11-11-2021, 12:38 PM
And as of this morning, Blokhina picks Stanford! From her Instagram comments, sounds like it's been in the works for a long time and this has long been a dream for her, but she's also played it close to the vest in terms of talking to tennis-specific publications--I couldn't find any bread crumbs about college interest from her before she announced. Here's a profile of her:
* Currently the #6 recruit in the class, and she's been a riser (peak ranking of #15 as a freshman, #12 as a sophomore, and #9 as a junior)
* She's currently ranked #52 in the world junior rankings with a career high ranking of 46. That's a
* She's a hard-hitting lefty from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Not super tall, but compact and powerful.
* She's got a 7-4 record against other blue chips in the past year or so: she beat Yepifanova 6-2, 6-4 back in March (avenging a 6-1, 6-3 loss to Yepifanova from the previous summer); she lost in three sets to Valencia Xu in August (around when she was partnering with her in doubles at the U.S. Open girls' tournament); she also has a couple of three-set losses to South Carolina freshman Sarah Hamner, the top-ranked newcomer in the ITA rankings this year who won the ITA All-American Tournament this past fall and who came into Fall Nationals as the 3 seed, losing to preseason #12 Alexa Noel of Iowa in a third-set tiebreaker.
* Back in February 2020, she beat Mell Reasco (then of Ecuador, now the 4th-ranked newcomer at UGA) in three sets--Reasco won the Southeast regional (which is stocked with good SEC/ACC teams) this fall and made it to the quarters at Fall Nationals, the same round Ma reached.
* At age 13, she won the Florida state 18u tournament, the youngest-over champion there.
* She upset 3rd-seeded Russian Diana Shnaider in the second round of the US Open girls' tournament this past September, 6-2, 7-6, avenging what had been a 0-3 record against Shnaider coming into the match.
* She's got less of a record against top blue chips than others mainly because she seems to be focusing on European-based ITF junior tournaments with few American players (there are way way more tournaments over there than there are here). That suggests she's serious about sounding out a pro career at some point, so if she vaults to the top of our lineup sooner rather than later, she might be a risk to move on, but heck, if she manages to beat out Ma and Yepifanova in this lineup, she's probably good enough to go pro whenever she wants.
Anyway, she's legit, and she's a great get for the program--to convince her to come to Stanford when we've got that ridiculous trio one class above her is a heck of a sales job, and it speaks well of not only Lele but of Blokhina and what she wants out of tennis, knowing how hard it will be to crack the top part of the lineup next year.
Unclear yet whether she'll be only member of the class. If she is, that's just fine by me, because she's a great one. Here's next year's roster math, assuming neither Choy nor Madurawe takes a fifth year:
Seniors (2): Blake, Mossmer
Juniors (2): Geller, Houghton
Sophomores (3): Ma, Yepifanova, Xu
Freshmen (1): Blokhina
That's our eight, unless one of Choy or Madurawe comes back or we get an international recruit. Another scholarship would have to come from somewhere, though, whether it's a Mossmer medical retirement or another "pay your way for a year and we'll get you on scholarship next year" situation.
* Currently the #6 recruit in the class, and she's been a riser (peak ranking of #15 as a freshman, #12 as a sophomore, and #9 as a junior)
* She's currently ranked #52 in the world junior rankings with a career high ranking of 46. That's a
* She's a hard-hitting lefty from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Not super tall, but compact and powerful.
* She's got a 7-4 record against other blue chips in the past year or so: she beat Yepifanova 6-2, 6-4 back in March (avenging a 6-1, 6-3 loss to Yepifanova from the previous summer); she lost in three sets to Valencia Xu in August (around when she was partnering with her in doubles at the U.S. Open girls' tournament); she also has a couple of three-set losses to South Carolina freshman Sarah Hamner, the top-ranked newcomer in the ITA rankings this year who won the ITA All-American Tournament this past fall and who came into Fall Nationals as the 3 seed, losing to preseason #12 Alexa Noel of Iowa in a third-set tiebreaker.
* Back in February 2020, she beat Mell Reasco (then of Ecuador, now the 4th-ranked newcomer at UGA) in three sets--Reasco won the Southeast regional (which is stocked with good SEC/ACC teams) this fall and made it to the quarters at Fall Nationals, the same round Ma reached.
* At age 13, she won the Florida state 18u tournament, the youngest-over champion there.
* She upset 3rd-seeded Russian Diana Shnaider in the second round of the US Open girls' tournament this past September, 6-2, 7-6, avenging what had been a 0-3 record against Shnaider coming into the match.
* She's got less of a record against top blue chips than others mainly because she seems to be focusing on European-based ITF junior tournaments with few American players (there are way way more tournaments over there than there are here). That suggests she's serious about sounding out a pro career at some point, so if she vaults to the top of our lineup sooner rather than later, she might be a risk to move on, but heck, if she manages to beat out Ma and Yepifanova in this lineup, she's probably good enough to go pro whenever she wants.
Anyway, she's legit, and she's a great get for the program--to convince her to come to Stanford when we've got that ridiculous trio one class above her is a heck of a sales job, and it speaks well of not only Lele but of Blokhina and what she wants out of tennis, knowing how hard it will be to crack the top part of the lineup next year.
Unclear yet whether she'll be only member of the class. If she is, that's just fine by me, because she's a great one. Here's next year's roster math, assuming neither Choy nor Madurawe takes a fifth year:
Seniors (2): Blake, Mossmer
Juniors (2): Geller, Houghton
Sophomores (3): Ma, Yepifanova, Xu
Freshmen (1): Blokhina
That's our eight, unless one of Choy or Madurawe comes back or we get an international recruit. Another scholarship would have to come from somewhere, though, whether it's a Mossmer medical retirement or another "pay your way for a year and we'll get you on scholarship next year" situation.