[Spiny_Norman]

[twitter]https://twitter.com/slam10s/status/1115290639997050880[/twitter]

and 

[twitter]https://twitter.com/slam10s/status/1115267785431703552[/twitter]

(Sorry, I thought I remembered how to embed tweets, but my method isn't working)

CT - just use the codes "[ twitter]" and "[ /twitter]" around the twitter url, but close the spaces

[Spiny_Norman]

[twitter]https://twitter.com/slam10s/status/1115290639997050880[/twitter]

and 

[twitter]https://twitter.com/slam10s/status/1115267785431703552[/twitter]

(Sorry, I thought I remembered how to embed tweets, but my method isn't working)

CT - just use the codes "[ twitter]" and "[ /twitter]" around the twitter url, but close the spaces

[ColoradoTree]

I thought it was [ tweet] rather than [ twitter], so thanks!

[ColoradoTree]

I thought it was [ tweet] rather than [ twitter], so thanks!

[ColoradoTree]

Rankings Update

Team rankings 

These were basically as anticipated, with Stanford rising to #3. Here's the Top 10 and then other teams on our schedule:

1. UNC
2. Georgia (L)
3. Stanford
4. Duke
5. South Carolina
6. Texas (W)
7. Vanderbilt (W)
8. Pepperdine
9. N.C. State
10. UCLA (W)
13. USC (W)
15. Washington (W)
17. Cal (W)
28. LSU (W)
38. Arizona State (W)
39. Princeton (W)
42. WSU (W, W)
46. Utah 
50. Arizona (W)

Individual Rankings (Pac-12 players/duos)

Singles

21. Gordon (up 15)
25. Bolton (UCLA, down 4)
27. Arbuthnott (down 5)
33. Rosenqvist (Cal, up 7)
35. Lord (steady)
38. Hart (UCLA, up 3)
42. Hauger (Cal, steady)
46. Ewing (USC, down 3)
52. Bayerlova (WSU, up 5)
66. Lampl (down 7)
77. Shin (down 3)
92. Higuchi (up 1)
95. Kulikov (USC, down 8)
98. Fung (UW, down 3)
99. John-Baptiste (ASU, up 1)
114. Hattingh (ASU, up from NR)
115. Choy (down 18)
119. Bright (Cal, down 8)
122. Altick (UCLA, down 24)

You can't explain Gordon's rise solely because of beating Bayerlova; I suspect she's benefiting from the continued rise in the rankings of Texas's Bianca Turati and LSU's Eden Richardson. Gordon is now the top-ranked Pac-12 player, which would give her an automatic bid to the NCAA singles tournament. With the Pac-12 tournament being played to clinch (i.e., first to four), however, she may not be able to rack up enough good wins to stay there. 

Doubles

1. John-Baptiste/Hattingh (ASU, up 2)
5. Andrews/Broomfield (UCLA, up 2)
10. Kulikov/Valdes (USC, up 4)
12. Bolton/Hart (UCLA, down 1)
15. Lampl/Yee (steady)
16. Mraz/Rosenqvist (Cal, down 3)
26. Fung/Zupancic (UW, up 12)
27. Bright/Dunk (Cal, up 1)
29. Arbuthnott/Gordon (down 4)
37. Yee/Madurawe (down 5)
41. Lord/Madurawe (down 5)
46. Altick/Miller (UCLA, up 3)
50. Andrinopolous/Malinen (CU, down 15)
54. Alicea/Hampton (ASU, up 7)
61. Wilson/Thomas (Arizona, up 26)
63. Mraz/Stloukalova (Cal, up 5)
69. Hart/Broomfield (UCLA, down 7)
87. Mulville/Kahfiani (Oregon, down 7)

Interesting that the Pac-12 seems to lag behind other leagues in ranked singles players but is ahead of other conferences in doubles teams.

---

FYI, the current leader in each major conference is still undefeated in conference: 

* UNC is 12-0 in the ACC (23-1 overall)
* Georgia is 12-0 in the SEC (19-0 overall)
* Stanford is 8-0 in the Pac-12 (16-1 overall)
* Texas is 7-0 in the Big 12 (13-3 overall)
* Michigan is 9-0 in the Big Ten (13-4 overall)

For good measure, Pepperdine is also undefeated in conference (but really, it'd be shocking if they weren't), and so is Central Florida in the AAC (5-0, 18-3 overall). 

Duke's only two losses happen to be to UNC; Texas has lost to Pepperdine and Michigan in addition to Stanford; Michigan has lost to Syracuse, UNC, Duke, and Virginia; South Carolina's three losses are to Georgia, UCLA, and USC

We'll see how the rest of the season goes, but so far, UNC and Georgia certainly have earned their top 2 spots in the rankings. They're crushing good teams. (I think we're right there, of course--we lost 4-3 to Georgia in a match when Gordon fought the current #1 player in the country in a tough third set, and where Higuchi and Arbuthnott both got uncharacteristically smoked, suggesting they weren't at their best. I could easily see that one going the other way come May. Heck, don't forget we lost 7-0 to Vanderbilt early last season and still won the rematch at NCAAs. That's just who we are.)

Only 4 teams have lost one or zero matches: UNC, Georgia, Stanford, and the SoCon's Furman (22-1 against a, ahem, manageable schedule, making their #48 ranking quite understandable).

[ColoradoTree]

Rankings Update

Team rankings 

These were basically as anticipated, with Stanford rising to #3. Here's the Top 10 and then other teams on our schedule:

1. UNC
2. Georgia (L)
3. Stanford
4. Duke
5. South Carolina
6. Texas (W)
7. Vanderbilt (W)
8. Pepperdine
9. N.C. State
10. UCLA (W)
13. USC (W)
15. Washington (W)
17. Cal (W)
28. LSU (W)
38. Arizona State (W)
39. Princeton (W)
42. WSU (W, W)
46. Utah 
50. Arizona (W)

Individual Rankings (Pac-12 players/duos)

Singles

21. Gordon (up 15)
25. Bolton (UCLA, down 4)
27. Arbuthnott (down 5)
33. Rosenqvist (Cal, up 7)
35. Lord (steady)
38. Hart (UCLA, up 3)
42. Hauger (Cal, steady)
46. Ewing (USC, down 3)
52. Bayerlova (WSU, up 5)
66. Lampl (down 7)
77. Shin (down 3)
92. Higuchi (up 1)
95. Kulikov (USC, down 8)
98. Fung (UW, down 3)
99. John-Baptiste (ASU, up 1)
114. Hattingh (ASU, up from NR)
115. Choy (down 18)
119. Bright (Cal, down 8)
122. Altick (UCLA, down 24)

You can't explain Gordon's rise solely because of beating Bayerlova; I suspect she's benefiting from the continued rise in the rankings of Texas's Bianca Turati and LSU's Eden Richardson. Gordon is now the top-ranked Pac-12 player, which would give her an automatic bid to the NCAA singles tournament. With the Pac-12 tournament being played to clinch (i.e., first to four), however, she may not be able to rack up enough good wins to stay there. 

Doubles

1. John-Baptiste/Hattingh (ASU, up 2)
5. Andrews/Broomfield (UCLA, up 2)
10. Kulikov/Valdes (USC, up 4)
12. Bolton/Hart (UCLA, down 1)
15. Lampl/Yee (steady)
16. Mraz/Rosenqvist (Cal, down 3)
26. Fung/Zupancic (UW, up 12)
27. Bright/Dunk (Cal, up 1)
29. Arbuthnott/Gordon (down 4)
37. Yee/Madurawe (down 5)
41. Lord/Madurawe (down 5)
46. Altick/Miller (UCLA, up 3)
50. Andrinopolous/Malinen (CU, down 15)
54. Alicea/Hampton (ASU, up 7)
61. Wilson/Thomas (Arizona, up 26)
63. Mraz/Stloukalova (Cal, up 5)
69. Hart/Broomfield (UCLA, down 7)
87. Mulville/Kahfiani (Oregon, down 7)

Interesting that the Pac-12 seems to lag behind other leagues in ranked singles players but is ahead of other conferences in doubles teams.

---

FYI, the current leader in each major conference is still undefeated in conference: 

* UNC is 12-0 in the ACC (23-1 overall)
* Georgia is 12-0 in the SEC (19-0 overall)
* Stanford is 8-0 in the Pac-12 (16-1 overall)
* Texas is 7-0 in the Big 12 (13-3 overall)
* Michigan is 9-0 in the Big Ten (13-4 overall)

For good measure, Pepperdine is also undefeated in conference (but really, it'd be shocking if they weren't), and so is Central Florida in the AAC (5-0, 18-3 overall). 

Duke's only two losses happen to be to UNC; Texas has lost to Pepperdine and Michigan in addition to Stanford; Michigan has lost to Syracuse, UNC, Duke, and Virginia; South Carolina's three losses are to Georgia, UCLA, and USC

We'll see how the rest of the season goes, but so far, UNC and Georgia certainly have earned their top 2 spots in the rankings. They're crushing good teams. (I think we're right there, of course--we lost 4-3 to Georgia in a match when Gordon fought the current #1 player in the country in a tough third set, and where Higuchi and Arbuthnott both got uncharacteristically smoked, suggesting they weren't at their best. I could easily see that one going the other way come May. Heck, don't forget we lost 7-0 to Vanderbilt early last season and still won the rematch at NCAAs. That's just who we are.)

Only 4 teams have lost one or zero matches: UNC, Georgia, Stanford, and the SoCon's Furman (22-1 against a, ahem, manageable schedule, making their #48 ranking quite understandable).

[ColoradoTree]

Pac-12 schedule this week:

* UCLA and USC travel to Seattle and Pullman
* Stanford and Cal travel to Salt Lake City and Boulder
* ASU and Arizona host Oregon
* Before heading to the Pacific Northwest, however, USC hosts one last marquee non-conference match vs. Pepperdine. That would be a very valuable win in USC's quest to not just be a regional host but a super-regional host. (FWIW, using the "what if" calculator on collegetennisranks.com and inputting just the anticipated results from UCLA, USC, UW, WSU, Stanford, Cal, Utah, and Colorado--which is of limited utility because other teams will also be playing matches and will gain/lose rankings points--it would see Stanford stay at #3, USC climb all the way to #6 behind the Pepperdine win and the UW/WSU away wins, UCLA get back to #7, Cal climb to #15, and UW drop to #17.) 

National schedule this week:

Tuesday, April 9:

#13 USC vs. #8 Pepperdine

Wednesday, April 10:

#4 Duke vs. #9 N.C. State

Friday, April 12:

#5 Stanford at #46 Utah
#7 Vanderbilt at #18 Tennessee
#1 UNC at #33 Georgia Tech
#4 Duke vs. #31 Syracuse
#2 Georgia vs. #24 Kentucky
#10 UCLA at #42 Washington State
#13 USC at #15 Washington

Saturday, April 13:

#3 South Carolina at #23 Florida

Sunday, April 14:

#6 Vanderbilt at #1 Georgia
#4 Duke vs. #41 Boston College
#10 UCLA at #15 Washington
#13 USC at #42 Washington State
#19 Cal at #46 Utah

FYI, if results go as I suspect, Georgia would return to #1 in next week's rankings, Stanford would slip back to #4 behind Duke (Duke has a tougher weekend than we do) and would only be a sliver ahead of South Carolina at #5, Pepperdine would be #6, Texas would be #7, Vanderbilt would be #8, UCLA would be #9, USC would be #12 (they'd be #9 if they beat Pepperdine, and would bump UT, Vandy, and UCLA all up a line, too, so that's a very big match), Cal would be #15, Washington would be #16, LSU would be #25, ASU would be #39, Princeton would be #41, Wazzu would be #42, Utah would be #45, and Arizona would be #49.

[ColoradoTree]

Pac-12 schedule this week:

* UCLA and USC travel to Seattle and Pullman
* Stanford and Cal travel to Salt Lake City and Boulder
* ASU and Arizona host Oregon
* Before heading to the Pacific Northwest, however, USC hosts one last marquee non-conference match vs. Pepperdine. That would be a very valuable win in USC's quest to not just be a regional host but a super-regional host. (FWIW, using the "what if" calculator on collegetennisranks.com and inputting just the anticipated results from UCLA, USC, UW, WSU, Stanford, Cal, Utah, and Colorado--which is of limited utility because other teams will also be playing matches and will gain/lose rankings points--it would see Stanford stay at #3, USC climb all the way to #6 behind the Pepperdine win and the UW/WSU away wins, UCLA get back to #7, Cal climb to #15, and UW drop to #17.) 

National schedule this week:

Tuesday, April 9:

#13 USC vs. #8 Pepperdine

Wednesday, April 10:

#4 Duke vs. #9 N.C. State

Friday, April 12:

#5 Stanford at #46 Utah
#7 Vanderbilt at #18 Tennessee
#1 UNC at #33 Georgia Tech
#4 Duke vs. #31 Syracuse
#2 Georgia vs. #24 Kentucky
#10 UCLA at #42 Washington State
#13 USC at #15 Washington

Saturday, April 13:

#3 South Carolina at #23 Florida

Sunday, April 14:

#6 Vanderbilt at #1 Georgia
#4 Duke vs. #41 Boston College
#10 UCLA at #15 Washington
#13 USC at #42 Washington State
#19 Cal at #46 Utah

FYI, if results go as I suspect, Georgia would return to #1 in next week's rankings, Stanford would slip back to #4 behind Duke (Duke has a tougher weekend than we do) and would only be a sliver ahead of South Carolina at #5, Pepperdine would be #6, Texas would be #7, Vanderbilt would be #8, UCLA would be #9, USC would be #12 (they'd be #9 if they beat Pepperdine, and would bump UT, Vandy, and UCLA all up a line, too, so that's a very big match), Cal would be #15, Washington would be #16, LSU would be #25, ASU would be #39, Princeton would be #41, Wazzu would be #42, Utah would be #45, and Arizona would be #49.

[ColoradoTree]

Oh, and the USTA/Tennis Channel Top 25 continues to have the same Top 3: Georgia, UNC, and Stanford. As it should be.

It also has UCLA at #10 and UW at #15, but that poll has USC at #18 (ITA #13) and Cal at #23 (ITA #17). 

FYI, Pepperdine cruised past USC 4-1 yesterday on USC's courts, so while that's not a damaging loss for USC, it does cast some doubt as to whether or not they're legit. Pepperdine won doubles and got dominating wins at the top 3 lines--6-1, 6-0 at #3, 6-0, 6-4 at #2, and 6-4, 6-2 at #1, while losing in lopsided fashion on Court 4 (USC's Neffa won 6-3, 6-1). When the match was clinched, Pepperdine led 6-4, 5-0 on Court 5, while Court 6 looked destined for a third set, so that's a 5-2 or 6-1 kind of day. 

As always, Pepperdine is terrifying, and I dearly hope they get upset before we have to play them. Recall that we barely won, though had Arbuthnott been in the singles lineup, I wonder whether our score would have looked similar to Pepperdine's. (Gordon won solidly at #1, Lord won convincingly at #2, but Lampl needed third-set tiebreaker to beat Valdes when Pepperdine only dropped one game to Valdes. We also lost on 4, but lost on 5 and 6 when Pepperdine controlled one of those matches and was even in the other.) You can't rely too much on one head-to-head result, but I definitely count Pepperdine among the very short list of plausible national title contenders.

[ColoradoTree]

Oh, and the USTA/Tennis Channel Top 25 continues to have the same Top 3: Georgia, UNC, and Stanford. As it should be.

It also has UCLA at #10 and UW at #15, but that poll has USC at #18 (ITA #13) and Cal at #23 (ITA #17). 

FYI, Pepperdine cruised past USC 4-1 yesterday on USC's courts, so while that's not a damaging loss for USC, it does cast some doubt as to whether or not they're legit. Pepperdine won doubles and got dominating wins at the top 3 lines--6-1, 6-0 at #3, 6-0, 6-4 at #2, and 6-4, 6-2 at #1, while losing in lopsided fashion on Court 4 (USC's Neffa won 6-3, 6-1). When the match was clinched, Pepperdine led 6-4, 5-0 on Court 5, while Court 6 looked destined for a third set, so that's a 5-2 or 6-1 kind of day. 

As always, Pepperdine is terrifying, and I dearly hope they get upset before we have to play them. Recall that we barely won, though had Arbuthnott been in the singles lineup, I wonder whether our score would have looked similar to Pepperdine's. (Gordon won solidly at #1, Lord won convincingly at #2, but Lampl needed third-set tiebreaker to beat Valdes when Pepperdine only dropped one game to Valdes. We also lost on 4, but lost on 5 and 6 when Pepperdine controlled one of those matches and was even in the other.) You can't rely too much on one head-to-head result, but I definitely count Pepperdine among the very short list of plausible national title contenders.

[ColoradoTree]

Following singles wins over UW and WSU, and doubles wins against both teams along with Madurawe, Lord was named Pac-12 Women's Tennis Player of the Week!  Here's the Pac-12 release: https://pac-12.com/article/2019/04/08/pa...ayers-week

It's her second such honor this year, as she was also POTW after beating then-#9 Christina Rosca of Vanderbilt 6-1, 6-3. Congrats, Melissa!

[ColoradoTree]

Following singles wins over UW and WSU, and doubles wins against both teams along with Madurawe, Lord was named Pac-12 Women's Tennis Player of the Week!  Here's the Pac-12 release: https://pac-12.com/article/2019/04/08/pa...ayers-week

It's her second such honor this year, as she was also POTW after beating then-#9 Christina Rosca of Vanderbilt 6-1, 6-3. Congrats, Melissa!