03-18-2019, 11:29 AM
The swapping of Lord and Gordon in the top two spots of the lineup remains interesting to me. Prior to the move, Gordon had lost three in a row, but you can't get too mad when two of those losses are three-setters to the #2 and #3 players in the country (UGA's Jokic and Vanderbilt's Contreras). It was that third loss, to Santa Clara's Pothoff, that stands out.
If switching them out was based on a belief that Lord is better right now, then I'm not sure I totally agree with that. Lord had her own struggles at Court 2, losing to UT's Anna Turati and Georgia's Marta Gonzalez before crushing #9 Christina Rosca of Vanderbilt and then barely hanging on against Santa Clara (7-6, 7-6 in a match that had no business being that close). But perhaps they played a challenge match and Lord won, and if so, then it is what it is.
If taking Gordon out of the singles lineup against Oregon and then reentering the ladder at #2 was because she had a nagging injury or something that Lele wanted to give a little rest (and also maybe lighten the mental load of playing at the top of the lineup, too), then it makes a lot of sense and has played out nicely. Heck, even if it was just meant as motivation, then my goodness, Gordon has responded by playing her two sharpest matches of the year, so if that was the goal, then it seems to have worked. Ultimately, it seems like the switch was more because Gordon could benefit from being bumped down, as opposed to Lord making the clear-cut case in matches that she deserved to be bumped up.
I'm still confident in my belief that Gordon at her best is at least a bit better than Lord at hers, so if Gordon keeps playing lights out, then I'd expect them to trade spots again. But whereas before I felt like we had a pretty good chance to win at #1 and #2 in just about every match, if this lineup sticks, then I feel like our chances to win at #1 go down a bit but our chances to win at #2 go up by more, so on balance, this certainly doesn't hurt us.
It won't matter much this coming weekend (we host Hawaii on Sunday and UC Davis on Monday), but UCLA and USC on the road will be the true test for whether this is the right lineup. Lord vs. UCLA's Jada Hart at #1 would be a rematch of the match on Court 2 in the Pac-12 championship match last year, which Lord won 6-1, 7-5 (and where she was the first match off court). (Lampl beat Hart 6-2, 6-4 in the regular season match last year, so we have a few players who should be able to beat Hart on Court 1, really.) UCLA's #2 is a freshman and so is USC's #1, so those would be new matchups anyway.
It could also be as simple as the fact that had both Gordon and Lord been healthy at the beginning of last season, Lord very likely would have been our #1 all year. But when she finally came back, Gordon was playing well and had it locked down, so there was no need to mess with things. So there's an element of "Lord has earned the chance to play #1" over the course of her career, too. No one has been more clutch in the NCAA tournament than Lord. If you figure you can get NCAA "Turbo Mode" Melissa Lord at #1 and you have arguably the best #2 in the country with Gordon, you might be better set up for tournament success.
If switching them out was based on a belief that Lord is better right now, then I'm not sure I totally agree with that. Lord had her own struggles at Court 2, losing to UT's Anna Turati and Georgia's Marta Gonzalez before crushing #9 Christina Rosca of Vanderbilt and then barely hanging on against Santa Clara (7-6, 7-6 in a match that had no business being that close). But perhaps they played a challenge match and Lord won, and if so, then it is what it is.
If taking Gordon out of the singles lineup against Oregon and then reentering the ladder at #2 was because she had a nagging injury or something that Lele wanted to give a little rest (and also maybe lighten the mental load of playing at the top of the lineup, too), then it makes a lot of sense and has played out nicely. Heck, even if it was just meant as motivation, then my goodness, Gordon has responded by playing her two sharpest matches of the year, so if that was the goal, then it seems to have worked. Ultimately, it seems like the switch was more because Gordon could benefit from being bumped down, as opposed to Lord making the clear-cut case in matches that she deserved to be bumped up.
I'm still confident in my belief that Gordon at her best is at least a bit better than Lord at hers, so if Gordon keeps playing lights out, then I'd expect them to trade spots again. But whereas before I felt like we had a pretty good chance to win at #1 and #2 in just about every match, if this lineup sticks, then I feel like our chances to win at #1 go down a bit but our chances to win at #2 go up by more, so on balance, this certainly doesn't hurt us.
It won't matter much this coming weekend (we host Hawaii on Sunday and UC Davis on Monday), but UCLA and USC on the road will be the true test for whether this is the right lineup. Lord vs. UCLA's Jada Hart at #1 would be a rematch of the match on Court 2 in the Pac-12 championship match last year, which Lord won 6-1, 7-5 (and where she was the first match off court). (Lampl beat Hart 6-2, 6-4 in the regular season match last year, so we have a few players who should be able to beat Hart on Court 1, really.) UCLA's #2 is a freshman and so is USC's #1, so those would be new matchups anyway.
It could also be as simple as the fact that had both Gordon and Lord been healthy at the beginning of last season, Lord very likely would have been our #1 all year. But when she finally came back, Gordon was playing well and had it locked down, so there was no need to mess with things. So there's an element of "Lord has earned the chance to play #1" over the course of her career, too. No one has been more clutch in the NCAA tournament than Lord. If you figure you can get NCAA "Turbo Mode" Melissa Lord at #1 and you have arguably the best #2 in the country with Gordon, you might be better set up for tournament success.