NCAA Championship NCAA Semifinal vs. Duke

NCAA Championship NCAA Semifinal vs. Duke - Printable Version

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RE: Women's Tennis: NCAA Semifinal vs. Duke - martyup - 05-21-2018

WIN WIN WIN WIN!!!! ALL RIGHT NOW!

RE: Women's Tennis: NCAA Semifinal vs. Duke - 2006alum - 05-21-2018

Congrats to the team! Gutsy performances by Lampl and Arbuthnott to turn things around, and to Lampl for clinching it for us! And kudos to Shin and Higuchi for getting us quick wins to build momentum. A real team performance.

RE: Women's Tennis: NCAA Semifinal vs. Duke - BigEasyCard - 05-21-2018

Rematch with Vanderbilt.

Geaux Cardinal!

RE: Women's Tennis: NCAA Semifinal vs. Duke - martyup - 05-21-2018

Give the devil their due, but I'm willing to bet that this Stanford team is better than you!

RE: Women's Tennis: NCAA Semifinal vs. Duke - BobK - 05-21-2018

brobdingnagian fantastic gutsy win. Congrats to the team. On to the Finals

RE: Women's Tennis: NCAA Semifinal vs. Duke - Canalejas - 05-21-2018

What a fantastic march through the playoffs. Can't wait to see how they compete tomorrow. Thanks to you guys for all the updates, too.

RE: Women's Tennis: NCAA Semifinal vs. Duke - PVTree - 05-21-2018

This next one is the tough one. My untrained eye gave me confidence we could beat Michigan, NoCar, Georgia, and Dook. Vandy will be a different story. It’s a toss up.

Here’s to Tech pulling the upset.

RE: Women's Tennis: NCAA Semifinal vs. Duke - martyup - 05-21-2018

It would be dandy if they could beat Vandy. Or, what the heck let's beat Tech.

I guess that pretty much seals the Directors Cup.

RE: Women's Tennis: NCAA Semifinal vs. Duke - Spiny_Norman - 05-21-2018

19-3 over the last 22 matches as a lower seeded team. Every year this team does amazing things at tournament time. Go Stanford!! Win the Battle of the Robber Barons!!!

RE: Women's Tennis: NCAA Semifinal vs. Duke - ColoradoTree - 05-21-2018

Stanford loses the doubles point again, but comes back with four singles wins again--from Higuchi, Shin, Lord, and Lampl with the clincher!

We move on to face #1 seed Vanderbilt in the final tomorrow at 1:00pm Eastern/10:00am Pacific--Stanford's third consecutive trip to the national title match. Vanderbilt won in Nashville 7-0, but we didn't have Lord in that one (and it was only our second match of the young season), so everyone was playing up a spot in the lineup (at that point, I was assuming Lord was our #1), and without a lot of match experience. At full strength, UTR pegs us as a favorite in 4 of 6 matches (note, the UTRs have been updated through the quarterfinals):

1. Gordon trails by 0.15
2. Lord trails by 0.05
3. Lampl leads by 0.18
4. Arbuthnott leads by 0.21
5. Shin leads by 0.35
6. Higuchi leads by 0.48

Vanderbilt had their own tough-fought semifinal today, beating Georgia Tech 4-2 on the strength of the doubles point, straight-set wins at #1 and #2, and a three-set win at #3, while suffering straight-set losses at #4 and #5 (Vandy was up a break in the third set on Court 6 when the match was abandoned).

Even playing out of position, Stanford was competitive in many matches:

* Gordon played Vanderbilt's Sharma close at #1, losing in three sets.
* Yee lost both sets at #6 in tiebreakers to Amanda Meyer, who now plays #4 for Vandy.
* Higuchi lost 7-6, 7-5 at Court 4
* Shin lost her match in a third-set tiebreaker.
* Lampl lost in three sets

Only Arbuthnott got smoked, and she was playing #2 then, against then-4th-ranked (now 10th-ranked) Contreras. It'll be a different story at Court 4 against Meyer. We'll have just two rematches: Gordon vs. Sharma at 1 and Lampl vs. Rosca at 3; the rest will be different matchups.

RE: Women's Tennis: NCAA Semifinal vs. Duke - PVTree - 05-21-2018

Just saw that Vandy had beaten Tech earlier in the day 4-2 so it’s the Dores in our way from the trophy.

They finally didn’t sweep a team...as Arnold said in Predator, if it bleeds, we can kill it. Vandy showed their vulnerability, we need to take advantage of that.

RE: Women's Tennis: NCAA Semifinal vs. Duke - qwerty49 - 05-21-2018

Great win! On the face of it, it looks like Vandy's strength is at the top, and, of course, ours is our depth. #3 might be the pivot point.

RE: Women's Tennis: NCAA Semifinal vs. Duke - martyup - 05-21-2018

How do we look against Vandy in doubles play?

RE: Women's Tennis: NCAA Semifinal vs. Duke - PVTree - 05-21-2018

I’ll be happily surprised if we win the doubles point. That has not been a strength of ours this post-season. I think we’ll need 4 singles’ wins again.

RE: Women's Tennis: NCAA Semifinal vs. Duke - BigEasyCard - 05-21-2018

(05-21-2018, 10:37 AM)martyup Wrote: ... I guess that pretty much seals the Directors Cup.

I've been tracking the potential minimum Cup points for our three currently competing teams: WTEN, WGOLF, MGOLF. Due to woofing concerns, I have not posted details.

However, I'm comfortable saying that we are now projected to be over 1,270 plus whatever points Baseball earns.

At the upper end of the Cup scale, incremental points are very hard to earn. Just consider how hard WTEN had to work to move from 50 points for 17th to a place in the Final and the opportunity to earn 100 points.

Geaux Cardinal!

RE: Women's Tennis: NCAA Semifinal vs. Duke - Spiny_Norman - 05-21-2018

A few historical notes.

Stanford and Vanderbilt have played in the finals before. Stanford defeated Vandy for the NC in 2001.

Stanford playing for the NC for the 14th time in the last 20 years.

The last time that there was no Pac 12 in the women's team final? 1998. This marks the 20th consecutive year a P12 school has played for the NC.

RE: Women's Tennis: NCAA Semifinal vs. Duke - ColoradoTree - 05-21-2018

(05-21-2018, 10:53 AM)martyup Wrote: How do we look against Vandy in doubles play?

Their #1 team of Sharma/Contreras is highly-ranked (#11) and has only lost three times in dual match play, so that'll be a battle that I can't totally predict (they beat Arbuthnott/Gordon 6-3 back in February). The rankings would favor Stanford in that match, but given overall results, recent form, and the head-to-head result, I'd give Vanderbilt the edge on that court.

But we have opportunities at 2 and 3. Kurtz/Smith has been something of a liability at Court 2, going 8-8 in the dual season. I think we have an edge there, even though that team is slightly higher-ranked than Lampl/Yee (that match was 5-5 in February when it was abandoned). At #3, both teams have only suffered two losses this season, and are playing lights out. So, it's a toss-up at #1, a slight Stanford edge at #2, and a toss-up at #3. (Higuchi/Shin lost 6-1 back in February, but they never really found chemistry as a pair--Lord and Shin have taken off together.) Don't be shocked if, yet again, the doubles point comes down to a close match at #3.

Of course, playing someone at their place is a lot different than playing at a neutral site. And with doubles being one standard set, anything can happen in a given match. I'll be elated if we get the doubles point, but I'm not counting on it.

After this win, Stanford is now 10-1 all-time vs. Duke in women's tennis (Duke's only win was in the '98 tournament semifinals). Of note, Duke had the highest winning percentage in the country this year on Courts 2 (Chi), 4 (Chen), and 5 (Hamlin). They cleaned up there this season. And we won two of three of those matches in straight sets, and were serving up a break in the third one. The way this team elevates its play in the postseason is an annual treat.

Also, while I was sort of rooting for two Pac-12 teams in the Final Four, for NCAA championship purposes, I'm very relieved UCLA lost in the quarterfinals. The Pac-12 served notice that at the top, it's as strong as anyone, and Stanford is the last Pac-12 team standing yet again. All to the good. (On that note, #2 UCLA is playing in the men's tennis semifinals right now vs. #3 Ohio State. Go Buckeyes! Even if the Bruins pull that one out, they'll probably play #1 Wake Forest tomorrow on Wake's home courts.)

The matches at the top two courts should be a terrific display tomorrow. Four players, all in/near the Top 10 in UTR, battling it out.

I'll do a more in-depth preview later, but I feel pretty safe about this prediction right now: we are not getting shut out tomorrow.

(05-21-2018, 10:58 AM)Spiny_Norman Wrote: The last time that there was no Pac 12 in the women's team final? 1998. This marks the 20th consecutive year a P12 school has played for the NC.

That is unbelievable. 13 of those years featured Stanford, including 9 titles. 6 appearances for UCLA (2 titles), and 2 appearances for Cal, but Cal lost both times, including to UCLA in 2008. (Cal has never won a NCAA women's tennis title. May it ever be so.)

Keep underestimating us, NCAA. We'll be just fine.

Also, it needs to be said.

*clears throat*

MELISSA LORD STILL HAS NOT LOST A MATCH IN NCAA TEAM PLAY. SHE IS NOW 14 AND 0.

Please pardon the shouting. 'Twas necessary.

RE: Women's Tennis: NCAA Semifinal vs. Duke - Canalejas - 05-21-2018

Over at the Men's semis Ohio State has taken the doubles point from UCLA.

RE: Women's Tennis: NCAA Semifinal vs. Duke - BostonCard - 05-21-2018

Kind of similar trajectories for the two teams:
Vanderbilt swept all its opponents until Georgia Tech: Alabama State 4-0, Clemson 4-0, Miami 4-0, Florida State 4-0, and Georgia Tech 4-2.
Stanford swept all its opponents but for a single game against North Carolina (4-1): St. John's 4-0, Michigan 4-0, North Carolina 4-1, Georgia 4-0, and Duke 4-2.

On the other hand, as the top seed Vandy has faced #16 (Miami) and #4 (Georgia Tech); it was spared from facing a seeded team in the quarterfinals when both #8 Oklahoma State and #9 Florida were upset.
Stanford has faced the #2 team (North Carolina), #7 team (Georgia), and #3 team (Duke). So our path has certainly been tougher.

BC

RE: Women's Tennis: NCAA Semifinal vs. Duke - ColoradoTree - 05-21-2018

UCLA just lost to Ohio State on the men’s side, so there’s a major championship opportunity down the drain for the Bruins!