02-07-2020, 10:30 AM
(This post was last modified: 02-07-2020, 02:04 PM by ColoradoTree.)
FYI, I listened to an interesting podcast yesterday from the folks at Cracked Racquets; they were doing a preview of Indoor Nationals. A few interesting takeaways:
1. They were as surprised as I was that Stanford is ranked number one and seeded number one here over North Carolina, given the ridiculous strength at the top of North Carolina’s lineup. UNC is, in their minds, the obvious choice to win this tournament.
2. Stanford’s UTR Power 6 (the aggregate UTR of our top 6 players, meant to give a numerical measure of overall lineup strength) is currently behind not just UNC, but also Georgia, UCLA, Duke, Pepperdine, and Texas.
3. They don’t have a good sense of our lineup. They figured Michigan would probably get a win at #6, and they didn’t even mention Emma Higuchi’s name.
4. One of the hosts highlighted the loss of Lord and Lampl and how that made Stanford more vulnerable than they’ve been in a while. (True!) Then, the other host listed off all the graduating seniors (including Yao and Rosenberg) to argue our lineup was really hollowed out. (Not true!)
5. They predicted Stanford to beat Michigan and then Ohio State but to lose to UCLA, who they then picked to lose to UNC. And honestly, that’s probably right.
6. Their general takeaway on Stanford was that while we might well be more of a co-favorite come NCAAs, we haven’t yet been tested and if there was a time to catch us, it’s now. Hard to argue with that, given the questions we have.
Oh, and it's the same guy who was the main host (and who listed off all of last year's seniors) who is doing the play-by-play on the Playsight stream. This is new this year at Indoor Nationals--having a commentator--and I think it's an awesome change. I can only hear it on this particular court feed, though: https://web.playsight.com/live/u-of-illi...nships/107
ASU lost 4-1 to UNC, but it was hardly a bad showing. Slaysman got their lone point on Court 6, but Kolarova was one game away from beating Morra in Court 3 (up 6-2, 5-2 in a shocker), and on Court 1, Hattingh lost the first in a tiebreaker but was up an early break in the second.
But doubles wasn’t close, nor were the matches on 2, 4, and 5.
7th-seeded N.C. State beat Princeton 4-0 in the other early match. Doubles was close, but the Wolfpack got three solid wins on Courts 1, 3, and 5 to get the sweep. N.C. State looked primed for a win on 6 as well, but the other two matches could have gone either way.
Up next is Georgia/UVA and Pepperdine/Duke (in what should easily be the best match of the first round).
It was the unseeded team in each match going on right now--Duke and UVA--that took the doubles point. But Duke-Pepperdine is a coin flip as it is, so that data point doesn't mean a great deal. I think it's vital for Duke, though, given Pepperdine's strong singles lineup. Pepperdine has an outstanding top 2, but they're vulnerable in the back half.
Georgia knots it up at 1 apiece with a quick win on Court 6. Georgia has won 4 other first sets and is in a tiebreaker in the last one, so they're doing what they need, but all of those matches are on serve in the second. Meanwhile, Pepperdine won first sets on 1, 2, 4, and 5, Duke took it on 3, and 6 is going to a tiebreaker. But in 3 of those matches where they lost the first set, Duke is up a break in the second, so that match should go on for a while.
A bright spot for UVA, as its #5, former Cal commit Vivian Glozman, takes the first set in a tiebreaker as the players on #3 and #4 each go up a break in the second (though the UVA player on #4 gives it right back). Of note, UVA's #1 is a freshman, Natasha Subhash. She was the top-ranked freshman in the country, and it shows. She's hanging in there, shot for shot, with UGA's Jokic, who is as good as there is in college tennis.
2-1 Georgia as they get a win on Court 4. But UVA's Johanson just won a second-set tiebreaker to force a third set, and Subhash had a tough-as-nails hold on deciding point (doubling as match point for Jokic) to get to 5-5. So, Courts 2 and 3 are into third sets there. Over at Duke-Pepperdine, the matches on Courts 1, 4, and 5 are into third sets, Duke is two points from a win on #3, and there will be a tiebreaker on #2 to see whether Pepperdine takes it or they'll play a third.
On deciding point, Shubhash hits a slice forehand that hits the net cord and dribbles over to take the break. That's nuts. She then holds relatively easily and that match goes to a third set. This has been outstanding tennis, by the way.
Duke goes up 2-0. The Blue Devils are up a set and a break on Court 6, and they're up a break in the third sets on Courts 1 and 4. Pepperdine's Failla needs to take this tiebreaker on #2 to get on the board and try and give some life to her teammates, but everything is going Duke's way right now. Pepperdine won four first sets in singles, and they're on the verge of losing this match 4-0. Failla is the only Pepperdine player who leads, and she's on serve in that second set tiebreaker. Duke leads 3-1 in the third on 1, 4-0 in the third on 4, 4-2 in the third on 5, and Duke's up 7-6, 3-1 on 6. Just a matter of time for Duke, it seems. Just need two wins, and they're up breaks in deciding sets on four courts.
2-1 Georgia with the remaining matches into third sets. Even if UVA loses this, this served notice that they're a contender. UGA is up a break on 1 and 3 while UVA is up a break on 2 with Court 5 on serve.
Really impressive from Duke as they tough out a 4-1 win that had three matches go to third sets. That's a dangerous--if variable--Duke team.
2-2 now as UVA's Johanson beats freshman Lea Ma of Georgia 6-2 in the third. But UGA answers back with a dominating third set from Jokic and it's 3-2 Georgia moments before Gonzalez takes her third set 6-4 for a 4-2 win. Exciting match, that. Funny that when you put a bunch of really good tennis teams in a tournament together, you get some good matches!
1. They were as surprised as I was that Stanford is ranked number one and seeded number one here over North Carolina, given the ridiculous strength at the top of North Carolina’s lineup. UNC is, in their minds, the obvious choice to win this tournament.
2. Stanford’s UTR Power 6 (the aggregate UTR of our top 6 players, meant to give a numerical measure of overall lineup strength) is currently behind not just UNC, but also Georgia, UCLA, Duke, Pepperdine, and Texas.
3. They don’t have a good sense of our lineup. They figured Michigan would probably get a win at #6, and they didn’t even mention Emma Higuchi’s name.
4. One of the hosts highlighted the loss of Lord and Lampl and how that made Stanford more vulnerable than they’ve been in a while. (True!) Then, the other host listed off all the graduating seniors (including Yao and Rosenberg) to argue our lineup was really hollowed out. (Not true!)
5. They predicted Stanford to beat Michigan and then Ohio State but to lose to UCLA, who they then picked to lose to UNC. And honestly, that’s probably right.
6. Their general takeaway on Stanford was that while we might well be more of a co-favorite come NCAAs, we haven’t yet been tested and if there was a time to catch us, it’s now. Hard to argue with that, given the questions we have.
Oh, and it's the same guy who was the main host (and who listed off all of last year's seniors) who is doing the play-by-play on the Playsight stream. This is new this year at Indoor Nationals--having a commentator--and I think it's an awesome change. I can only hear it on this particular court feed, though: https://web.playsight.com/live/u-of-illi...nships/107
ASU lost 4-1 to UNC, but it was hardly a bad showing. Slaysman got their lone point on Court 6, but Kolarova was one game away from beating Morra in Court 3 (up 6-2, 5-2 in a shocker), and on Court 1, Hattingh lost the first in a tiebreaker but was up an early break in the second.
But doubles wasn’t close, nor were the matches on 2, 4, and 5.
7th-seeded N.C. State beat Princeton 4-0 in the other early match. Doubles was close, but the Wolfpack got three solid wins on Courts 1, 3, and 5 to get the sweep. N.C. State looked primed for a win on 6 as well, but the other two matches could have gone either way.
Up next is Georgia/UVA and Pepperdine/Duke (in what should easily be the best match of the first round).
It was the unseeded team in each match going on right now--Duke and UVA--that took the doubles point. But Duke-Pepperdine is a coin flip as it is, so that data point doesn't mean a great deal. I think it's vital for Duke, though, given Pepperdine's strong singles lineup. Pepperdine has an outstanding top 2, but they're vulnerable in the back half.
Georgia knots it up at 1 apiece with a quick win on Court 6. Georgia has won 4 other first sets and is in a tiebreaker in the last one, so they're doing what they need, but all of those matches are on serve in the second. Meanwhile, Pepperdine won first sets on 1, 2, 4, and 5, Duke took it on 3, and 6 is going to a tiebreaker. But in 3 of those matches where they lost the first set, Duke is up a break in the second, so that match should go on for a while.
A bright spot for UVA, as its #5, former Cal commit Vivian Glozman, takes the first set in a tiebreaker as the players on #3 and #4 each go up a break in the second (though the UVA player on #4 gives it right back). Of note, UVA's #1 is a freshman, Natasha Subhash. She was the top-ranked freshman in the country, and it shows. She's hanging in there, shot for shot, with UGA's Jokic, who is as good as there is in college tennis.
2-1 Georgia as they get a win on Court 4. But UVA's Johanson just won a second-set tiebreaker to force a third set, and Subhash had a tough-as-nails hold on deciding point (doubling as match point for Jokic) to get to 5-5. So, Courts 2 and 3 are into third sets there. Over at Duke-Pepperdine, the matches on Courts 1, 4, and 5 are into third sets, Duke is two points from a win on #3, and there will be a tiebreaker on #2 to see whether Pepperdine takes it or they'll play a third.
On deciding point, Shubhash hits a slice forehand that hits the net cord and dribbles over to take the break. That's nuts. She then holds relatively easily and that match goes to a third set. This has been outstanding tennis, by the way.
Duke goes up 2-0. The Blue Devils are up a set and a break on Court 6, and they're up a break in the third sets on Courts 1 and 4. Pepperdine's Failla needs to take this tiebreaker on #2 to get on the board and try and give some life to her teammates, but everything is going Duke's way right now. Pepperdine won four first sets in singles, and they're on the verge of losing this match 4-0. Failla is the only Pepperdine player who leads, and she's on serve in that second set tiebreaker. Duke leads 3-1 in the third on 1, 4-0 in the third on 4, 4-2 in the third on 5, and Duke's up 7-6, 3-1 on 6. Just a matter of time for Duke, it seems. Just need two wins, and they're up breaks in deciding sets on four courts.
2-1 Georgia with the remaining matches into third sets. Even if UVA loses this, this served notice that they're a contender. UGA is up a break on 1 and 3 while UVA is up a break on 2 with Court 5 on serve.
Really impressive from Duke as they tough out a 4-1 win that had three matches go to third sets. That's a dangerous--if variable--Duke team.
2-2 now as UVA's Johanson beats freshman Lea Ma of Georgia 6-2 in the third. But UGA answers back with a dominating third set from Jokic and it's 3-2 Georgia moments before Gonzalez takes her third set 6-4 for a 4-2 win. Exciting match, that. Funny that when you put a bunch of really good tennis teams in a tournament together, you get some good matches!