[ColoradoTree]

Thanks for the analysis ColoradoTree.   I hope some matches are televised.  While Stanford's livestream is good resolution, the image size and camera angle make it hard for me to follow the action.  Someone who is more than a casual observer probably can recognize the players and is ok with the livestream.

I know in the AVCA beach volleyball rules the recommended placement of players in the lineup is only a guideline so sandbagging is technically legal.  That means a coach could strategically position teams to sacrifice one match in order to have a better chance of winning two or three matches.  I'm sure this is not happening as the tennis coach experiments with what will be the best lineup.

Tennis is historically pretty strict on this, and the "one line" rule--a player can only move one line per match--limits the ability to completely stack a lineup. That said, players can be out of the lineup entirely and come back in later at a different line, and there are allowances for injury, so perhaps that's at play here--Higuchi will likely be out of the lineup altogether next week. Otherwise, if you wanted to get her back to 6, you'd have to play her at 3 against Utah, and then 4 against Colorado, etc. 

But in the first match of the year, with big talent differentials on every court, this is either experimenting, or it's just giving Higuchi a reward knowing that she'll likely be out of the lineup the next few weeks at least.

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The regular season matches are usually not televised and I don't see any scheduled for this season. The matches are too long and are of uncertain length. Occasionally the men will have a live commentator over live stream, I haven't seen that for the women. But the Pac-12 championship match has been televised (at least since they moved to the team match format), and the NCAA team championship match is.

We get the commentators a decent amount on the women's side, actually! I'd expect it for the high-profile non-conference matches and the big rivalry matches like Cal, UCLA, USC, etc.

[ColoradoTree]

Thanks for the analysis ColoradoTree.   I hope some matches are televised.  While Stanford's livestream is good resolution, the image size and camera angle make it hard for me to follow the action.  Someone who is more than a casual observer probably can recognize the players and is ok with the livestream.

I know in the AVCA beach volleyball rules the recommended placement of players in the lineup is only a guideline so sandbagging is technically legal.  That means a coach could strategically position teams to sacrifice one match in order to have a better chance of winning two or three matches.  I'm sure this is not happening as the tennis coach experiments with what will be the best lineup.

Tennis is historically pretty strict on this, and the "one line" rule--a player can only move one line per match--limits the ability to completely stack a lineup. That said, players can be out of the lineup entirely and come back in later at a different line, and there are allowances for injury, so perhaps that's at play here--Higuchi will likely be out of the lineup altogether next week. Otherwise, if you wanted to get her back to 6, you'd have to play her at 3 against Utah, and then 4 against Colorado, etc. 

But in the first match of the year, with big talent differentials on every court, this is either experimenting, or it's just giving Higuchi a reward knowing that she'll likely be out of the lineup the next few weeks at least.

---

The regular season matches are usually not televised and I don't see any scheduled for this season. The matches are too long and are of uncertain length. Occasionally the men will have a live commentator over live stream, I haven't seen that for the women. But the Pac-12 championship match has been televised (at least since they moved to the team match format), and the NCAA team championship match is.

We get the commentators a decent amount on the women's side, actually! I'd expect it for the high-profile non-conference matches and the big rivalry matches like Cal, UCLA, USC, etc.