Women's Tennis: ITA Indoor Nationals

Women's Tennis: ITA Indoor Nationals - Printable Version

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RE: Women's Tennis: ITA Indoor Nationals - oldalum - 02-09-2020

We lost all 6 first sets. Can't remember that ever happening before -- has it?
And we're ahead in only one second set (Gordon)

-------------------------------
And Blake is the first to go down: 2-6 1-6.
2-0 UCLA
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And Arbuthnott is second: 2-6 0-6
3-0 UCLA
Higuchi is 2 games points away from losing. This has the makings of an epic beat-down.
Gordon is serving to win set 2, would be good to get that in before the match ends.
----------------------------
Gordon won the set before Higuchi lost.
We're clearly not on UCLA's level at this time. The loss won't hurt us, and it's good for the team to see where they need to get to in order to be competitive.
Will be interesting to see how UCLA does against UNC: the two are clear favorites right now to win it all.

RE: Women's Tennis: ITA Indoor Nationals - BostonCard - 02-09-2020

Well, Gordon won a set, so we won’t be shut out in terms of sets.

BC

RE: Women's Tennis: ITA Indoor Nationals - martyup - 02-09-2020

UNCLE!

RE: Women's Tennis: ITA Indoor Nationals - BostonCard - 02-09-2020

It’s over. High hi falls and we got beat down by UCLA 4-0. Moreover, both Sarah Choy and Janice Shin were down a set, with Shin down a break i the second set. Had they played out, I think we would have lost 7-0, or at best 6-1.

Ugh.

BC

RE: Women's Tennis: ITA Indoor Nationals - martyup - 02-09-2020

Poop

RE: Women's Tennis: ITA Indoor Nationals - ColoradoTree - 02-09-2020

Ok, looking for the bright side:

1. Gordon fought like she hadn’t all tournament. If she’s back and fully healthy? We’re a better team.

2. Choy and Shin were fighting hard. I’ll take losses if we’re fighting.

3. The team took a drubbing. If there were any complacency in this team, it ought to be gone now. We know we’re not good enough now. We know the standard we’re not meeting, so we know what we’ll need to do.

4. UCLA is going to be a top 3 team all year. That loss isn’t going to hurt much at all, rankings-wise. We’ve got the chance to get better without taking too big of a rankings hit.

RE: Women's Tennis: ITA Indoor Nationals - ColoradoTree - 02-10-2020

If you're interested, UCLA and UNC are playing right now. UCLA took #1 doubles easily, but UNC did the same with #2 doubles, so it all comes down to Court 3, where UNC was serving for the set and the doubles point, up 5-4, but UCLA went up 0-40, UNC came back to 40-40, but UCLA broke on deciding point to tie it up at 5 apiece. Good college tennis to be seen, if you can stomach it after yesterday's disappointment.

UNC takes the doubles point after a 7-5 win on Court 3. Wow. I figured UCLA would win doubles and UNC would find a way to get at least four singles wins, but that's a mild shock of a result in doubles.

RE: Women's Tennis: ITA Indoor Nationals - ColoradoTree - 02-10-2020

Wowza. UNC rolls right over UCLA, 4-0. That's right, folks. A team that shut us out just got shut out themselves. Yikes. UNC got straight-set singles wins on Courts 1, 4, and 5, while Courts 2 and 3 were on serve in third sets and UNC's Sanford was two points away from her own straight-set win on Court 6.

RE: Women's Tennis: ITA Indoor Nationals - BostonCard - 02-10-2020

Congrats to UNC, who I think we all have believed to have been the odds on favorite to win the whole thing. It's clear that we have a ways to go to get to that level, and that may not happen this year.

On the other hand, you never know what will happen. I expected our volleyball team to march through the season, and an injury to our best player certainly made it a struggle (of course, she came back and we utterly dominated the NCAA's).

BC

RE: Women's Tennis: ITA Indoor Nationals - oldalum - 02-10-2020

yowza indeed. The team will spend the next month gearing up to beat UCLA on March 7 at Taube, which I think is possible though tough. But I'm ready to concede the national title to UNC at this point.

This underscores how impressive our 5-2 win vs. UNC was in the national semifinal last year. UNC's team this year is the exact same as last year's with the sole exception of losing graduated senior Jessica Aney at #5 singles and replacing her with frosh Elizabeth Scotty at #4 singles.

RE: Women's Tennis: ITA Indoor Nationals - ColoradoTree - 02-10-2020

(02-09-2020, 04:05 PM)oldalum Wrote: We lost all 6 first sets. Can't remember that ever happening before -- has it?

So, I looked into this. The match that stood out to me as a possibility was the 7-0 loss we took at Vanderbilt two years ago, but in that one, both Gordon (at 1) and Lampl (at 3) took first sets. Against Texas later that same season, we lost 5 of 6 first sets (Shin was the only one to book one). The answer, as best I could tell, is February 2015, when we lost 4-3 to Florida. We won a tight doubles point, but then dropped all first sets in singles. Now, Zhao (at 1) and Davidson (at 2) both came back to win their matches, but that 4-3 loss to Florida appears to be the last time a Stanford women's tennis team dropped all six first sets in singles in a losing effort. FWIW, that season saw Stanford lose 4-1 to Georgia in the NCAA quarterfinals.

This wasn't comprehensive, as I just looked at matches we lost, thinking there would be a higher likelihood of it happening there. But I suppose it's possible that something close to that 2015 Florida match happened in a 4-3 win rather than a 4-3 loss.

(02-10-2020, 03:53 PM)oldalum Wrote: yowza indeed. The team will spend the next month gearing up to beat UCLA on March 7 at Taube, which I think is possible though tough. But I'm ready to concede the national title to UNC at this point.

This underscores how impressive our 5-2 win vs. UNC was in the national semifinal last year. UNC's team this year is the exact same as last year's with the sole exception of losing graduated senior Jessica Aney at #5 singles and replacing her with frosh Elizabeth Scotty at #4 singles.

It is indeed hard to see how we measure up to UNC this year, given that talent differential. But it's worthwhile to consider what a "down year" means for this program, at least recently, looking at how this team has finished in each year under Lele:

2019: NCAA Champions
2018: NCAA Champions
2017: NCAA Runner-Up
2016: NCAA Champions
2015: NCAA Quarterfinals
2014: NCAA Semifinals
2013: NCAA Champions
2012: NCAA Quarterfinals
2011: NCAA Runner-Up
2010: NCAA Champions
2009: NCAA Round of 16
2008: NCAA Quarterfinals
2007: NCAA Semifinals
2006: NCAA Champions
2005: NCAA Champions
2004: NCAA Champions
2003: NCAA Runner-Up
2002: NCAA Champions
2001: NCAA Champions

Crazy to think that the one NCAA Round of 16 appearance is the very worst this team has done in recent memory. In 19 season, that's 10 titles, 3 runner-up finishes, 2 times we lost in the semis, and 3 times we've lost in the quarters.

This sure looks like one of those quarterfinal-type years. But the last two times Stanford has lost in the quarters, they won the national title the next year. Not to close the book on this year yet, but UNC loses Graham, Daavettila, and Jones after this year. They'll still be great, but they won't be this good. (UCLA, though, returns everyone except for Jada Hart, so I'm rooting for an early departure for Bolton or Forbes. I'm not relishing facing that top two for two more years after this.)

RE: Women's Tennis: ITA Indoor Nationals - oldalum - 02-10-2020

We are losing Arbuthnott and Higuchi after this season. Ideally we could use a couple of frosh who can step in at the 2-3-4 slots. I don't know who we are getting, are they that good?

Cardinal77 - Cardinal77 - 02-10-2020

(02-10-2020, 05:05 PM)oldalum Wrote: We are losing Arbuthnott and Higuchi after this season. Ideally we could use a couple of frosh who can step in at the 2-3-4 slots. I don't know who we are getting, are they that good?

It appears that two strong players are coming in next year: Ana Geller, from Argentina & sister of the men's team #1 ranked player, Axel Geller and heavily recruited. (Her current ITF ranking is 42). India Houghton, #3 ranked American college recruit (Her current ITF rank is 73)

RE: Women's Tennis: ITA Indoor Nationals - oldalum - 02-10-2020

Excellent! In the meantime, there is plenty of good tennis to watch and cheer for, and it would be great to put another dent in UCLA's resume.

RE: Women's Tennis: ITA Indoor Nationals - ColoradoTree - 02-13-2020

FYI, we're now #3 in the latest team rankings (behind UNC and UCLA), which is fair but still seems a bit generous. Here's the latest Top 25:

1. UNC (up 1)
2. UCLA (up 4)
3. Stanford (down 2)
4. Florida State (up 5)
5. N.C. State (up 3)
6. Duke (down 1)
7. Texas
8. Georgia (down 5)
9. Princeton (down 8)
10. Ohio State (up 2)
11. Pepperdine (down 5)
12. Michigan (down 2)
13. Virginia (down 2)
14. Oklahoma State (up 2)
15. Vanderbilt (down 2)
16. UCF (down 1)
17. Georgia Tech (up 2)
18. Arizona State (down 4)
19. USC
20. Texas A&M (down 2)
21. Cal
22. Tennessee (down 2)
23. Washington
24. Florida
25. South Carolina

**

So, through 6 matches, Stanford has wins over #12 and #17 with a loss to #2. Starting with next week's rankings, we'll get a top 50, which is what we'll see for the rest of the season (and then we'll get a top 75 once the season is over). Next week is also the first set of computer rankings for the year, so expect Stanford to dip a little further, given that other teams have a stronger resume so far.

Stanford plays UC Davis tomorrow at 3:00pm in their only match of the weekend. Anything other than a 4-0/7-0 win would be disappointing, so watch for that if you're of a mind. But the schedule doesn't give us much reason to tune in. (Other teams have good matches this weekend, of course. But Lele decided not to play a second match this weekend at all, let alone against a decent team.)

Things get more interesting the following weekend, when we travel to Austin, TX for a match against TCU and one against #7 Texas. Winning there would be equivalent to beating the #4 team on a home/neutral court due to the road win bonus, but we have to win first. Texas is probably a little better than Michigan, and you saw how much we struggled to beat them on a neutral court. But I think with doubles and Courts 5/6, we're in the mix, and then we just need one of our top 4 to grab a win.

RE: Women's Tennis: ITA Indoor Nationals - oldalum - 02-13-2020

Texas has 6 int'l players and 2 from the U.S. The two who are NOT playing in the lineup are -- wait for it -- the two Americans. I was hoping the pesky Turati twins would have graduated by now, but no, they're seniors. Gordon beat Bianca last year at #1 singles, so let's hope she can do it again. I'm not sure where we can get any other wins in the top 4 though. Their coach will have them pumped at the chance to beat us at home. Last year they got out of playing us here because of the wildfire smoke, IIRC.

RE: Women's Tennis: ITA Indoor Nationals - ColoradoTree - 02-13-2020

(02-13-2020, 09:50 AM)oldalum Wrote: Texas has 6 int'l players and 2 from the U.S. The two who are NOT playing in the lineup are -- wait for it -- the two Americans. I was hoping the pesky Turati twins would have graduated by now, but no, they're seniors. Gordon beat Bianca last year at #1 singles, so let's hope she can do it again. I'm not sure where we can get any other wins in the top 4 though. Their coach will have them pumped at the chance to beat us at home. Last year they got out of playing us here because of the wildfire smoke, IIRC.

I think it was the rain, if memory serves. Couldn't get dry courts! (Which shouldn't be a factor, when good indoor facilities are close at hand, but that's another matter.) We did beat them at National Indoors last year, at least.

As for the matchup, I think Blake has a decent shot to win on Court 3 against Texas. Texas has a great top 2, but they're vulnerable after that. Her match against likely Adri Nagy would be a freshman-freshman matchup, so that would be intriguing. So far, Texas has played four good teams--N.C. State, Georgia Tech, Florida State, and Ohio State. In those four matches, Nagy won a three-setter, lost a three-setter, and lost twice in straight sets (albeit competitively, 6-3, 6-4 in both of those matches). Blake can beat her.

Shin against Labrana, though? She should beat her, but my confidence level in Shin right now is, uh, low.

Anyway, that's probably the recipe against Texas. Either get doubles and three wins from Courts 1, 3, 5, and 6, or lose doubles and get all four of those matches. Not easy, however you look at it.

RE: Women's Tennis: ITA Indoor Nationals - oldalum - 02-13-2020

(02-13-2020, 01:16 PM)ColoradoTree Wrote: I think it was the rain, if memory serves.

you're right, I think they actually flew out here and then just flew home without playing.

Doubles will be a tough point. The Turati twins at #1 doubles, in addition to being elite singles players and seniors, are very experienced at playing together, and they might have that twin ESP thing going as well. I think we'll need to win at #2 (good chance there) and it will all come down to #3.