05-22-2018, 01:57 PM
(This post was last modified: 05-22-2018, 02:00 PM by ColoradoTree.)
(05-22-2018, 01:30 PM)BostonCard Wrote:(05-21-2018, 09:21 PM)ColoradoTree Wrote: ... Should be a fun one.
Prediction
Doubles is tight. Again. But this time, folks, we pull off a win on Courts 2 and 3 to get the doubles point. Higuchi is the first player to book a victory (exorcising her NCAA final demons from last year when she got double-bageled against Florida), and Shin follows suit soon after. Sharma books a win for Vandy over Gordon at 1, Lord has her hands full at 2, and Lampl is in a dogfight at 3, so it's Emily Arbuthnott who clinches a 4-1 Stanford win. If we lose doubles and need a 4th point, then the path to victory gets a lot murkier, but you'd be happy to take your shot with Melissa Lord or Caroline Lampl, given how well they've been playing. Lampl is technically favored by UTR, but Rosca took it to her in the second and third sets in Nashville back in February. But Caroline is a different player right now.
I've said time and time again that our championship hopes will depend on how well Lampl and Arbuthnott played. They were there for us today. We'll need them tomorrow.
When is it again?
1:00pm Eastern/10:00am Pacific. It'll be played on the Leighton Family Courts, and you can find the links to the live stream and live stats here: http://www.wakeforestsports.com/ncaatennis/
Not exactly, but pretty darned close. Didn't get the doubles point, so we had to go to plan B. Lord indeed had her hands full, but won it in three sets. Higuchi and Shin cruised in straight sets, as predicted. Sharma did indeed win in straight sets but Gordon played her tough, taking the first set to a tiebreaker. The surprise, I guess was Lampl, who cruised to a straight sets win.
The sentence I bolded was prescient.
BC
Hey, when Higuchi and Shin just crush people on the regular, just keep predicting it to happen and you'll look pretty smart. And yeah, how about Caroline Lampl, folks? Rosca beat Lampl back in February 3-6, 6-0, 6-2. She turned on the jets in the second set and just left Lampl in the dust. But Lampl has improved so much over the course of the year, and today, it was Lampl turning on the jets in the second set.
In other turnaround news, Shin lost 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 to Summer Dvorak then (Dvorak was playing #5), while Higuchi lost 7-6, 7-5 to Emma Kurtz at Court 4. Today, they switched opponents and both dominated.
Sometimes it's hard to remember Gordon is a freshman, because she's beaten so many good players this year, and because no matter how highly-touted a freshman is, they so rarely play #1 for us. Nicole Gibbs didn't. Kristie Ahn didn't. She'll be so much better next year, and she'll be preseason top 10 next year, along with Lord. And we'll be the preseason #1 team yet again.
Like I said in the first post in this thread: the ITA had it right with their preseason rankings, with Stanford at #1 and Vanderbilt at #2. The road here was winding, but the destination sure feels good.
(05-22-2018, 01:30 PM)BigEasyCard Wrote:(05-22-2018, 01:21 PM)ColoradoTree Wrote: Hot damn I love this team.
Your posts on Women's Tennis have brought great insight as we have followed the team on this amazing journey from pre-season #1 to #46 and back! Thank you CT for enriching the experience.
And well deserved congratulations to the Cardinal Women's Tennis team who bring home National Championship #117.
Geaux Cardinal!
P.S. Someone has already updated the count on Wikipedia.
It's absolutely my pleasure. Like I've said before, it's a great deal to be a big Stanford Women's Tennis fan. We give them some attention, and they give us dramatic seasons, "underdog" stories, and a national championship every couple years or so. Heck of a deal.