[oldalum]

In doubles, you can safely assume Arbuthnott/Gordon will be the #1 pair, but the fall season will be a time for seeing how the rest of the roster plays together and who has chemistry. Your guess on the #2 and #3 pairs is as good as mine, but both Shin and Madurawe have shown themselves to be good doubles players, so I'd expect them to be somewhere in that lineup. 

In singles, Gordon is your clear-cut #1 and Arbuthnott your #2, and I assume Shin will play #3, but after that it gets a little murkier. It's hard to know how that'll shake out, but I think we should reasonably have more confidence that they'll be just fine in regular lineup spots next year. 

But we lose three big contributors. Not just the on-court talent, but Lord with her clutch gene, and Lampl as the hardest hitter and the heartbeat of the team. Yee may have only played doubles, but she did it well, and her chemistry with her classmate was evident. The team will have to settle into new roles, and new leaders will need to step up. 

Losing great players to graduation happens, of course. And Stanford has survived it better than most. In 2016, we won a national championship behind two great seniors, Caroline Doyle and Taylor Davidson (who is another all-time competitor whose passion always seemed like a catalyst for team success). We made it to the NCAA final the very next season, and won it all the year after that.

I'm of course ever-hopeful for next year, but I expect a fine season but not a championship (and hope to be surprised yet again). Lord and Lampl have been instrumental in all three of our recent championships; really the two of them have provided almost half the total points needed to win them (all the key matches, not just the championship matches), including in their freshman year. Without either one of them (say, for illness or injury) we don't win any of those 3 championships. Look at what happened last year when Lord was out for awhile. They have just been tremendous beyond words. They are really impossible to replace. I was so glad to hear them in the press conference rate their overall college experience so highly, they deserve it.

Arbuthnott is going to have to raise her game considerably to be competitive in the big matches at #2 next year. Not saying she can't or won't do it, but it's a high bar she needs to reach. I don't know anything about the incoming players; hopefully they will have a big impact, but they're not going to be Lampl/Lord good for awhile (even Lampl/Lord were not that good the first part of their freshman year, but they got a LOT better by the NCAA tournament). We'll need to be very strong at the bottom of the lineup (as usual). One additional thing we're losing in Lord and Lampl is our only players with an effective first serve (i.e., can often win points off the first serve); I hope Gordon continues to work on hers because she certainly is capable of having one.

But it'll be a new year and hope springs eternal?

[oldalum]

In doubles, you can safely assume Arbuthnott/Gordon will be the #1 pair, but the fall season will be a time for seeing how the rest of the roster plays together and who has chemistry. Your guess on the #2 and #3 pairs is as good as mine, but both Shin and Madurawe have shown themselves to be good doubles players, so I'd expect them to be somewhere in that lineup. 

In singles, Gordon is your clear-cut #1 and Arbuthnott your #2, and I assume Shin will play #3, but after that it gets a little murkier. It's hard to know how that'll shake out, but I think we should reasonably have more confidence that they'll be just fine in regular lineup spots next year. 

But we lose three big contributors. Not just the on-court talent, but Lord with her clutch gene, and Lampl as the hardest hitter and the heartbeat of the team. Yee may have only played doubles, but she did it well, and her chemistry with her classmate was evident. The team will have to settle into new roles, and new leaders will need to step up. 

Losing great players to graduation happens, of course. And Stanford has survived it better than most. In 2016, we won a national championship behind two great seniors, Caroline Doyle and Taylor Davidson (who is another all-time competitor whose passion always seemed like a catalyst for team success). We made it to the NCAA final the very next season, and won it all the year after that.

I'm of course ever-hopeful for next year, but I expect a fine season but not a championship (and hope to be surprised yet again). Lord and Lampl have been instrumental in all three of our recent championships; really the two of them have provided almost half the total points needed to win them (all the key matches, not just the championship matches), including in their freshman year. Without either one of them (say, for illness or injury) we don't win any of those 3 championships. Look at what happened last year when Lord was out for awhile. They have just been tremendous beyond words. They are really impossible to replace. I was so glad to hear them in the press conference rate their overall college experience so highly, they deserve it.

Arbuthnott is going to have to raise her game considerably to be competitive in the big matches at #2 next year. Not saying she can't or won't do it, but it's a high bar she needs to reach. I don't know anything about the incoming players; hopefully they will have a big impact, but they're not going to be Lampl/Lord good for awhile (even Lampl/Lord were not that good the first part of their freshman year, but they got a LOT better by the NCAA tournament). We'll need to be very strong at the bottom of the lineup (as usual). One additional thing we're losing in Lord and Lampl is our only players with an effective first serve (i.e., can often win points off the first serve); I hope Gordon continues to work on hers because she certainly is capable of having one.

But it'll be a new year and hope springs eternal?