[ColoradoTree]

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. 

It felt almost anticlimactic to win a national championship that way! But the thing I'm proudest of is that Stanford did shut the door. You can't let a team that good start to feel hopeful, and Lord, Lampl, and Shin all finished strong. 

Easy to imagine what happens next if Shin tightens up serving for a championships, gets broken, and it's 5-5. Christofi then holds to 5-6 and Shin is serving to force a tiebreaker where all of a sudden the momentum shifted Georgia's way. Jokic wins the deuce point she was about to serve and now she leads Gordon 7-5, 4-2. Wolff wins her service game to go up 7-5, 4-3. Higuchi had won her first set but was down a break in the second. If Georgia goes on a bit of a run, it's not hard to imagine Gordon and Arbuthnott losing, and Stanford leading 3-2 with both Shin and Higuchi headed to third sets. 

4-0 looks like a beatdown, but if Shin had let up in that last game, it could have ended very differently. You can't let up for a second, and we didn't.

---

So, we lose Lord (20-1 in NCAA team play) and Lampl (15-3). Here are the NCAA team competition records for our returning players:

Gordon (2-3)
Arbuthnott (10-3)
Shin (8-0)
Higuchi (9-1)
Choy (1-0)
Madurawe (1-1)

Not quite the same, I know. But boy, we have some talent. Not too many teams keep players of Choy's and Madurawe's caliber out of the singles lineup for a year. Recall that historically, this team has plugged freshmen in at the bottom of the lineup, and they've delivered. In 2016, Lampl and Lord were massive at #5 and #6 for us, both making the All-Tournament team. In 2017, Higuchi was a force at #6 (she didn't lose there until the NCAA final), and Arbuthnott made the All-Tournament team at #5 singles. In 2018, yet another freshman made the All-Tournament team at #5 (Shin), and the only reason we didn't have the other freshman at #6 is because we were playing her at #1. This year, we didn't use our freshmen as much, and not because they weren't good enough to play in big moments (as Choy showed us all)--unlike every other year, we didn't have holes we needed to fill. Next year, we might not play our two blue chip freshmen either. 

Our depth is insane.

[ColoradoTree]

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. 

It felt almost anticlimactic to win a national championship that way! But the thing I'm proudest of is that Stanford did shut the door. You can't let a team that good start to feel hopeful, and Lord, Lampl, and Shin all finished strong. 

Easy to imagine what happens next if Shin tightens up serving for a championships, gets broken, and it's 5-5. Christofi then holds to 5-6 and Shin is serving to force a tiebreaker where all of a sudden the momentum shifted Georgia's way. Jokic wins the deuce point she was about to serve and now she leads Gordon 7-5, 4-2. Wolff wins her service game to go up 7-5, 4-3. Higuchi had won her first set but was down a break in the second. If Georgia goes on a bit of a run, it's not hard to imagine Gordon and Arbuthnott losing, and Stanford leading 3-2 with both Shin and Higuchi headed to third sets. 

4-0 looks like a beatdown, but if Shin had let up in that last game, it could have ended very differently. You can't let up for a second, and we didn't.

---

So, we lose Lord (20-1 in NCAA team play) and Lampl (15-3). Here are the NCAA team competition records for our returning players:

Gordon (2-3)
Arbuthnott (10-3)
Shin (8-0)
Higuchi (9-1)
Choy (1-0)
Madurawe (1-1)

Not quite the same, I know. But boy, we have some talent. Not too many teams keep players of Choy's and Madurawe's caliber out of the singles lineup for a year. Recall that historically, this team has plugged freshmen in at the bottom of the lineup, and they've delivered. In 2016, Lampl and Lord were massive at #5 and #6 for us, both making the All-Tournament team. In 2017, Higuchi was a force at #6 (she didn't lose there until the NCAA final), and Arbuthnott made the All-Tournament team at #5 singles. In 2018, yet another freshman made the All-Tournament team at #5 (Shin), and the only reason we didn't have the other freshman at #6 is because we were playing her at #1. This year, we didn't use our freshmen as much, and not because they weren't good enough to play in big moments (as Choy showed us all)--unlike every other year, we didn't have holes we needed to fill. Next year, we might not play our two blue chip freshmen either. 

Our depth is insane.