NCAA Championship Women's Tennis: National Champions!!!

NCAA Championship Women's Tennis: National Champions!!! - Printable Version

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RE: Women's Tennis: National Champions!!! - StanfordMatt - 05-19-2019

(05-19-2019, 06:25 PM)terry Wrote: A suggestion to next year's NCAA women's tennis tournament committee -- When you're doing the seedings, take into account human polls, computer rankings, strength of schedule, W/L record, conference titles, conference tournaments, head-to-head results, and UTRs . . . then give the top seed to Stanford. Because Stanford has been making a mockery of your seedings for years. It's time to recognize it and admit that Stanford is #1.

My suggestion to NCAA tennis at large - get rid of no-AD scoring. It's a cheap ploy to make the sport more friendly for TV that makes a mockery of the game. Imagine Federer and Nadal playing a match at Wimbledon where one point represents a match point and a break point simultaneously. It's absurd and the quality of tennis exhibited by these women is too good for such gimmicks.

But enough ranting, bravo to the women of Stanford Tennis (and Frankie) and thanks to ColoradoTree for all of the updates!

RE: Women's Tennis: National Champions!!! - 2006alum - 05-19-2019

I'm horrified to discover that inexplicably Lele has only been named ITA coach of the year TWICE. Ever. Nine (now Ten) National Championships and she's only won it twice?!

RE: Women's Tennis: National Champions!!! - d4cohn - 05-19-2019

(05-19-2019, 06:04 PM)Canalejas Wrote: This is only the 6th time a school has won at least 5 NCAA team titles in one season:

1981-82, UCLA
1991-92, Stanford
1994-95, Stanford
1996-97, Stanford*
1997-98, Stanford
2018-19, Stanford

*6 championships

A generational accomplishment for the best athletics department in the country! Just sensational.

RE: Women's Tennis: National Champions!!! - 82lsju - 05-19-2019

Quote:The most storied program in college tennis and the winningest program at Stanford added to its impressive collection of championship trophies. The No. 3 Cardinal captured its 20th NCAA Championship in women's tennis with a 4-0 victory over No. 2 Georgia Sunday evening at the USTA National Campus.

Playing in its fourth consecutive NCAA final, Stanford (28-1, 10-0 Pac-12) won its second straight title and 21st national championship overall (20 NCAA, 1 AIAW). The Cardinal has now won 23 straight matches, avenging its only defeat of the 2019 season, a 4-3 setback to the Bulldogs back on Feb. 11 in the ITA National Indoor Championships.

https://gostanford.com/news/2019/5/19/womens-tennis-never-gets-old.aspx?utm_source=eother_&utm_medium=text_2019-05-19_1A2MIA&utm_campaign=womenstennis_ncaachamp_recap__none

RE: Women's Tennis: National Champions!!! - BostonCard - 05-19-2019

(05-19-2019, 07:46 PM)82lsju Wrote:
Quote:The most storied program in college tennis and the winningest program at Stanford added to its impressive collection of championship trophies. The No. 3 Cardinal captured its 20th NCAA Championship in women's tennis with a 4-0 victory over No. 2 Georgia Sunday evening at the USTA National Campus.

Playing in its fourth consecutive NCAA final, Stanford (28-1, 10-0 Pac-12) won its second straight title and 21st national championship overall (20 NCAA, 1 AIAW). The Cardinal has now won 23 straight matches, avenging its only defeat of the 2019 season, a 4-3 setback to the Bulldogs back on Feb. 11 in the ITA National Indoor Championships.

https://gostanford.com/news/2019/5/19/womens-tennis-never-gets-old.aspx?utm_source=eother_&utm_medium=text_2019-05-19_1A2MIA&utm_campaign=womenstennis_ncaachamp_recap__none

Wait, how did the second and third seeded teams wind up playing in the final? Shouldn’t Georgia have been the #1 team?

BC

RE: Women's Tennis: National Champions!!! - Nan3cy - 05-19-2019

(05-19-2019, 09:00 PM)BostonCard Wrote:
(05-19-2019, 07:46 PM)82lsju Wrote:
Quote:The most storied program in college tennis and the winningest program at Stanford added to its impressive collection of championship trophies. The No. 3 Cardinal captured its 20th NCAA Championship in women's tennis with a 4-0 victory over No. 2 Georgia Sunday evening at the USTA National Campus.

Playing in its fourth consecutive NCAA final, Stanford (28-1, 10-0 Pac-12) won its second straight title and 21st national championship overall (20 NCAA, 1 AIAW). The Cardinal has now won 23 straight matches, avenging its only defeat of the 2019 season, a 4-3 setback to the Bulldogs back on Feb. 11 in the ITA National Indoor Championships.

https://gostanford.com/news/2019/5/19/womens-tennis-never-gets-old.aspx?utm_source=eother_&utm_medium=text_2019-05-19_1A2MIA&utm_campaign=womenstennis_ncaachamp_recap__none

Wait, how did the second and third seeded teams wind up playing in the final? Shouldn’t Georgia have been the #1 team?

BC

It was. I think there was an error in the GoStanford story. The #2 seed was UNC.

RE: Women's Tennis: National Champions!!! - Spiny_Norman - 05-19-2019

I think this is now the greatest year ever for Stanford women's sports. I don't think the women have ever previously won 4 national championships in a single academic year.

RE: Women's Tennis: Team Finals - qwerty49 - 05-19-2019

(05-19-2019, 05:56 PM)ColoradoTree Wrote: It’s been a heck of a ride, folks. Thanks for sharing it with me.

Thank you Colorado Tree, for making it such a fun ride!

RE: Women's Tennis: Team Finals - GK3 - 05-20-2019

(05-19-2019, 10:18 PM)qwerty49 Wrote:
(05-19-2019, 05:56 PM)ColoradoTree Wrote: It’s been a heck of a ride, folks. Thanks for sharing it with me.

Thank you Colorado Tree, for making it such a fun ride!

Can't help but wonder how the team will shape up for next year. Obviously we will miss Lampl and Lord. What kind of class do we have coming in, and who do we figure to step up and fill the two spots held by our great Seniors?

RE: Women's Tennis: National Champions!!! - ColoradoTree - 05-20-2019

(05-19-2019, 07:14 PM)2006alum Wrote: I'm horrified to discover that inexplicably Lele has only been named ITA coach of the year TWICE. Ever. Nine (now Ten) National Championships and she's only won it twice?!

It's like LeBron not winning MVP every year at his peak. When greatness is so obvious, people get bored with it and don't want to recognize it for what it is. But she's absurd.

(05-19-2019, 09:43 PM)Nan3cy Wrote:
(05-19-2019, 09:00 PM)BostonCard Wrote: Wait, how did the second and third seeded teams wind up playing in the final? Shouldn’t Georgia have been the #1 team?

BC

It was. I think there was an error in the GoStanford story. The #2 seed was UNC.

Georgia was the #2 ranked team, but the #1 overall seed, while UNC was the #1 ranked team, but the #2 overall seed. The NCAA committee generally sticks very closely to the final ITA rankings when determining seeds, but sometimes they'll swap seed lines when two teams' resumes are similar but the team that is slightly behind won the head-to-head matchup, and that was the case here, with Georgia beating UNC 4-3 back at the Indoor Nationals final.

I think GoStanford's style choice introduced confusion rather than dispelling it, so they should have either stuck with seed alone or said something like, "North Carolina had the #1 ranking. Georgia beat the Tar Heels in the regular season, so the Bulldogs got the #1 seed. But it doesn't matter which team was #1, because Stanford is now."

(05-19-2019, 10:18 PM)qwerty49 Wrote:
(05-19-2019, 05:56 PM)ColoradoTree Wrote: It’s been a heck of a ride, folks. Thanks for sharing it with me.

Thank you Colorado Tree, for making it such a fun ride!

My pleasure, folks. My absolute pleasure.

RE: Women's Tennis: National Champions!!! - BobK - 05-20-2019

Colorado Tree you have been awesome. Thank you

However let’s talk next year please :). :)

RE: Women's Tennis: National Champions!!! - ColoradoTree - 05-20-2019

(05-19-2019, 06:50 PM)StanfordMatt Wrote:
(05-19-2019, 06:25 PM)terry Wrote: A suggestion to next year's NCAA women's tennis tournament committee -- When you're doing the seedings, take into account human polls, computer rankings, strength of schedule, W/L record, conference titles, conference tournaments, head-to-head results, and UTRs . . . then give the top seed to Stanford. Because Stanford has been making a mockery of your seedings for years. It's time to recognize it and admit that Stanford is #1.

My suggestion to NCAA tennis at large - get rid of no-AD scoring. It's a cheap ploy to make the sport more friendly for TV that makes a mockery of the game. Imagine Federer and Nadal playing a match at Wimbledon where one point represents a match point and a break point simultaneously. It's absurd and the quality of tennis exhibited by these women is too good for such gimmicks.

But enough ranting, bravo to the women of Stanford Tennis (and Frankie) and thanks to ColoradoTree for all of the updates!

I really dislike no-ad scoring, and now that college tennis has a tennis-specific TV home rather than a general sports TV home (if you can call ESPN3 a "TV" home), I wonder whether they'll reconsider it. It's undeniably exciting, and I'm growing more and more used to it as time goes on, but in my mind, winning each game by two points is essential to tennis.

As to the seeding, I'm not sure how much we can really complain about being the #3 seed (if this were basketball, we still got a 1 seed, after all). We lost to Georgia in the regular season, and so did North Carolina. Both teams' only loss. Plus, I think UNC had a slightly harder schedule than we did, so the seeding felt right this year (albeit for the first time in years). ITA ranking and UTR converged this year, too, in a way they didn't last year. We were the #15 seed last year, but the #1 team according to UTR Power 6. This year, we were the #3 seed, and I think the #4 or #5 team according to UTR Power 6.

But the broader point--this team finds another gear in May that other teams can't match--is true enough. How much must North Carolina hate us? Three years in a row, they've been the #2 seed in the tournament. And three years in a row, they lose to Stanford, as the #15, as the #7, and as the #3.

FYI, Melissa Lord was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player, and made the All-Tournament Team at #2 singles. Shin joined her as the selection at #5 singles, while Arbuthnott/Gordon made it at #2 doubles, and Lord/Shin made it at #3 doubles.

They don't play doubles together for months, and they make the NCAA All-Tournament Team. Funny sport, this.

Here's the full list:

1. Katarina Jokic, Georgia
2. Melissa Lord, Stanford
3. Sara Daavettila, North Carolina
4. Vivian Wolff, Georgia
5. Janice Shin, Stanford
6. Meg Kowalski, Georgia

Jokic/Carle got the nod at #1 doubles, too.

Odd to see a team winning it all and only put two players on the all-tournament team, but I can see the rationale for each particular spot. Hard to give it to us at #6, when we rolled out three different players. Jokic is deserving at #1, and she was leading Gordon when the match was clinched, after all. Lampl not getting it at #3 is debatable, but she had a 4-0 win over UNC on her racket, and she ended up losing that set and the match, while Daavettila was undefeated for the tournament.

RE: Women's Tennis: National Champions!!! - ColoradoTree - 05-20-2019

(05-20-2019, 07:42 AM)BobK Wrote: Colorado Tree you have been awesome. Thank you

However let’s talk next year please :). :)

Ha! Well, from what we saw from Choy and Madurawe in the NCAA tournament, I'm pretty optimistic about how they'll settle into the lineup, assuming one of them doesn't get jumped by our incoming freshmen, Angelica Blake and Nicole Mossmer.

In doubles, you can safely assume Arbuthnott/Gordon will be the #1 pair, but the fall season will be a time for seeing how the rest of the roster plays together and who has chemistry. Your guess on the #2 and #3 pairs is as good as mine, but both Shin and Madurawe have shown themselves to be good doubles players, so I'd expect them to be somewhere in that lineup.

In singles, Gordon is your clear-cut #1 and Arbuthnott your #2, and I assume Shin will play #3, but after that it gets a little murkier. Do you play Higuchi at #4, knowing how much she can struggle against bigger hitters? Does the current ordering between Madurawe and Choy stick, or does one player take a bigger leap than the other in terms of development this summer and fall? (Recall that Lampl played #5 as a freshman and Lord played #6 when we beat Oklahoma State in the final, but Lord improved faster than Lampl did.) It's hard to know how that'll shake out, but I think we should reasonably have more confidence that they'll be just fine in regular lineup spots next year.

But we lose three big contributors. Not just the on-court talent, but Lord with her clutch gene, and Lampl as the hardest hitter and the heartbeat of the team. Yee may have only played doubles, but she did it well, and her chemistry with her classmate was evident. The team will have to settle into new roles, and new leaders will need to step up.

Losing great players to graduation happens, of course. And Stanford has survived it better than most. In 2016, we won a national championship behind two great seniors, Caroline Doyle and Taylor Davidson (who is another all-time competitor whose passion always seemed like a catalyst for team success). We made it to the NCAA final the very next season, and won it all the year after that.

RE: Women's Tennis: National Champions!!! - ColoradoTree - 05-20-2019

In terms of our national competition, let's look at the final top 10 teams, at least in the pre-NCAA rankings:

1. UNC: UNC loses Jessie Aney and Chloe Ouellet-Pizer, but Aney played #5 and Ouellet-Pizer was generally on the outside looking in when it came to singles this year.
2. Georgia: the biggest concern is that Georgia returns everybody, so they have to be your preseason #1.
3. Stanford: see above
4. South Carolina loses three players, including their top two singles players, but they're bringing in a large recruiting class, with three players who look like they can step in and contribute right away. But I would expect South Carolina to take a bit of a dip next year.
5. Duke loses #4 Ellyse Hamlin and #5 Kaitlyn McCarthy, both of whom played either #1 or #2 doubles, so Duke has a couple of key holes to fill, even though the top of their lineup will be unchanged, but they've got a Top 5 recruit coming in, so I expect they'll be fine.
6. Pepperdine only loses #4 Dzina Milovanovic for sure, but it's never certain in tennis that players who have redshirted come back, so you may not see Jessica Failla (who'll be a redshirt senior) return, either. True to form, Pepperdine has a Norwegian and a Swede coming in, but I don't know much about them.
7. UCLA: see below
8. Vanderbilt loses the great Fernanda Contreras as well as Emily Smith and Summer Dvorak, both of whom regularly played at #5 and #6. They won't disappear, however, as they bring in a blue chip and a couple of five stars (one of whom looks like she easily could have been a blue chip, too, at least based on UTR).
9. Texas only loses Katie Poluta, who played #5 and #6 for the Longhorns this year. But that will be a very experienced team next year.
10. Washington: see below

Pac-12 competition:

* UCLA: the Bruins lose three contributors from their lineup, #3 Ayan Broomfield, #4 Alaina Miller, and sometimes-#6 Gabby Andrews. Jada Hart is a redshirt junior, too, so there's no guarantee she comes back for a 5th year. UCLA has the #2 recruiting class in the country right now, though, with two Top 10 recruits coming in, so they can reload quickly enough. If Hart doesn't come back, though, that'll mean a very young team that could struggle to find its way.

* Washington: the Huskies lose #1 Stacey Fung and #4 Kenadi Hance and right now only have one recruit coming in, another Canadian player. But without Fung, I'd expect Washington to take a step back.

* USC loses #3 Rianna Valdes but is bringing a blue chip and a couple other recruits to fill the gap. They should be right there again next year.

* Cal loses #2 Olivia Hauger and #5 Maria Smith, and the only recruit I'm aware of is a New Zealand player who looks promising.

* Washington State loses two major contributors, #2/#3 Tiffany Mylonas and #5/#6 Aneta Miksovska, and recruiting looks light so far, but I'd expect another international recruit or two before the fall.

* Arizona State returns everyone, so I'd expect a strong season from them.

Overall:

I think Georgia and UNC are your consensus top two teams next year, given how strong their returning players are. And Duke, Pepperdine, and Texas will all have very good, experienced rosters, too. But we'll be right there, and I don't see anyone in the Pac-12 that I would expect to unseat us, though USC should be improved and UCLA will have plenty of talent, albeit a lot of young talent. I'm excited to see how our players do in fall tournaments, and we will learn a lot about our roster at Indoor Nationals next year, that's for sure. In the Pac-12, I'd expect Stanford, UCLA, and USC to be the clear top three but with more separation after that, though ASU should be better, WSU will be dangerous, and UW and Cal will likely take a step back. It's not like this season, where as defending champions returning the entire lineup, we were the clear preseason #1. Yes, we have more blue chips to plug the holes left behind those we lose, but you don't easily replace Melissa Lord or Caroline Lampl.

For our prospects, I want to know the answer to several questions:

1. How much does Gordon improve? She was more reliable at #1 this year than last year, but does she take the next step to the point where we feel good about winning at #1 in most matches?

2. How does Arbuthnott handle consistently stronger competition at #2? We know from fall tournaments that she has that gear in her to beat top players, but we also see her grind out tough, long matches against middling opponents. How does her style of play fit against a consistently higher class of competition?

3. How high does Higuchi climb in the lineup, and how soon does Lele realize that Higuchi might just be better off playing at #6 again?

4. How much of a leap do Choy and Madurawe take in the offseason? There's no guarantee both make the singles lineup, after all. The top three are spoken for, Higuchi's still here, and Blake and Mossmer are knocking on the door, so it should be a great competition to see who ends up in the back half of the lineup.

5. Does Blake or Mossmer come in and take a spot in singles? If one does, my money is on Blake. If so, who gets left out--Madurawe, Choy, or Higuchi?

6. How strong can we get in doubles, with a need for two new teams? We were inconsistent in doubles this year, but we delivered in the two biggest matches of the year, too. Can we do enough work and find the right chemistry to build doubles to the level where the doubles point is expected, even against better competition?

It got lost in the shuffle, as we were focused on more important matters, but on Saturday, the ITA announced regional award winners, and we took home a few of them for our Northwest region:

Coach of the Year: Lele Forood
Assistant Coach of the Year: Frankie Brennan
Senior Player of the Year: Melissa Lord

Rookie of the Year went to WSU's Hikaru Sato, which seems right.

The national ITA awards were announced yesterday, and yet again, Lele did not win Coach of the Year. No Stanford players won any awards, either. But we won the trophy, so that's all that matters.

This recap of Stanford's win over Georgia has some nice video of the post-match interviews with Lele, Shin, Lord, and Lampl.

https://www.collegetennistoday.com/item/1852-ncaa-women-s-championship-recap-stanford-wins-20th-ncaa-national-title-with-shutout-over-georgia.html

What an odd thing to clinch a national championship when three other courts are still playing. Gordon, Arbuthnott, and Higuchi were rightly locked into their own matches, so the moment of the clinch itself was more understated than we're used to. Not a dead sprint by the whole team from the next court over to tackle the victor, because there was tennis still being played on both #4 and #6!

I appreciated the wider angle, because you could see Georgia's Wolff at #4 hold off serving for nearly the entirety of that match point in case it ended quickly. I love the side angle, too, with Higuchi going back to get a ball that was hit out by her opponent, she glances over to watch Shin's point, and you can see her mouth go wide when that last lob falls out, but she doesn't raise her arms or run toward Shin for a couple seconds.

RE: Women's Tennis: National Champions!!! - ColoradoTree - 05-20-2019

A quick look back at the team careers of Melissa Lord and Caroline Lampl:

Melissa Lord
3 NCAA championships
4 Pac-12 championships
5x NCAA All-Tournament Team (#6 singles in 2016, #2 singles in 2017, 2018, 2019, #3 doubles in 2019)
Career 20-1 record in NCAA team play
101 career singles wins

Caroline Lampl
3 NCAA championships
4 Pac-12 championships
2x NCAA All-Tournament Team (#5 singles in 2016, #3 singles in 2018)
Career 15-3 record in NCAA team play
107 career singles wins

A couple of absolute legends to add to our long list.

RE: Women's Tennis: National Champions!!! - BostonCard - 05-20-2019

Who the hell did win coach of the year?

BC

RE: Women's Tennis: National Champions!!! - ColoradoTree - 05-20-2019

(05-20-2019, 10:04 AM)BostonCard Wrote: Who the hell did win coach of the year?

BC

South Carolina's coach. Best season in school history, including their first SEC championship, and finished ranked #4. Definitely exceeded expectations the most, so a similar rationale to why Washington's head coach got Pac-12 Coach of the Year.

Basically, I only think Lele is going to win Coach of the Year in those years where (1) Stanford wins a national championship, and (2) it's a very chalky year overall, with no one jumping 30 spots in the rankings from the previous year. It may not be fair, but it seems like the standards are so high for her that even when she meets them, the ITA shrugs. ("Great, you repeated as national champion with the same roster that won it all last year. We assumed you'd do that.") I wonder if she gets dinged because of the perception that we have so much talent (we do), so the coaching job itself is necessarily less impressive than a coach who takes some less highly-touted recruits and turns them into a contender. Of course, that ignores the coach's role in recruiting that talent.

Anyone who watches this team's improvement over the course of the year and how mentally tough they are in Pac-12s and NCAAs would be hard pressed to say anyone other than Lele Forood is the best coach in the country. And that's true every year.

RE: Women's Tennis: National Champions!!! - BostonCard - 05-20-2019

(05-20-2019, 10:18 AM)ColoradoTree Wrote:
(05-20-2019, 10:04 AM)BostonCard Wrote: Who the hell did win coach of the year?

BC

South Carolina's coach. Best season in school history, including their first SEC championship, and finished ranked #4. Definitely exceeded expectations the most, so a similar rationale to why Washington's head coach got Pac-12 Coach of the Year.

Basically, I only think Lele is going to win Coach of the Year in those years where (1) Stanford wins a national championship, and (2) it's a very chalky year overall, with no one jumping 30 spots in the rankings from the previous year. It may not be fair, but it seems like the standards are so high for her that even when she meets them, the ITA shrugs. ("Great, you repeated as national champion with the same roster that won it all last year. We assumed you'd do that.") I wonder if she gets dinged because of the perception that we have so much talent (we do), so the coaching job itself is necessarily less impressive than a coach who takes some less highly-touted recruits and turns them into a contender. Of course, that ignores the coach's role in recruiting that talent.

Anyone who watches this team's improvement over the course of the year and how mentally tough they are in Pac-12s and NCAAs would be hard pressed to say anyone other than Lele Forood is the best coach in the country. And that's true every year.

OK, I guess that is reasonable. This year probably was not the year to get upset over Lele's omission, though the coaching in the NCAA championship was masterful. As in, we romped through it despite not being the top seed. I mean, we won the title 4-0, with the three singles matches being won in straight sets. Still, while you can make allowances on any given year, looking at her career and only 2 coach of the year honors... somewhere there is a disconnect.

By the way, in college, recruiting the best players is part of the job requirement.

BC

RE: Women's Tennis: National Champions!!! - qwerty49 - 05-20-2019

I wonder if there’s a stat for exceeding expectations, ie how many times a player beat an opponent who was “favored” on paper.

Obviously if you keep beating higher-ranked players it becomes a moving target.

RE: Women's Tennis: National Champions!!! - terry - 05-20-2019

Forood's two Coach of the Year awards came in 2003, a year in which Stanford lost in the finals, and in 2018, in which Stanford won the championship as a #15 seed.

Forood was not named Coach of the Year in any of the years of her other 9 NCAA championships. Forood went undefeated in four of those seasons (2001, 2004, 2005, and 2006), had just one loss in two other seasons (2002 and 2019), and won championships as an #8 seed (2010), a #12 seed (2013), and a #15 seed (2016).