[ColoradoTree]

looks like in singles everyone won except Gordon lost a third-set 10-point tiebreaker 13-11. Lord won two sets both in 7-point tiebreakers. Everyone else cruised easily. I guess Santa Clara is strong on 1-2 but no depth after that. Nice that Choy got a chance to play finally.

I'm glad Michaela shook off the first set loss to take the second, but it's still a bummer of a result for Michaela--she can't keep absorbing big upset losses like this. Since Pothoff isn't in the Top 125, this loss alone adds at least 1.2 loss points to Michaela's rankings formula. (The individual ranking formula is much the same as the team rankings formula--you get big points for beating highly-ranked people, you don't get punished much for losing to highly-ranked people, and you get crushed for losing to low-ranked people. Gordon now has 8 losses this year, but most of those aren't a brobdingnagian deal for her ranking--she has lost to the #1, #2, #3, #6, #21, and #31 players to account for 6 of those losses. It's the other two, to Pothoff and now-#93 Solymar Colling, that hurt her chance to qualify for the NCAA singles/doubles championships.) Of course, just like San Diego's Colling, this win could be enough to put Pothoff in the rankings, which would minimize the negative impact in future rankings. But Sophie Whittle from Gonzaga crushed Pothoff, 6-2, 6-1. If Gordon wants to consistently be a Top 10 player, she has to figure out a way to put away lesser players like this consistently. We know Gordon has it in her to beat the best players in the country, but sometimes she seems to struggle in finding that same killer instinct against players she should beat more easily. It's a super common thing in tennis, of course, but this was a damaging loss for her. This would have been a great opportunity for her to get back in the win column, too, with a tough match against Shweta Sangwan this weekend. I was busy around the match tiebreaker, but there seemed to be some sort of animated discussion immediately after it ended, so I wonder if there was a disputed call or something. Anyone see what happened? 

I was a little surprised to see Choy slotted ahead of Madurawe, but only because it seemed like Madurawe had been having the slightly better season so far--better tournament results and cracking the doubles lineup. A good opportunity for Shin to play in the stadium for the first time, too. 

And we're not delving into Lord's match too much because she won (figuring out a way to win helps a lot), but needing two tiebreakers to dispatch a lesser player is a red flag. Again, she won, and winning when you're not playing your best is a great sign of her mental toughness, but that was an eyebrow-raiser.  

I'll try not to read too much into this match, though, because I really like most of what happened--Shin and Higuchi dominating even when shifted up the lineup, Choy and Madurawe being the first two off the court, Higuchi getting a clinch, doubles dominating, and Shin getting worked back into the doubles lineup with Madurawe to keep those instincts sharp.

Oh, and Yee played doubles, but I'd guess Lele knows Yee will be OK in a spot #6 singles start if she has to be put there, whereas it's more useful for the team overall (not just for this year but for future years) to get the two freshmen a chance in a dual match.

[ColoradoTree]

looks like in singles everyone won except Gordon lost a third-set 10-point tiebreaker 13-11. Lord won two sets both in 7-point tiebreakers. Everyone else cruised easily. I guess Santa Clara is strong on 1-2 but no depth after that. Nice that Choy got a chance to play finally.

I'm glad Michaela shook off the first set loss to take the second, but it's still a bummer of a result for Michaela--she can't keep absorbing big upset losses like this. Since Pothoff isn't in the Top 125, this loss alone adds at least 1.2 loss points to Michaela's rankings formula. (The individual ranking formula is much the same as the team rankings formula--you get big points for beating highly-ranked people, you don't get punished much for losing to highly-ranked people, and you get crushed for losing to low-ranked people. Gordon now has 8 losses this year, but most of those aren't a brobdingnagian deal for her ranking--she has lost to the #1, #2, #3, #6, #21, and #31 players to account for 6 of those losses. It's the other two, to Pothoff and now-#93 Solymar Colling, that hurt her chance to qualify for the NCAA singles/doubles championships.) Of course, just like San Diego's Colling, this win could be enough to put Pothoff in the rankings, which would minimize the negative impact in future rankings. But Sophie Whittle from Gonzaga crushed Pothoff, 6-2, 6-1. If Gordon wants to consistently be a Top 10 player, she has to figure out a way to put away lesser players like this consistently. We know Gordon has it in her to beat the best players in the country, but sometimes she seems to struggle in finding that same killer instinct against players she should beat more easily. It's a super common thing in tennis, of course, but this was a damaging loss for her. This would have been a great opportunity for her to get back in the win column, too, with a tough match against Shweta Sangwan this weekend. I was busy around the match tiebreaker, but there seemed to be some sort of animated discussion immediately after it ended, so I wonder if there was a disputed call or something. Anyone see what happened? 

I was a little surprised to see Choy slotted ahead of Madurawe, but only because it seemed like Madurawe had been having the slightly better season so far--better tournament results and cracking the doubles lineup. A good opportunity for Shin to play in the stadium for the first time, too. 

And we're not delving into Lord's match too much because she won (figuring out a way to win helps a lot), but needing two tiebreakers to dispatch a lesser player is a red flag. Again, she won, and winning when you're not playing your best is a great sign of her mental toughness, but that was an eyebrow-raiser.  

I'll try not to read too much into this match, though, because I really like most of what happened--Shin and Higuchi dominating even when shifted up the lineup, Choy and Madurawe being the first two off the court, Higuchi getting a clinch, doubles dominating, and Shin getting worked back into the doubles lineup with Madurawe to keep those instincts sharp.

Oh, and Yee played doubles, but I'd guess Lele knows Yee will be OK in a spot #6 singles start if she has to be put there, whereas it's more useful for the team overall (not just for this year but for future years) to get the two freshmen a chance in a dual match.