[tapcardinal]

So, Senior Day against Hawaii went about as expected, and we used the opportunity of playing a somewhat lesser opponent at this point in the season to rest some normal starters and let others get some matches in. 

Gordon, Blake, and Geller all didn't play, though only Geller might be injury-based. That meant we saw a tweaked doubles lineup (Arbuthnott/Madurawe, Choy/Higuchi, and Houghton/Shin) take the doubles point before we saw this singles lineup race to a quick win:

1. Arbuthnott
2. Choy
3. Madurawe
4. Shin
5. Higuchi
6. Houghton

We didn't play it out, suggesting that the goal here was to honor the seniors and get off court before someone got injured in a match that ultimately doesn't matter much. Choy was off court first with a 6-3, 6-1 win, followed by Madurawe's 6-2, 6-1 win. (That's the first singles match inside the stadium for each of them, I believe.) Fittingly, it was Emma Higuchi who got the clincher, 7-5, 6-0 on Court 5. (Weird scoreline, but with Senior Day excitement, it's easy to imagine having a tough time getting into it, but then dominating once you do. I'll never complain about a slow start when the player turns it on later and takes control of a match.) 

There's not a ton to draw from this match, but here are my takeaways:

1. The pecking order is interesting. Since you can't adjust a player's singles line more than one line per match (injuries/rest excepted), Lele basically thinks that this is the pecking order among the players who'd be on the lower courts. Choy, then Madurawe, then Shin, then Higuchi, then Houghton. That suggests that if Gordon/Blake/Geller are healthy, we'd see Choy at 5 and Madurawe at 6 against Cal. Considering the one-line rule, you could swap Shin over Madurawe at 6, or you could swap Higuchi over Shin and see Higuchi at 6 if Geller is still out or if Lele would prefer to rest some hypothetical soreness or tweak Madurawe might have. But if everyone's healthy? We just likely saw the last Taube match of Higuchi's career. 

2. Of the matches that didn't finish, we were in command of two of them: Arbuthnott leading 6-1, 4-3 on Court 1, and Houghton leading 6-4, 3-2 on Court 6. Not worried about those. The concerning one? You guessed it! Janice Shin, who lost the first set 6-1 to Lea Romain, who has played in just half of Hawaii's matches with a 3-2 record, and who wasn't even in the top 6 to start the year, joining the lineup due to injuries. The talent differential is massive here. And Shin dropped a set. And not just a set--she ate a breadstick. Now, to be fair, Shin did come back and take the second set, but this has been the confusing saga of Janice Shin the last couple of years. As a freshman, she wasn't just solidly in the lineup at #5 singles, we depended on her for quick wins. In the Round of 16 against #1 UNC, she got the clincher over a ranked opponent in routine fashion, 6-3, 6-2. In the semis against Duke, she was second off court with a 6-1, 6-1 over another ranked opponent. And in the final against Vanderbilt, after Gordon's loss made it 2-2, she put us one match away with a 6-3, 6-3 win, with both Arbuthnott and Lord left on court. As a sophomore, in the last NCAA final contested, she clinched the national title! She was a dominant #5 against other elite teams. And then--she just didn't progress. More than that, she has regressed. Anyway. She deserves our eternal thanks for the dominance in her freshman and sophomore years, as they helped us get two titles. But it's hard to see a place in the singles lineup for her next year. 

3. Nicole Mossmer is a scholarship player, a former blue chip recruit who was a Top 20 recruit in the country. And she is clearly figures absolutely nowhere in Lele's lineup. You'd think that some of the Houghton appearances this year could have been a match for Mossmer, but nothing. Could be that she's injured--we don't exactly have dedicated beat reporters that could find out that stuff. Or maybe she is redshirting, especially in this weird covid year. But the reason I mention it is that in the team picture for Senior Day, every player on the roster is there, even the ones who didn't play--except Mossmer. Curious to see what the fall season brings, once tournaments begin again.

---

New Rankings

The new ITA rankings are out, and Stanford is #29 in the computer rankings, a rise of 9 spots. (That's on the strength of the win over USC.). In the coaches' poll, Stanford stayed at #26. Around the Pac-12, UCLA is #8/#6, Cal is #25/#22, ASU is #33/#31, USC is #36/#32, Oregon is #47/#40, and Washington is #50/#45. Given the shortened season for Pac-12 teams, it makes sense that the computers aren't quite as impressed as the coaches are. 

We also have new singles and doubles rankings for the first time in a while, and while the NCAA has asked for both the ITA computer and coaches' rankings for teams, they appear to be set on using the computer rankings for the singles and doubles championships, which should mean underrepresenting Pac-12 student-athletes. Only Gordon is ranked in singles at #41, and no Stanford doubles teams are ranked, suggesting that only Gordon will make an appearance in the NCAA singles championships at the end of the year--and that's only if she holds her spot, gets a couple good wins at Pac-12s, and doesn't take a bad loss. 

I hope that the NCAA provides for a number of wild cards and uses those to restore a bit of geographic balance to NCAAs. The SEC and ACC are elite tennis conferences, don't get me wrong, but they're just overrepresented in the rankings right now, plain and simple. 

A Periodic Reminder

Stanford women's tennis is the 2-time defending national champion.

Long time lurker here but recently have heard info on what is going on with Mossmer. Poor thing had to get a heart surgery in the fall of her freshman year and has been struggling to recover since. Unsure of any details beyond that but hopefully she is healthy and is on campus practicing with the team. I believe she won the national championships at San Diego in the U16 division and was one of the top recruits for her grade. I had faith for her and Blake to fill in the shoes of Caroline Lampl and Melissa Lord but it looks like it could be a long road ahead of her to be back to where she was pre-Stanford.

[tapcardinal]

So, Senior Day against Hawaii went about as expected, and we used the opportunity of playing a somewhat lesser opponent at this point in the season to rest some normal starters and let others get some matches in. 

Gordon, Blake, and Geller all didn't play, though only Geller might be injury-based. That meant we saw a tweaked doubles lineup (Arbuthnott/Madurawe, Choy/Higuchi, and Houghton/Shin) take the doubles point before we saw this singles lineup race to a quick win:

1. Arbuthnott
2. Choy
3. Madurawe
4. Shin
5. Higuchi
6. Houghton

We didn't play it out, suggesting that the goal here was to honor the seniors and get off court before someone got injured in a match that ultimately doesn't matter much. Choy was off court first with a 6-3, 6-1 win, followed by Madurawe's 6-2, 6-1 win. (That's the first singles match inside the stadium for each of them, I believe.) Fittingly, it was Emma Higuchi who got the clincher, 7-5, 6-0 on Court 5. (Weird scoreline, but with Senior Day excitement, it's easy to imagine having a tough time getting into it, but then dominating once you do. I'll never complain about a slow start when the player turns it on later and takes control of a match.) 

There's not a ton to draw from this match, but here are my takeaways:

1. The pecking order is interesting. Since you can't adjust a player's singles line more than one line per match (injuries/rest excepted), Lele basically thinks that this is the pecking order among the players who'd be on the lower courts. Choy, then Madurawe, then Shin, then Higuchi, then Houghton. That suggests that if Gordon/Blake/Geller are healthy, we'd see Choy at 5 and Madurawe at 6 against Cal. Considering the one-line rule, you could swap Shin over Madurawe at 6, or you could swap Higuchi over Shin and see Higuchi at 6 if Geller is still out or if Lele would prefer to rest some hypothetical soreness or tweak Madurawe might have. But if everyone's healthy? We just likely saw the last Taube match of Higuchi's career. 

2. Of the matches that didn't finish, we were in command of two of them: Arbuthnott leading 6-1, 4-3 on Court 1, and Houghton leading 6-4, 3-2 on Court 6. Not worried about those. The concerning one? You guessed it! Janice Shin, who lost the first set 6-1 to Lea Romain, who has played in just half of Hawaii's matches with a 3-2 record, and who wasn't even in the top 6 to start the year, joining the lineup due to injuries. The talent differential is massive here. And Shin dropped a set. And not just a set--she ate a breadstick. Now, to be fair, Shin did come back and take the second set, but this has been the confusing saga of Janice Shin the last couple of years. As a freshman, she wasn't just solidly in the lineup at #5 singles, we depended on her for quick wins. In the Round of 16 against #1 UNC, she got the clincher over a ranked opponent in routine fashion, 6-3, 6-2. In the semis against Duke, she was second off court with a 6-1, 6-1 over another ranked opponent. And in the final against Vanderbilt, after Gordon's loss made it 2-2, she put us one match away with a 6-3, 6-3 win, with both Arbuthnott and Lord left on court. As a sophomore, in the last NCAA final contested, she clinched the national title! She was a dominant #5 against other elite teams. And then--she just didn't progress. More than that, she has regressed. Anyway. She deserves our eternal thanks for the dominance in her freshman and sophomore years, as they helped us get two titles. But it's hard to see a place in the singles lineup for her next year. 

3. Nicole Mossmer is a scholarship player, a former blue chip recruit who was a Top 20 recruit in the country. And she is clearly figures absolutely nowhere in Lele's lineup. You'd think that some of the Houghton appearances this year could have been a match for Mossmer, but nothing. Could be that she's injured--we don't exactly have dedicated beat reporters that could find out that stuff. Or maybe she is redshirting, especially in this weird covid year. But the reason I mention it is that in the team picture for Senior Day, every player on the roster is there, even the ones who didn't play--except Mossmer. Curious to see what the fall season brings, once tournaments begin again.

---

New Rankings

The new ITA rankings are out, and Stanford is #29 in the computer rankings, a rise of 9 spots. (That's on the strength of the win over USC.). In the coaches' poll, Stanford stayed at #26. Around the Pac-12, UCLA is #8/#6, Cal is #25/#22, ASU is #33/#31, USC is #36/#32, Oregon is #47/#40, and Washington is #50/#45. Given the shortened season for Pac-12 teams, it makes sense that the computers aren't quite as impressed as the coaches are. 

We also have new singles and doubles rankings for the first time in a while, and while the NCAA has asked for both the ITA computer and coaches' rankings for teams, they appear to be set on using the computer rankings for the singles and doubles championships, which should mean underrepresenting Pac-12 student-athletes. Only Gordon is ranked in singles at #41, and no Stanford doubles teams are ranked, suggesting that only Gordon will make an appearance in the NCAA singles championships at the end of the year--and that's only if she holds her spot, gets a couple good wins at Pac-12s, and doesn't take a bad loss. 

I hope that the NCAA provides for a number of wild cards and uses those to restore a bit of geographic balance to NCAAs. The SEC and ACC are elite tennis conferences, don't get me wrong, but they're just overrepresented in the rankings right now, plain and simple. 

A Periodic Reminder

Stanford women's tennis is the 2-time defending national champion.

Long time lurker here but recently have heard info on what is going on with Mossmer. Poor thing had to get a heart surgery in the fall of her freshman year and has been struggling to recover since. Unsure of any details beyond that but hopefully she is healthy and is on campus practicing with the team. I believe she won the national championships at San Diego in the U16 division and was one of the top recruits for her grade. I had faith for her and Blake to fill in the shoes of Caroline Lampl and Melissa Lord but it looks like it could be a long road ahead of her to be back to where she was pre-Stanford.