[ColoradoTree]

Stanford's fall season will come to a close in a little over a week when three of our players--Michaela Gordon, Emily Arbuthnott, and Angelica Blake--head to Newport Beach, CA for the ITA Fall National Championships, while the remainder of the team (or at least much of it) heads to San Diego for the San Diego State Classic. 

Fall Nationals is, of course, the greater test, and provides Gordon with an opportunity to test herself against players who also earned their way here by reaching the finals of a regional championship, by winning a major fall tournament, or by advancing deep into the ITA All-Americans. While we don't yet know the entire field (a number of wild cards are yet to be determined), let alone the draws, we do know all of the automatic qualifiers, which are listed below, with their method of qualification in parentheses:

#4 Alexa Graham (UNC) (All-American QFs)
#5 Kelly Chen (Duke) (Carolina Runner-Up)  
#6 Michaela Gordon (Stanford) (Northwest Champ)
#7 Sara Daavettila (UNC) (All-American QFs)
#9 Jada Hart (UCLA) (Southwest Runner-Up)
#12 Cameron Morra (UNC) (Carolina Champ)  
#14 Ashley Lahey (Pepperdine) (ITA Masters Champ) 
#15 Christina Rosca (Vanderbilt) (All-American QFs)
#16 Elysia Bolton (UCLA) (All-American QFs)
#17 Anna Turati (Texas) (All-American QFs)
#23 McCartney Kessler (Florida) (Southeast Champ)
#31 Paola Delgado (VCU) (Atlantic Finalist)
#43 Lisa-Marie Rioux (Okla State) (Central Champ)  
#46 Katarina Kozarov (Furman) (All-American Consolation Finalist)
#47 Giulia Pairone (Michigan) (Midwest Champ)
#50 Angelia Kulikov (USC) (Milwaukee Tennis Classic Champ)
#63 Iulia Bryzgalova (Penn) (All-American QFs)
#65 Sara Nayar (Colorado) (Mountain Runner-Up)   
#68 Mariia Kozyreva (St. Mary's) (Northwest Runner-Up)
#71 Charia Tomasetti (Northern Arizona) (Mountain Champ)  
#79 Shiori Fukuda (Ohio State) (Midwest Runner-Up)  
#89 Kaitlin Staines (Tennessee) (Ohio Valley Champ)  
#98 Rebeka Stolmar (UCF) (All-American Consolation Finalist)
#114 Taylor Bridges (LSU) (Southern Champ)
#120 Rebeka Mertena (Tennessee) (Ohio Valley Runner-Up)  

Of note, Lahey also won ITA All-Americans, so she qualified for this tournament twice over.

Unranked qualifiers:

Paris Corley (LSU) (Southern Runner-Up)
Brianna Shvets (Princeton) (Northeast Finalist)
Lucia Quiterio (Texas A&M) (Texas Champ)

Freshmen qualifiers (with ITA newcomer rank):

#1 Natasha Subhash (UVA) (Atlantic Finalist)
#4 Abbey Forbes (UCLA) (Southwest Champion)
#5 Lea Ma (Georgia) (Southeast Runner-Up)
Zoe Howard (Princeton) (Northeast Finalist)  
Lexi Ryngler (Texas) (Texas Runner-Up)  
Chloe Beck (Duke) (All-American QFs)
Dariya Detkovskaya (Okla State) (Central Runner-Up)  

The rest of the field will be made up with wild cards and a number of at-large selections, which are supposed to be chosen by a blended ranking (the player's preseason ranking and her results to date) and require having advanced reasonably far in one of the major national or regional championships.

[ColoradoTree]

Stanford's fall season will come to a close in a little over a week when three of our players--Michaela Gordon, Emily Arbuthnott, and Angelica Blake--head to Newport Beach, CA for the ITA Fall National Championships, while the remainder of the team (or at least much of it) heads to San Diego for the San Diego State Classic. 

Fall Nationals is, of course, the greater test, and provides Gordon with an opportunity to test herself against players who also earned their way here by reaching the finals of a regional championship, by winning a major fall tournament, or by advancing deep into the ITA All-Americans. While we don't yet know the entire field (a number of wild cards are yet to be determined), let alone the draws, we do know all of the automatic qualifiers, which are listed below, with their method of qualification in parentheses:

#4 Alexa Graham (UNC) (All-American QFs)
#5 Kelly Chen (Duke) (Carolina Runner-Up)  
#6 Michaela Gordon (Stanford) (Northwest Champ)
#7 Sara Daavettila (UNC) (All-American QFs)
#9 Jada Hart (UCLA) (Southwest Runner-Up)
#12 Cameron Morra (UNC) (Carolina Champ)  
#14 Ashley Lahey (Pepperdine) (ITA Masters Champ) 
#15 Christina Rosca (Vanderbilt) (All-American QFs)
#16 Elysia Bolton (UCLA) (All-American QFs)
#17 Anna Turati (Texas) (All-American QFs)
#23 McCartney Kessler (Florida) (Southeast Champ)
#31 Paola Delgado (VCU) (Atlantic Finalist)
#43 Lisa-Marie Rioux (Okla State) (Central Champ)  
#46 Katarina Kozarov (Furman) (All-American Consolation Finalist)
#47 Giulia Pairone (Michigan) (Midwest Champ)
#50 Angelia Kulikov (USC) (Milwaukee Tennis Classic Champ)
#63 Iulia Bryzgalova (Penn) (All-American QFs)
#65 Sara Nayar (Colorado) (Mountain Runner-Up)   
#68 Mariia Kozyreva (St. Mary's) (Northwest Runner-Up)
#71 Charia Tomasetti (Northern Arizona) (Mountain Champ)  
#79 Shiori Fukuda (Ohio State) (Midwest Runner-Up)  
#89 Kaitlin Staines (Tennessee) (Ohio Valley Champ)  
#98 Rebeka Stolmar (UCF) (All-American Consolation Finalist)
#114 Taylor Bridges (LSU) (Southern Champ)
#120 Rebeka Mertena (Tennessee) (Ohio Valley Runner-Up)  

Of note, Lahey also won ITA All-Americans, so she qualified for this tournament twice over.

Unranked qualifiers:

Paris Corley (LSU) (Southern Runner-Up)
Brianna Shvets (Princeton) (Northeast Finalist)
Lucia Quiterio (Texas A&M) (Texas Champ)

Freshmen qualifiers (with ITA newcomer rank):

#1 Natasha Subhash (UVA) (Atlantic Finalist)
#4 Abbey Forbes (UCLA) (Southwest Champion)
#5 Lea Ma (Georgia) (Southeast Runner-Up)
Zoe Howard (Princeton) (Northeast Finalist)  
Lexi Ryngler (Texas) (Texas Runner-Up)  
Chloe Beck (Duke) (All-American QFs)
Dariya Detkovskaya (Okla State) (Central Runner-Up)  

The rest of the field will be made up with wild cards and a number of at-large selections, which are supposed to be chosen by a blended ranking (the player's preseason ranking and her results to date) and require having advanced reasonably far in one of the major national or regional championships.

[oldalum]

really tough having to play in Newport Beach  :)

[oldalum]

really tough having to play in Newport Beach  :)

[ColoradoTree]

In terms of doubles, Arbuthnott and Blake (who are unranked, as the ITA presumed we'd see another season of Arbuthnott/Gordon, who are ranked #10) will be joined by the following teams, including a mention as to which regional tournament they won or the alternative method of qualification:

#1 Rogers/Smith (NC State, Carolina)
#4 Bolton/Hart (UCLA, All-American Consolation Finalist)
#7 Kuznetsova/Zeleva (UCF, All-American Semifinalist)
#24 McGiffin/Staines (Tennessee, All-American Semifinalist)
#29 Gong/Martinelli (Yale, All-American Semifinalist)
#31 Stolmar/Mattel (UCF, Southeast)
#59 Bryzgalova/Curnic (Penn, Northeast)

Unranked qualifiers:

Forbes/Goulak (UCLA, Southwest)
Asano/Huang (UNLV, Mountain)
Quiterio/Anzo (Texas A&M, Texas)
Rioux/Miyamoto (Oklahoma State, Central)
Cerdan/Jones (Michigan, Midwest)

Parazinskaite/Jacobs (Kentucky, Ohio Valley)
Starodubtseva/Yakubovich (Old Dominion, Atlantic)
Ovunc/Russo (Auburn, Southern)
Daniel/Reami (NC State, All-American Consolation Finalist)
Arbuthnott/Blake (Stanford, Northwest)

A number of wild cards and at-large selections will fill out this field as well, but obviously it is very much a wide open field, with far more new teams and unranked qualifiers. We should be hopeful that Arbuthnott/Blake can make a reasonable run in this one.

---

really tough having to play in Newport Beach  :)

It's the worst. These poor kids. And what a dreadful consolation prize for the rest of the Stanford team in San Diego! How will they all cope?

[ColoradoTree]

In terms of doubles, Arbuthnott and Blake (who are unranked, as the ITA presumed we'd see another season of Arbuthnott/Gordon, who are ranked #10) will be joined by the following teams, including a mention as to which regional tournament they won or the alternative method of qualification:

#1 Rogers/Smith (NC State, Carolina)
#4 Bolton/Hart (UCLA, All-American Consolation Finalist)
#7 Kuznetsova/Zeleva (UCF, All-American Semifinalist)
#24 McGiffin/Staines (Tennessee, All-American Semifinalist)
#29 Gong/Martinelli (Yale, All-American Semifinalist)
#31 Stolmar/Mattel (UCF, Southeast)
#59 Bryzgalova/Curnic (Penn, Northeast)

Unranked qualifiers:

Forbes/Goulak (UCLA, Southwest)
Asano/Huang (UNLV, Mountain)
Quiterio/Anzo (Texas A&M, Texas)
Rioux/Miyamoto (Oklahoma State, Central)
Cerdan/Jones (Michigan, Midwest)

Parazinskaite/Jacobs (Kentucky, Ohio Valley)
Starodubtseva/Yakubovich (Old Dominion, Atlantic)
Ovunc/Russo (Auburn, Southern)
Daniel/Reami (NC State, All-American Consolation Finalist)
Arbuthnott/Blake (Stanford, Northwest)

A number of wild cards and at-large selections will fill out this field as well, but obviously it is very much a wide open field, with far more new teams and unranked qualifiers. We should be hopeful that Arbuthnott/Blake can make a reasonable run in this one.

---

really tough having to play in Newport Beach  :)

It's the worst. These poor kids. And what a dreadful consolation prize for the rest of the Stanford team in San Diego! How will they all cope?

[ColoradoTree]

In a bit of a surprise, Janice Shin made the singles field for Fall Nationals! I thought she'd be on the wrong side of the at-large bubble, but there must have been enough players ranked ahead of her that (like Arbuthnott) failed to meet the at-large requirements of advancing far enough in specific tournaments. In any event, she's in!

No draws yet, but the field is final. Stanford's two entrants are below our usual standard, and we're outpaced by several other teams. UNC leads all schools with 4, and there are several schools with 3 players in the field (including Cal, Duke, N.C. State, Oklahoma State, UCF, and UCLA). 

In doubles, Arbuthnott/Blake were the only possible Stanford selection due to how the rankings worked, so no surprises joining them in the field. In what might be concerning for the spring, UCLA has three doubles teams in the field, and a couple other teams have two (N.C. State, UNC, Oklahoma State, and UCF). 

So, Janice Shin will join the trio of Gordon, Arbuthnott, and Blake in Newport Beach, while Madurawe and Choy (and Higuchi and Mossmer, if they're healthy) will be in San Diego.

[ColoradoTree]

In a bit of a surprise, Janice Shin made the singles field for Fall Nationals! I thought she'd be on the wrong side of the at-large bubble, but there must have been enough players ranked ahead of her that (like Arbuthnott) failed to meet the at-large requirements of advancing far enough in specific tournaments. In any event, she's in!

No draws yet, but the field is final. Stanford's two entrants are below our usual standard, and we're outpaced by several other teams. UNC leads all schools with 4, and there are several schools with 3 players in the field (including Cal, Duke, N.C. State, Oklahoma State, UCF, and UCLA). 

In doubles, Arbuthnott/Blake were the only possible Stanford selection due to how the rankings worked, so no surprises joining them in the field. In what might be concerning for the spring, UCLA has three doubles teams in the field, and a couple other teams have two (N.C. State, UNC, Oklahoma State, and UCF). 

So, Janice Shin will join the trio of Gordon, Arbuthnott, and Blake in Newport Beach, while Madurawe and Choy (and Higuchi and Mossmer, if they're healthy) will be in San Diego.

[ColoradoTree]

ITA Fall Nationals starts tomorrow with the first round at 8:00am, followed by the first round of women's doubles. The draws aren't yet out for some reason (I'll post them when I see them), but FYI, the women's matches will all be at Newport Beach Tennis Club, and there should be live scoring available on this page: https://www.itatennis.com/ITA/Events/201...85bca5fc9b

[ColoradoTree]

ITA Fall Nationals starts tomorrow with the first round at 8:00am, followed by the first round of women's doubles. The draws aren't yet out for some reason (I'll post them when I see them), but FYI, the women's matches will all be at Newport Beach Tennis Club, and there should be live scoring available on this page: https://www.itatennis.com/ITA/Events/201...85bca5fc9b

[ColoradoTree]

Well, the draws are out, and that klaxon you hear is me sounding the alarm over UCLA. The top three seeds in this tournament are Bruins. The top three! And that's on top of having three doubles teams in this field as well.  Goodness gracious.  The tennis world apparently believes that Bolton took quite a jump, because she was #16 in the preseason rankings, because her fall so far (just 3-1, all at ITA All-Americans in early October) certainly doesn't warrant the jump to the #1 seed. Here are the seeds in singles, and then the match schedules for Stanford players in singles and doubles:

Singles Seeds

1. Elysia Bolton (So., UCLA, preseason #16)
2. Abigail Forbes (Fr., UCLA, #4 newcomer)
3. Jada Hart (Sr., UCLA, #9)
4. Alexa Graham (Sr., UNC, #4)
5. Estela Perez-Somarriba (Sr., Miami, #2)
6. Anna Turati (Sr., Texas, #17)
7. Shiori Fukuda (Sr., Ohio State, #79)
8. Sara Daavettila (Sr., UNC, #7)
9. McCartney Kessler (Jr., Florida, #23)
10. Georgia Drummy (So., Vanderbilt, #35)
11. Kelly Chen (Jr., Duke, #5)
12. Cameron Morra (So., UNC, #12)
13. Adriana Reami (Sr., N.C. State, #84)
14. Michaela Gordon (Jr., Stanford, #6)
15. Mia Horvit (Sr., South Carolina, #49)
16. Bunyawi Thamchaiwat (So., Oklahoma State, #67)

I am interested to see how well the seeds hold--there is always politics involved in setting tournament draws, but I don't see the rationale for having all three Bruins at the top, or moving Fukuda to the 7 seed based on her fall (which was pretty good, but she lost to the three best players she faced, and didn't beat anyone ranked better than #39), or having Reami as the #13 seed (8-4 fall record, just one impressive win)....

Match Schedule

9:30am: #60 Shin vs. Justine Leong (Claremont McKenna)
2:30pm: [14] Gordon vs. #71 Chiara Tomasetti (Northern Arizona) 
6:30pm: Arbuthnott/Blake vs. #3 Jones/Morra (UNC, somehow unseeded)

One feature of this tournament is that while it's mostly populated with top DI players, there is one player each from DII, DIII, NAIA, and JUCO. Justine Leong is a freshman at Claremont McKenna, and earned her spot here by winning the DIII ITA Cup a couple of weeks ago. So, one would expect her to be outmatched by Shin, but one never knows. For her part, Gordon gets a crafty player in Tomasetti, who has had her way with the Mountain Regional for a few years now. She's a dangerous player who doesn't get many chances against top players in that region and her conference, and if she's on, she can absolutely beat Michaela.

If Gordon beats Tomasetti, she'll likely get a rematch against Cal's Haley Giavara, who plays Kentucky's Lesedi Jacobs. If she wins that, she'd be in line to play UNC's Alexa Graham, seeded and ranked #4. Last year, Gordon played Graham at ITA All-Americans, and lost 0-6, 6-3, 6-3. Of course, Graham mostly played #2 for UNC last year behind Makenna Jones, and Gordon beat Jones in three sets in the NCAA semis and then beat Jones again (this time handily, 6-2, 6-1) in the first round of NCAA singles play.

If Shin wins, she'll get a chance to beat 3-seeded Jada Hart of UCLA, who would easily be the highest-ranked win of Shin's collegiate career.

---

You can see live scoring here: http://scores.tennisticker.de/usa/ita/sb...urnid=4483
And live streaming is supposed to be available here: https://livestream.com/tempuztennis/events/8883800

---

Courts are wet, so everything is pushed back at least a couple of hours. No women's matches have started yet, and the first ones were scheduled for 8am, so the time those get started should give us a better sense of when the later ones will start. But for now, probably safe to assume Shin won't play until 11:30am, Gordon won't play until 4:30, and Arbuthnott/Blake will play under the lights at 8:30.

[ColoradoTree]

Well, the draws are out, and that klaxon you hear is me sounding the alarm over UCLA. The top three seeds in this tournament are Bruins. The top three! And that's on top of having three doubles teams in this field as well.  Goodness gracious.  The tennis world apparently believes that Bolton took quite a jump, because she was #16 in the preseason rankings, because her fall so far (just 3-1, all at ITA All-Americans in early October) certainly doesn't warrant the jump to the #1 seed. Here are the seeds in singles, and then the match schedules for Stanford players in singles and doubles:

Singles Seeds

1. Elysia Bolton (So., UCLA, preseason #16)
2. Abigail Forbes (Fr., UCLA, #4 newcomer)
3. Jada Hart (Sr., UCLA, #9)
4. Alexa Graham (Sr., UNC, #4)
5. Estela Perez-Somarriba (Sr., Miami, #2)
6. Anna Turati (Sr., Texas, #17)
7. Shiori Fukuda (Sr., Ohio State, #79)
8. Sara Daavettila (Sr., UNC, #7)
9. McCartney Kessler (Jr., Florida, #23)
10. Georgia Drummy (So., Vanderbilt, #35)
11. Kelly Chen (Jr., Duke, #5)
12. Cameron Morra (So., UNC, #12)
13. Adriana Reami (Sr., N.C. State, #84)
14. Michaela Gordon (Jr., Stanford, #6)
15. Mia Horvit (Sr., South Carolina, #49)
16. Bunyawi Thamchaiwat (So., Oklahoma State, #67)

I am interested to see how well the seeds hold--there is always politics involved in setting tournament draws, but I don't see the rationale for having all three Bruins at the top, or moving Fukuda to the 7 seed based on her fall (which was pretty good, but she lost to the three best players she faced, and didn't beat anyone ranked better than #39), or having Reami as the #13 seed (8-4 fall record, just one impressive win)....

Match Schedule

9:30am: #60 Shin vs. Justine Leong (Claremont McKenna)
2:30pm: [14] Gordon vs. #71 Chiara Tomasetti (Northern Arizona) 
6:30pm: Arbuthnott/Blake vs. #3 Jones/Morra (UNC, somehow unseeded)

One feature of this tournament is that while it's mostly populated with top DI players, there is one player each from DII, DIII, NAIA, and JUCO. Justine Leong is a freshman at Claremont McKenna, and earned her spot here by winning the DIII ITA Cup a couple of weeks ago. So, one would expect her to be outmatched by Shin, but one never knows. For her part, Gordon gets a crafty player in Tomasetti, who has had her way with the Mountain Regional for a few years now. She's a dangerous player who doesn't get many chances against top players in that region and her conference, and if she's on, she can absolutely beat Michaela.

If Gordon beats Tomasetti, she'll likely get a rematch against Cal's Haley Giavara, who plays Kentucky's Lesedi Jacobs. If she wins that, she'd be in line to play UNC's Alexa Graham, seeded and ranked #4. Last year, Gordon played Graham at ITA All-Americans, and lost 0-6, 6-3, 6-3. Of course, Graham mostly played #2 for UNC last year behind Makenna Jones, and Gordon beat Jones in three sets in the NCAA semis and then beat Jones again (this time handily, 6-2, 6-1) in the first round of NCAA singles play.

If Shin wins, she'll get a chance to beat 3-seeded Jada Hart of UCLA, who would easily be the highest-ranked win of Shin's collegiate career.

---

You can see live scoring here: http://scores.tennisticker.de/usa/ita/sb...urnid=4483
And live streaming is supposed to be available here: https://livestream.com/tempuztennis/events/8883800

---

Courts are wet, so everything is pushed back at least a couple of hours. No women's matches have started yet, and the first ones were scheduled for 8am, so the time those get started should give us a better sense of when the later ones will start. But for now, probably safe to assume Shin won't play until 11:30am, Gordon won't play until 4:30, and Arbuthnott/Blake will play under the lights at 8:30.

[oldalum]

Well, the draws are out, and that klaxon you hear is me sounding the alarm over UCLA. 

Let's see how they do before we decide how many alarms this fire gets. [what is the emoji for "hoping they fall flat on their faces"?]

[oldalum]

Well, the draws are out, and that klaxon you hear is me sounding the alarm over UCLA. 

Let's see how they do before we decide how many alarms this fire gets. [what is the emoji for "hoping they fall flat on their faces"?]

[ColoradoTree]

Well, the draws are out, and that klaxon you hear is me sounding the alarm over UCLA. 

Let's see how they do before we decide how many alarms this fire gets.  [what is the emoji for "hoping they fall flat on their faces"?]

Ha, point well taken. We don't yet know how good they'll be, but the thing I'm taking away from this is that UCLA has the pieces to put together a special year, and more so than I would have expected. Smart tennis people (the coaches) think UCLA could be absolutely stacked at the top of the lineup, so while performance is paramount, I think there's reasonable cause for the worrywarts among us to start, well, worrying. I'm glad we get them at home this year, that's for sure. 

Here are the rest of the Pac-12 players in the field, including those three UCLA top seeds, and their scheduled matches today, so we can keep track:

8:00am: [2] Abigail Forbes (UCLA) vs. #39 Livia Kraus (Baylor)
8:00am: Valentina Ivanov (Cal) vs. #52 Samantha Martinelli (Yale)
8:00am: #50 Angela Kulikov (USC) vs. #51 Martina Kudelova (FAU)
9:30am: [1] Elysia Bolton (UCLA) vs. Lea Ma (Georgia, the #5 newcomer)
9:30am: [3] Jada Hart (UCLA) vs. #82 Martina Cappuro (Oklahoma)
9:30am: #60 Janice Shin vs. Justine Leong (CMS)
9:30am: #68 Mariia Kozyreva (St. Mary's) vs. [13] Adriana Reami (N.C. State) -- not a Pac-12 match, but maybe of interest given Kozyreva's performance at the Northwest Regionals
10:30am: #65 Sara Nayar (CU) vs. #15 Christina Rosca (Vanderbilt)
11:00am: #34 Salma Ewing (USC) vs. [10] Georgia Drummy (Vanderbilt)
11:30am: #42 Anna Bright (Cal) vs. [6] Anna Turati (Texas)
1:00pm: Haley Giavara (Cal) vs. Lesedi Jacobs (Kentucky)
2:30pm: [14] Michaela Gordon vs. #71 Chiara Tomasetti (NAU)

---

Day 1 results (updating with new results):

Completed:

* [2] Forbes (UCLA) def. #39 Kraus (Baylor) 6-0, 6-0
* [3] Hart (UCLA) def. #82 Cappuro (Oklahoma) 6-1, 6-1
* Ivanov (Cal) def. #52 Martinelli (Yale) 6-3, 6-2
* [1] Bolton (UCLA) def. Ma (UGA) 6-2, 6-2
* #50 Kulikov (USC) def. #51 Kudelova (FAU) 7-6, 6-3
* #34 Ewing (USC) lost to [10] Drummy (Vandy) 6-4, 6-7, 2-6 (had her on the ropes, too, but let her get to a tiebreak in the second and that was that)
* #42 Bright (Cal) lost to [6] A. Turati (Texas) 3-6, 2-6
* #65 Nayar (CU) lost to #14 Rosca (Vandy) 1-6, 3-6
* #60 Shin lost to Leong (CMS) 1-6, 2-6 (what a nightmare result)

So far, every favored Pac-12 player has won, except for Shin, who lost in embarrassing fashion to the DIII qualifier. On the flip side, two Pac-12 players won when not favored (or where the rankings were about the same), Cal's Ivanov and USC's Kulikov.

In progress:

* Giavara (Cal) trails Jacobs (Kentucky) 1-6, 5-2
* [14] Gordon (Stanford) leads #71 Tomasetti (NAU) 3-2

[ColoradoTree]

Well, the draws are out, and that klaxon you hear is me sounding the alarm over UCLA. 

Let's see how they do before we decide how many alarms this fire gets.  [what is the emoji for "hoping they fall flat on their faces"?]

Ha, point well taken. We don't yet know how good they'll be, but the thing I'm taking away from this is that UCLA has the pieces to put together a special year, and more so than I would have expected. Smart tennis people (the coaches) think UCLA could be absolutely stacked at the top of the lineup, so while performance is paramount, I think there's reasonable cause for the worrywarts among us to start, well, worrying. I'm glad we get them at home this year, that's for sure. 

Here are the rest of the Pac-12 players in the field, including those three UCLA top seeds, and their scheduled matches today, so we can keep track:

8:00am: [2] Abigail Forbes (UCLA) vs. #39 Livia Kraus (Baylor)
8:00am: Valentina Ivanov (Cal) vs. #52 Samantha Martinelli (Yale)
8:00am: #50 Angela Kulikov (USC) vs. #51 Martina Kudelova (FAU)
9:30am: [1] Elysia Bolton (UCLA) vs. Lea Ma (Georgia, the #5 newcomer)
9:30am: [3] Jada Hart (UCLA) vs. #82 Martina Cappuro (Oklahoma)
9:30am: #60 Janice Shin vs. Justine Leong (CMS)
9:30am: #68 Mariia Kozyreva (St. Mary's) vs. [13] Adriana Reami (N.C. State) -- not a Pac-12 match, but maybe of interest given Kozyreva's performance at the Northwest Regionals
10:30am: #65 Sara Nayar (CU) vs. #15 Christina Rosca (Vanderbilt)
11:00am: #34 Salma Ewing (USC) vs. [10] Georgia Drummy (Vanderbilt)
11:30am: #42 Anna Bright (Cal) vs. [6] Anna Turati (Texas)
1:00pm: Haley Giavara (Cal) vs. Lesedi Jacobs (Kentucky)
2:30pm: [14] Michaela Gordon vs. #71 Chiara Tomasetti (NAU)

---

Day 1 results (updating with new results):

Completed:

* [2] Forbes (UCLA) def. #39 Kraus (Baylor) 6-0, 6-0
* [3] Hart (UCLA) def. #82 Cappuro (Oklahoma) 6-1, 6-1
* Ivanov (Cal) def. #52 Martinelli (Yale) 6-3, 6-2
* [1] Bolton (UCLA) def. Ma (UGA) 6-2, 6-2
* #50 Kulikov (USC) def. #51 Kudelova (FAU) 7-6, 6-3
* #34 Ewing (USC) lost to [10] Drummy (Vandy) 6-4, 6-7, 2-6 (had her on the ropes, too, but let her get to a tiebreak in the second and that was that)
* #42 Bright (Cal) lost to [6] A. Turati (Texas) 3-6, 2-6
* #65 Nayar (CU) lost to #14 Rosca (Vandy) 1-6, 3-6
* #60 Shin lost to Leong (CMS) 1-6, 2-6 (what a nightmare result)

So far, every favored Pac-12 player has won, except for Shin, who lost in embarrassing fashion to the DIII qualifier. On the flip side, two Pac-12 players won when not favored (or where the rankings were about the same), Cal's Ivanov and USC's Kulikov.

In progress:

* Giavara (Cal) trails Jacobs (Kentucky) 1-6, 5-2
* [14] Gordon (Stanford) leads #71 Tomasetti (NAU) 3-2

[ColoradoTree]

Ouch. I didn't see the match on the live scoring due to some meetings, but apparently Shin lost 6-1, 6-2 to a freshman in DIII. So, uh, that's about as bad as it gets. You never hope for a player to be injured, but I really hope Shin was limited today due to an injury that will get better really soon.

I don't even know the kind of rankings damage you take by losing to a lower-division player, but I'm assuming it's worse than losing to a completely unranked player. That said, she'll have the chance to rebound in the consolation draw and see if she can string some good wins together to make up for that really, really bad loss.

---

Turns out she gets a rankings mulligan because matches against players not in D-I don't count! Lucky for her, but the more concerning piece is that she could lose to a player of that level.

[ColoradoTree]

Ouch. I didn't see the match on the live scoring due to some meetings, but apparently Shin lost 6-1, 6-2 to a freshman in DIII. So, uh, that's about as bad as it gets. You never hope for a player to be injured, but I really hope Shin was limited today due to an injury that will get better really soon.

I don't even know the kind of rankings damage you take by losing to a lower-division player, but I'm assuming it's worse than losing to a completely unranked player. That said, she'll have the chance to rebound in the consolation draw and see if she can string some good wins together to make up for that really, really bad loss.

---

Turns out she gets a rankings mulligan because matches against players not in D-I don't count! Lucky for her, but the more concerning piece is that she could lose to a player of that level.

[ColoradoTree]

Gordon takes her match, 6-4, 6-3!

---

Arbuthnott/Blake took their first set, 6-0, over the #3 duo in the country. Let’s keep it up!

---

Of course, then they go and drop the second, 6-1, before losing a match tiebreaker for the third, 10-7. Sigh....

Oh well, losing to that team is no shame, and there is still the consolation bracket to pick up some quality wins that might help punch their NCAA doubles ticket!

[ColoradoTree]

Gordon takes her match, 6-4, 6-3!

---

Arbuthnott/Blake took their first set, 6-0, over the #3 duo in the country. Let’s keep it up!

---

Of course, then they go and drop the second, 6-1, before losing a match tiebreaker for the third, 10-7. Sigh....

Oh well, losing to that team is no shame, and there is still the consolation bracket to pick up some quality wins that might help punch their NCAA doubles ticket!

[ColoradoTree]

Here's today's schedule:

10:30am: Shin vs. Cappuro (OU) (singles consolation)
1:00pm: [14] Gordon vs. Giavara (Cal) 
4:30pm: Arbuthnott/Blake vs. [2] Gong/Martinelli (Yale) (doubles consolation)

Overall, the Pac-12 had a good day, even if Stanford's wasn't so good. Of the 11 singles matches involving Pac-12 players, the conference player was favored in 5 matches, the underdog in 4, and a toss-up in 2. The Pac-12 player won 4 of the 5 matches where we were favored (looking at you, Janice Shin), won both toss-ups, and pulled off an upset. In doubles, the conference went 4-2, with one of UCLA's three teams going down in addition to Stanford's lone pair. 

As for that UCLA klaxon, all three UCLA singles players (and two of the doubles teams) advanced. Coming into this tournament, there were three Bruins, three Golden Bears, two Cardinal, two Trojans, and one Buff. Remaining in the main draw are all three Bruins, two Golden Bears (both freshmen), one Trojan, and one Cardinal. There's another intra-conference match today in addition to Gordon-Giavara: 2nd seeded UCLA freshman Abigail Forbes takes on Cal freshman Valentina Ivanov.

Overall for the tournament, chalk held up pretty well--only one singles seed went down in the first round.

[ColoradoTree]

Here's today's schedule:

10:30am: Shin vs. Cappuro (OU) (singles consolation)
1:00pm: [14] Gordon vs. Giavara (Cal) 
4:30pm: Arbuthnott/Blake vs. [2] Gong/Martinelli (Yale) (doubles consolation)

Overall, the Pac-12 had a good day, even if Stanford's wasn't so good. Of the 11 singles matches involving Pac-12 players, the conference player was favored in 5 matches, the underdog in 4, and a toss-up in 2. The Pac-12 player won 4 of the 5 matches where we were favored (looking at you, Janice Shin), won both toss-ups, and pulled off an upset. In doubles, the conference went 4-2, with one of UCLA's three teams going down in addition to Stanford's lone pair. 

As for that UCLA klaxon, all three UCLA singles players (and two of the doubles teams) advanced. Coming into this tournament, there were three Bruins, three Golden Bears, two Cardinal, two Trojans, and one Buff. Remaining in the main draw are all three Bruins, two Golden Bears (both freshmen), one Trojan, and one Cardinal. There's another intra-conference match today in addition to Gordon-Giavara: 2nd seeded UCLA freshman Abigail Forbes takes on Cal freshman Valentina Ivanov.

Overall for the tournament, chalk held up pretty well--only one singles seed went down in the first round.

[oldalum]

We're obviously following the age-old strategy of making our future opponents overconfident, then crushing them before they even knew what hit 'em.  (worked well for us in the past!)

[oldalum]

We're obviously following the age-old strategy of making our future opponents overconfident, then crushing them before they even knew what hit 'em.  (worked well for us in the past!)

[oldalum]

Shin lost the first set 6-1 and is at 5-5 in the second. All part of the inducing overconfidence strategy . . .

[oldalum]

Shin lost the first set 6-1 and is at 5-5 in the second. All part of the inducing overconfidence strategy . . .

[eb388]

Looks like she pulled it out 1-6 7-5 7-5. 

Gordon lost the first set 3-6 to Giavara, now up 3-1

[eb388]

Looks like she pulled it out 1-6 7-5 7-5. 

Gordon lost the first set 3-6 to Giavara, now up 3-1

[oldalum]

Looks like she pulled it out 1-6 7-5 7-5.

See, that strategy really works! Now Gordon's following it.

[oldalum]

Looks like she pulled it out 1-6 7-5 7-5.

See, that strategy really works! Now Gordon's following it.

[ColoradoTree]

Gordon didn't play Giavara at Northwest Regionals, but she did beat Ivanov (6-4, 7-5), who had beaten Giavara the round before (6-2, 6-4).

Gordon was serving up a break at 4-2 in the second, but just gave it back to get the set back on serve. Giavara will now serve down 3-4.

---

Of course, she got the break right back and is serving for the second set, up 5-3.

---

Gordon takes the second set, 6-3!

[ColoradoTree]

Gordon didn't play Giavara at Northwest Regionals, but she did beat Ivanov (6-4, 7-5), who had beaten Giavara the round before (6-2, 6-4).

Gordon was serving up a break at 4-2 in the second, but just gave it back to get the set back on serve. Giavara will now serve down 3-4.

---

Of course, she got the break right back and is serving for the second set, up 5-3.

---

Gordon takes the second set, 6-3!

[ColoradoTree]

Second Round Results Post:

* [1] Elysia Bolton (UCLA) d. #31 Paola Delgado (VCU) 6-4, 6-1
* [11] Kelly Chen (Duke) d. #98 Rebeka Stolmar (UCF) 6-2, 6-0
* [10] Georgia Drummy (Vanderbilt) d. Princeton freshman Zoe Howard 1-6, 6-3, 7-5
* [7] Shiori Fukuda (Ohio State) d. #43 Lisa Marie Rioux (Okla State) 6-4, 6-2
* [8] Sara Daavettila (UNC) d. #8 Anna Rogers (N.C. State) 6-2, 6-3
* [15] Mia Horvit (South Carolina) d. #15 Christina Rosca (Vanderbilt) 7-5, 7-5
* [4] Alexa Graham (UNC) d. Elyse Lavender (Brenau) 6-1, 2-6, 7-5 (an impressive for the NAIA representative!)
* #67 Bunywai Thamchaiwat (Okla State) d. #46 Katarina Kozarov (Furman) 6-4, 6-2
* #125 Megan Davies (South Carolina) d. [13] Adriana Reami (N.C. State) 7-6, 6-3

In progress:

* [14] Gordon tied with Giavara (Cal) 3-6, 6-3, 5-5
* [3] Jada Hart (UCLA) leads Justine Leong (CMS) 6-3, 3-0
* [12] Cameron Morra (UNC) leads Chloe Beck (Duke) 6-1
* [2] Abigail Forbes (UCLA) leads Valentina Ivanova (Cal) 6-0, 1-0
* #18 Meible Chi (Duke) leads Lexi Ryngler (Texas) 3-0
* [6] Anna Turati (Texas) leads #110 Alle Sanford (UNC) 3-1

---

Gordon is serving up 3-2 in the third set, but this set has been all breaks so far. First one to hold serve wins?

Also, Justine Leong, the DIII player who knocked out Shin yesterday, is giving Jada Hart a match so far. Interested to see if that one stays competitive or if Hart figures her out and pulls away.

---

Right on cue, Gordon holds for a 4-2 lead! She then continues the streak of breaking Giavara and goes up 5-2. Michaela will serve for her match next.

---

Ugh, Michaela fails to convert her first chance to close it out, getting broken again by Giavara. Giavara will now serve to stay in the match, down 3-5, but she hasn't held serve yet this set.

---

And on cue, Giavara holds for the first time this set, and Gordon will serve again for the match, up 5-4 in the third.

---

Damn it, Michaela. Come on! Two games, with the match on her racket, and she doesn't even get a game point out of it. Serving up 5-2 and then up 5-4, and now she'll try and break Giavara again to give herself another chance, but that's not the kind of finishing you'd like to see from her.

---

Giavara then holds very quickly, and all of a sudden Michaela is serving down 5-6 and needs to hold to stay in the match. What a terrible turn of events for her, but no one to blame but herself. Recall that Giavara won't be playing #1 for Cal, and probably not #2, so Michaela is losing to someone who might play as low as #5 in Cal's lineup this year.

---

Quickly love-40, too. I don't know if she got injured, but if not, this is an unacceptable way to end the match. Just ugly.

---

And that's that. From up 5-2 in the third, Gordon loses 5 straight games without even sniffing a match point, and she loses the match in really disappointing fashion.

[ColoradoTree]

Second Round Results Post:

* [1] Elysia Bolton (UCLA) d. #31 Paola Delgado (VCU) 6-4, 6-1
* [11] Kelly Chen (Duke) d. #98 Rebeka Stolmar (UCF) 6-2, 6-0
* [10] Georgia Drummy (Vanderbilt) d. Princeton freshman Zoe Howard 1-6, 6-3, 7-5
* [7] Shiori Fukuda (Ohio State) d. #43 Lisa Marie Rioux (Okla State) 6-4, 6-2
* [8] Sara Daavettila (UNC) d. #8 Anna Rogers (N.C. State) 6-2, 6-3
* [15] Mia Horvit (South Carolina) d. #15 Christina Rosca (Vanderbilt) 7-5, 7-5
* [4] Alexa Graham (UNC) d. Elyse Lavender (Brenau) 6-1, 2-6, 7-5 (an impressive for the NAIA representative!)
* #67 Bunywai Thamchaiwat (Okla State) d. #46 Katarina Kozarov (Furman) 6-4, 6-2
* #125 Megan Davies (South Carolina) d. [13] Adriana Reami (N.C. State) 7-6, 6-3

In progress:

* [14] Gordon tied with Giavara (Cal) 3-6, 6-3, 5-5
* [3] Jada Hart (UCLA) leads Justine Leong (CMS) 6-3, 3-0
* [12] Cameron Morra (UNC) leads Chloe Beck (Duke) 6-1
* [2] Abigail Forbes (UCLA) leads Valentina Ivanova (Cal) 6-0, 1-0
* #18 Meible Chi (Duke) leads Lexi Ryngler (Texas) 3-0
* [6] Anna Turati (Texas) leads #110 Alle Sanford (UNC) 3-1

---

Gordon is serving up 3-2 in the third set, but this set has been all breaks so far. First one to hold serve wins?

Also, Justine Leong, the DIII player who knocked out Shin yesterday, is giving Jada Hart a match so far. Interested to see if that one stays competitive or if Hart figures her out and pulls away.

---

Right on cue, Gordon holds for a 4-2 lead! She then continues the streak of breaking Giavara and goes up 5-2. Michaela will serve for her match next.

---

Ugh, Michaela fails to convert her first chance to close it out, getting broken again by Giavara. Giavara will now serve to stay in the match, down 3-5, but she hasn't held serve yet this set.

---

And on cue, Giavara holds for the first time this set, and Gordon will serve again for the match, up 5-4 in the third.

---

Damn it, Michaela. Come on! Two games, with the match on her racket, and she doesn't even get a game point out of it. Serving up 5-2 and then up 5-4, and now she'll try and break Giavara again to give herself another chance, but that's not the kind of finishing you'd like to see from her.

---

Giavara then holds very quickly, and all of a sudden Michaela is serving down 5-6 and needs to hold to stay in the match. What a terrible turn of events for her, but no one to blame but herself. Recall that Giavara won't be playing #1 for Cal, and probably not #2, so Michaela is losing to someone who might play as low as #5 in Cal's lineup this year.

---

Quickly love-40, too. I don't know if she got injured, but if not, this is an unacceptable way to end the match. Just ugly.

---

And that's that. From up 5-2 in the third, Gordon loses 5 straight games without even sniffing a match point, and she loses the match in really disappointing fashion.

[eb388]

Yikes, that was painful

[eb388]

Yikes, that was painful

[ColoradoTree]

And with that, Stanford is done competing in the main draw of Fall Nationals. Still some consolation to be played for Shin and Arbuthnott/Blake, but we didn't see much here to create a lot of confidence in this season, particularly with UCLA crushing it. 

UCLA is about to have three players in the last 16. We don't have any. UCLA has two doubles teams in the last 16. We don't have any.

[ColoradoTree]

And with that, Stanford is done competing in the main draw of Fall Nationals. Still some consolation to be played for Shin and Arbuthnott/Blake, but we didn't see much here to create a lot of confidence in this season, particularly with UCLA crushing it. 

UCLA is about to have three players in the last 16. We don't have any. UCLA has two doubles teams in the last 16. We don't have any.

[oldalum]

 UCLA is about to have three players in the last 16. We don't have any. UCLA has two doubles teams in the last 16. We don't have any.

OK, now you can sound the alarm.

[oldalum]

 UCLA is about to have three players in the last 16. We don't have any. UCLA has two doubles teams in the last 16. We don't have any.

OK, now you can sound the alarm.