[ColoradoTree]

Lord's perfect 14-0 record gets some play (and rightly so), but it made me wonder what our other players' career NCAA tournament records are.  Here they are, with this year in parentheses:

1. Gordon 0-1 (0-1)
2. Lord 14-0 (4-0)
3. Lampl 10-2 (3-0)
4. Arbuthnott 7-1 (3-0)
5. Shin 3-0 (3-0)
6. Higuchi 8-1 (4-0)

Interestingly, Lampl was 5-0 her freshman year (including a terrific 3-set win over Vandy's Contreras), 2-2 last year, and 3-0 so far this year.  Shows growth, to me, at least.  Crushed the #5 spot as a freshman, struggled against better teams at the #4 spot as a sophomore, but has continued to improve and is really coming into her own at the #3 spot as a junior.  

Assuming everyone comes back and Lampl continues to improve, can you imagine how dominant she's going to be at the #3 spot behind Lord and Gordon next year?  (I think the #1 spot is up for grabs between those two.)  My goodness, our roster will be great.  Depth, as always, will be our strength, but here's how next year's lineup looks:

1. Lord/Gordon
2. Lord/Gordon
3. Lampl
4. Arbuthnott
5. Shin
6. Higuchi

Looks familiar, eh?  I know today's the national championship match and everything, but I am excited about next year.  And that's before we get to the bench: Kimberly Yee and incoming freshmen Sara Choy and Niluka Madurawe.

That is three blue chips on the bench, people.  That's not even fair.  No one is displacing Higuchi from the #6 spot in the lineup in crunch time, but you have to imagine that Lele is going to want to do some shuffling at the bottom of the lineup to get Choy and Madurawe some match experience in case someone else gets injured and we need them down the stretch next year.  Preseason tournaments do some of that, sure (we had all-Stanford semifinals at Northwest Regionals last fall--I'm dreaming of all-Stanford quarterfinals next year), but to get accustomed to winning a point for your team at this level?  That's something different entirely. I'd like to see Lele get some more matches on the schedule next year and use the ones that are unlikely to be competitive as opportunities for our freshmen. You could try and get some non-counting added matches with other opponents that have good depth, but it's not quite the same.  

Sorry for the tangent about next year when we're about to play for a national title this year, but as good and deep as this team is right now, it will be even better and deeper next year, which helps put this team's current run in context.  I think Stanford's team next year will be its best in several years, and we've played in the NCAA final for three straight years, winning one title and trying for a second today.

---

Bobby Knight of College Tennis Today posted his championship match preview this morning:  https://www.collegetennistoday.com/item/...views.html

If you don't want to read it yourself, he thinks Vanderbilt takes the doubles point and wins on Court 1 in singles, while Stanford counters with wins on the back three courts for a 3-2 lead with Lord/Contreras and Lampl/Rosca the two remaining matches on court.  He sees them splitting, with Lord losing before Lampl clinches again, and Stanford coming away with a 4-3 win.  I'll take a win however it comes, but for my heart's sake, I would really like to win the doubles point today.  Can we do that, please?  

Here are the bullet points from his "notables" section (I added each player's lineup position in brackets):

• VU's Astra Sharma [#1] has won 12 of her last 13
  
• VU's Fernanda Contreras [#2] has won 6 straight and 13 of her last 14
  
• VU's Christina Rosca [#3] has won 7 of her last 8
  
• VU's Amanda Meyer [#4] has won 8 of her last 11
  
• VU's Summer Dvorak [#6] has won 8 straight 
  
• VU's Amanda Meyer and Christina Rosca [#3] have won 12 of their last 13 in doubles 
  
• VU's Sharma and Contreras have won 6 straight at No. 1 doubles 
  
• Stanford's Emma Higuchi [#6] has won 16 in a row with 15 of those in straight sets.
  
• Stanford's Janice Shin [#5] has won 10 in a row 
  
• Stanford's Caroline Lampl [#3] has won 4 in a row and 10 of 11
  
• Stanford's Emily Arbuthnott [#4] has won 6 in a row and 15 of 16
  
• Stanford's Melissa Lord and Janice Shin are 11-3 at No. 3 doubles since pairing up on 3/28. 
  
• Stanford's Caroline Lampl and Kimberly Yee have won 12 of 14 doubles matches at No. 2
  

[ColoradoTree]

Lord's perfect 14-0 record gets some play (and rightly so), but it made me wonder what our other players' career NCAA tournament records are.  Here they are, with this year in parentheses:

1. Gordon 0-1 (0-1)
2. Lord 14-0 (4-0)
3. Lampl 10-2 (3-0)
4. Arbuthnott 7-1 (3-0)
5. Shin 3-0 (3-0)
6. Higuchi 8-1 (4-0)

Interestingly, Lampl was 5-0 her freshman year (including a terrific 3-set win over Vandy's Contreras), 2-2 last year, and 3-0 so far this year.  Shows growth, to me, at least.  Crushed the #5 spot as a freshman, struggled against better teams at the #4 spot as a sophomore, but has continued to improve and is really coming into her own at the #3 spot as a junior.  

Assuming everyone comes back and Lampl continues to improve, can you imagine how dominant she's going to be at the #3 spot behind Lord and Gordon next year?  (I think the #1 spot is up for grabs between those two.)  My goodness, our roster will be great.  Depth, as always, will be our strength, but here's how next year's lineup looks:

1. Lord/Gordon
2. Lord/Gordon
3. Lampl
4. Arbuthnott
5. Shin
6. Higuchi

Looks familiar, eh?  I know today's the national championship match and everything, but I am excited about next year.  And that's before we get to the bench: Kimberly Yee and incoming freshmen Sara Choy and Niluka Madurawe.

That is three blue chips on the bench, people.  That's not even fair.  No one is displacing Higuchi from the #6 spot in the lineup in crunch time, but you have to imagine that Lele is going to want to do some shuffling at the bottom of the lineup to get Choy and Madurawe some match experience in case someone else gets injured and we need them down the stretch next year.  Preseason tournaments do some of that, sure (we had all-Stanford semifinals at Northwest Regionals last fall--I'm dreaming of all-Stanford quarterfinals next year), but to get accustomed to winning a point for your team at this level?  That's something different entirely. I'd like to see Lele get some more matches on the schedule next year and use the ones that are unlikely to be competitive as opportunities for our freshmen. You could try and get some non-counting added matches with other opponents that have good depth, but it's not quite the same.  

Sorry for the tangent about next year when we're about to play for a national title this year, but as good and deep as this team is right now, it will be even better and deeper next year, which helps put this team's current run in context.  I think Stanford's team next year will be its best in several years, and we've played in the NCAA final for three straight years, winning one title and trying for a second today.

---

Bobby Knight of College Tennis Today posted his championship match preview this morning:  https://www.collegetennistoday.com/item/...views.html

If you don't want to read it yourself, he thinks Vanderbilt takes the doubles point and wins on Court 1 in singles, while Stanford counters with wins on the back three courts for a 3-2 lead with Lord/Contreras and Lampl/Rosca the two remaining matches on court.  He sees them splitting, with Lord losing before Lampl clinches again, and Stanford coming away with a 4-3 win.  I'll take a win however it comes, but for my heart's sake, I would really like to win the doubles point today.  Can we do that, please?  

Here are the bullet points from his "notables" section (I added each player's lineup position in brackets):

• VU's Astra Sharma [#1] has won 12 of her last 13
  
• VU's Fernanda Contreras [#2] has won 6 straight and 13 of her last 14
  
• VU's Christina Rosca [#3] has won 7 of her last 8
  
• VU's Amanda Meyer [#4] has won 8 of her last 11
  
• VU's Summer Dvorak [#6] has won 8 straight 
  
• VU's Amanda Meyer and Christina Rosca [#3] have won 12 of their last 13 in doubles 
  
• VU's Sharma and Contreras have won 6 straight at No. 1 doubles 
  
• Stanford's Emma Higuchi [#6] has won 16 in a row with 15 of those in straight sets.
  
• Stanford's Janice Shin [#5] has won 10 in a row 
  
• Stanford's Caroline Lampl [#3] has won 4 in a row and 10 of 11
  
• Stanford's Emily Arbuthnott [#4] has won 6 in a row and 15 of 16
  
• Stanford's Melissa Lord and Janice Shin are 11-3 at No. 3 doubles since pairing up on 3/28. 
  
• Stanford's Caroline Lampl and Kimberly Yee have won 12 of 14 doubles matches at No. 2