A few comments --
Depth, of course, is a big factor in the NCAA tournament. It's a major advantage to have 6 high-level players. But how many teams can go 9 deep, as Stanford did in this tournament? Now that's some real depth. It's just crazy that Stanford can put Sara Choy in the singles line-up against the #1 ranked team in the nation in the tournament semifinal, with Choy not having played for 7 weeks, and have her deliver a win!
The #2 doubles was pivotal against Georgia, IMO. Stanford was an underdog in 4 of the 6 singles matches (according to UTR). The more singles upsets we needed, the longer the odds would have been. Winning the doubles point made our disadvantage in singles more manageable. After the teams split the #1 and #3 doubles, Gordon and Arbuthnott came through in a tight match at #2. That was really big.
The singles seemed to me to be about as drama-free as an NCAA final can be. Lord, Lampl, and Shin pretty quickly took the lead, won three quick first sets, then got through the three second sets in good order. There was never much cause for real worry in those three matches. No need for any nail-biting third sets. No need for everything to come down to one player. That was nice.
Congrats to the entire team and the coaches. Well done.
Depth, of course, is a big factor in the NCAA tournament. It's a major advantage to have 6 high-level players. But how many teams can go 9 deep, as Stanford did in this tournament? Now that's some real depth. It's just crazy that Stanford can put Sara Choy in the singles line-up against the #1 ranked team in the nation in the tournament semifinal, with Choy not having played for 7 weeks, and have her deliver a win!
The #2 doubles was pivotal against Georgia, IMO. Stanford was an underdog in 4 of the 6 singles matches (according to UTR). The more singles upsets we needed, the longer the odds would have been. Winning the doubles point made our disadvantage in singles more manageable. After the teams split the #1 and #3 doubles, Gordon and Arbuthnott came through in a tight match at #2. That was really big.
The singles seemed to me to be about as drama-free as an NCAA final can be. Lord, Lampl, and Shin pretty quickly took the lead, won three quick first sets, then got through the three second sets in good order. There was never much cause for real worry in those three matches. No need for any nail-biting third sets. No need for everything to come down to one player. That was nice.
Congrats to the entire team and the coaches. Well done.