutely dominant showings in singles from Ma and Driscoll. Caroline Driscoll has been a revelation, and she's got another year after this, too. She may not have been in the plans coming into the fall season, and I figured she was as good of a stopgap as we could get, but she's certainly made her case to be included next year.
* I don't think a team that rolls out Okpara at 6 (or Xu at 4) is a legitimate title contender, but this team has done a terrific job of responding to adversity and departures. Absent injuries, this team had legitimate title aspirations, but to even make it to the second weekend after losing Blokhina and Houghton to the pros, Hui and Yepifanova to injury, and Yu to the transfer portal after last season? That's an amazing coaching job by Frankie and Janice, and it shows how rock solid of a player and leader Connie Ma is.
* Can't say enough about Yepifanova's fight in being out there. She's clearly not at her usual standard, but to even come out and give it a go allows us to have more of a chance on Courts 5 and 6 than we otherwise would.
* Valerie Glozman is so good, you guys. Down 4-0 in the first, she could have unraveled, but she turned it on from there, winning 13 of the next 16 games to land the plane and clinch the match and take some of the pressure off Xu (who was likely going to lose) and Yepifanova (who was tied up in her second set).
Looking ahead to Oklahoma State, here are some things to think about as we consider the possibility of making the final site:
* Oklahoma State isn't dominant in doubles, so perhaps there's a shot there. They lost the doubles point to the Sooners in the regionals before storming back in singles, a familiar story to any Stanford women's tennis fan.
* They are deeper than we are in singles right now, but we should have the edge on high-end talent. They've got five ranked players (#40 Ange Oby Kajuru, #77 Gracie Epps (a transfer from UGA), #84 Anastasiya Komar (LSU transfer), #115 Rose Marie Nijkamp, and #125 Marcela Lopez), but that's misleading in a few ways. First, that doesn't even count freshman Melisa Ercan, who joined the Cowgirls this spring and didn't debut until the end of February, and she's gone 5-4 (all on Court 1) since then. Second, it includes Oby Kajuru, who hasn't played for the Cowgirls in a few months for unknown reasons, but she's been left off the postseason roster. And third, it doesn't mention Kylie Collins, who played #2 singles for the national champion Texas Longhorns in '21-'22 before transferring to LSU and now spending a last year as a grad transfer at Oklahoma State. She's played on all top four singles lines but seems to be their #4 for the postseason.
* Assuming they line up the same way they did against OU, these will be the matchups:
1. #12 Ma vs. Ercan
2. #8 Glozman vs. #84 Komar
3. #88 Driscoll vs. #115 Nijkamp
4. Xu vs. Collins
5. Yepifanova vs. #77 Epps
6. Okpara vs. #125 Lopez
I'd give us the edge on the top two courts, I'd take Oklahoma State at 4 and 6, and then it'll come down to whether we can get 1-2 wins from Driscoll and Yepifanova. Of course, we're talking about playing in Stillwater, which is a notoriously difficult place to play. One of the best home court advantages in college tennis with all of their fan support, so anything could happen. Getting doubles is always big, but especially when you look at that singles lineup and try to figure out where a fourth win comes from, you know?
And of course, when I say that I give an edge to one team or the other in a particular match, that doesn't mean Xu isn't capable of beating Collins or Ercan isn't capable of beating Ma. Of course they are, and we'll see how it all plays out!
Some overall thoughts:
* Wait, we won doubles against a seeded team?
* Two absolutely dominant showings in singles from Ma and Driscoll. Caroline Driscoll has been a revelation, and she's got another year after this, too. She may not have been in the plans coming into the fall season, and I figured she was as good of a stopgap as we could get, but she's certainly made her case to be included next year.
* I don't think a team that rolls out Okpara at 6 (or Xu at 4) is a legitimate title contender, but this team has done a terrific job of responding to adversity and departures. Absent injuries, this team had legitimate title aspirations, but to even make it to the second weekend after losing Blokhina and Houghton to the pros, Hui and Yepifanova to injury, and Yu to the transfer portal after last season? That's an amazing coaching job by Frankie and Janice, and it shows how rock solid of a player and leader Connie Ma is.
* Can't say enough about Yepifanova's fight in being out there. She's clearly not at her usual standard, but to even come out and give it a go allows us to have more of a chance on Courts 5 and 6 than we otherwise would.
* Valerie Glozman is so good, you guys. Down 4-0 in the first, she could have unraveled, but she turned it on from there, winning 13 of the next 16 games to land the plane and clinch the match and take some of the pressure off Xu (who was likely going to lose) and Yepifanova (who was tied up in her second set).
Looking ahead to Oklahoma State, here are some things to think about as we consider the possibility of making the final site:
* Oklahoma State isn't dominant in doubles, so perhaps there's a shot there. They lost the doubles point to the Sooners in the regionals before storming back in singles, a familiar story to any Stanford women's tennis fan.
* They are deeper than we are in singles right now, but we should have the edge on high-end talent. They've got five ranked players (#40 Ange Oby Kajuru, #77 Gracie Epps (a transfer from UGA), #84 Anastasiya Komar (LSU transfer), #115 Rose Marie Nijkamp, and #125 Marcela Lopez), but that's misleading in a few ways. First, that doesn't even count freshman Melisa Ercan, who joined the Cowgirls this spring and didn't debut until the end of February, and she's gone 5-4 (all on Court 1) since then. Second, it includes Oby Kajuru, who hasn't played for the Cowgirls in a few months for unknown reasons, but she's been left off the postseason roster. And third, it doesn't mention Kylie Collins, who played #2 singles for the national champion Texas Longhorns in '21-'22 before transferring to LSU and now spending a last year as a grad transfer at Oklahoma State. She's played on all top four singles lines but seems to be their #4 for the postseason.
* Assuming they line up the same way they did against OU, these will be the matchups:
1. #12 Ma vs. Ercan
2. #8 Glozman vs. #84 Komar
3. #88 Driscoll vs. #115 Nijkamp
4. Xu vs. Collins
5. Yepifanova vs. #77 Epps
6. Okpara vs. #125 Lopez
I'd give us the edge on the top two courts, I'd take Oklahoma State at 4 and 6, and then it'll come down to whether we can get 1-2 wins from Driscoll and Yepifanova. Of course, we're talking about playing in Stillwater, which is a notoriously difficult place to play. One of the best home court advantages in college tennis with all of their fan support, so anything could happen. Getting doubles is always big, but especially when you look at that singles lineup and try to figure out where a fourth win comes from, you know?
And of course, when I say that I give an edge to one team or the other in a particular match, that doesn't mean Xu isn't capable of beating Collins or Ercan isn't capable of beating Ma. Of course they are, and we'll see how it all plays out!