01-25-2022, 02:55 PM
Davis went as expected (if it were anything other than 7-0, I'd be sounding the alarm), but the big takeaways for me were the lineup order:
1. Ma
2. Yepifanova
3. Blake
4. Xu
5. Houghton
6. Choy
When was the last time we saw freshmen at 1, 2, and 4?? Even the great ones like Gibbs often start further back in the lineup. (Of course, one exception to that was Michaela Gordon--more on her in a minute.) This is a team that is built for the future, for sure, but the future might be starting now.
The 4-6 lines are where the interest really is for me. We knew it would probably be Ma-Yepifanova at the top, though we weren't sure where Gordon would slot in. Xu at 4 isn't a total shock, but where is Geller? And Houghton over Choy is curious, too. Coming out of high school, I expected Houghton to be a top half of the lineup type of player, and not only did that not materialize last year but she was usually out of the lineup altogether. So, if this suggests that she's taken a big jump in terms of her development and game, then that's terrific news. Houghton had been ranked as the #1 recruit in her class at times, and if she's back on that trajectory, that's great news. Coming in, I expected her to contribute more than Geller. Anyway, maybe Geller tweaked something in her second-round loss at the Freeman, so this could simply be giving rest, and matches like UC Davis are where we tend to sit someone out if they're not quite 100%. But with the ITA's one-line rule, the fact that Lele is saying she thinks Blake is better than Xu, and Xu is better than Houghton, and Houghton is better than Choy--that's all interesting news for us. That can change, of course. But you can't move a player more than one line in between matches (the rule is designed to avoid stacking a lineup for a match where you put a sacrificial lamb at #1 and then have a better chance at 2-6), so this is likely Lele's view of the team right now. The exception to that rule is injuries, as you can take a player out of the lineup entirely and then slot them back in roughly where they were before. So, we could see Geller as high as 3 against Arkansas, pushing everyone else down a line. I highly doubt Lele thinks Geller is below Choy in the pecking order, so my suspicion is that we'll see her back in the middle of the singles lineup soon.
OK, so back to Gordon. I have no more information than you do, but I will note that she was originally off the roster in the summer, she was added back on (with Shin being removed at the same time) before the fall season started, but she didn't participate in any fall tournaments and her only participation was the Hawaii trip, where she played one singles match. She's in grad school at Stanford, I understand, and I don't believe she played any matches this past summer. Being ranked in the ITA preseason rankings suggests that as of late summer/early fall, she intended to come back. Anyway, there's a story here to be told, so I'd love to hear what happened from Lele, but I suspect we're not going to get the full story unless Michaela chooses to tell us, maybe in a piece for the official website. Perhaps this was a way to get fall semester paid for? Perhaps it was to offer a little mentoring in the fall to the freshmen? Maybe she never really intended to come back, but Lele tried to persuade her as insurance in case one didn't materialize, but when everyone showed up and was playing great, she was surplus to requirements? Maybe she'd been dealing with a nagging injury, hoped the time off would get it better, and it just didn't? The fact that Gordon didn't play last summer suggested to me she was certainly not ramping up for an attempt at a pro career. Maybe she's done, and if so, she's been a hell of a contributor for us. But the career of a Stanford great like Gordon should go out with a bang, not a whimper.
1. Ma
2. Yepifanova
3. Blake
4. Xu
5. Houghton
6. Choy
When was the last time we saw freshmen at 1, 2, and 4?? Even the great ones like Gibbs often start further back in the lineup. (Of course, one exception to that was Michaela Gordon--more on her in a minute.) This is a team that is built for the future, for sure, but the future might be starting now.
The 4-6 lines are where the interest really is for me. We knew it would probably be Ma-Yepifanova at the top, though we weren't sure where Gordon would slot in. Xu at 4 isn't a total shock, but where is Geller? And Houghton over Choy is curious, too. Coming out of high school, I expected Houghton to be a top half of the lineup type of player, and not only did that not materialize last year but she was usually out of the lineup altogether. So, if this suggests that she's taken a big jump in terms of her development and game, then that's terrific news. Houghton had been ranked as the #1 recruit in her class at times, and if she's back on that trajectory, that's great news. Coming in, I expected her to contribute more than Geller. Anyway, maybe Geller tweaked something in her second-round loss at the Freeman, so this could simply be giving rest, and matches like UC Davis are where we tend to sit someone out if they're not quite 100%. But with the ITA's one-line rule, the fact that Lele is saying she thinks Blake is better than Xu, and Xu is better than Houghton, and Houghton is better than Choy--that's all interesting news for us. That can change, of course. But you can't move a player more than one line in between matches (the rule is designed to avoid stacking a lineup for a match where you put a sacrificial lamb at #1 and then have a better chance at 2-6), so this is likely Lele's view of the team right now. The exception to that rule is injuries, as you can take a player out of the lineup entirely and then slot them back in roughly where they were before. So, we could see Geller as high as 3 against Arkansas, pushing everyone else down a line. I highly doubt Lele thinks Geller is below Choy in the pecking order, so my suspicion is that we'll see her back in the middle of the singles lineup soon.
OK, so back to Gordon. I have no more information than you do, but I will note that she was originally off the roster in the summer, she was added back on (with Shin being removed at the same time) before the fall season started, but she didn't participate in any fall tournaments and her only participation was the Hawaii trip, where she played one singles match. She's in grad school at Stanford, I understand, and I don't believe she played any matches this past summer. Being ranked in the ITA preseason rankings suggests that as of late summer/early fall, she intended to come back. Anyway, there's a story here to be told, so I'd love to hear what happened from Lele, but I suspect we're not going to get the full story unless Michaela chooses to tell us, maybe in a piece for the official website. Perhaps this was a way to get fall semester paid for? Perhaps it was to offer a little mentoring in the fall to the freshmen? Maybe she never really intended to come back, but Lele tried to persuade her as insurance in case one didn't materialize, but when everyone showed up and was playing great, she was surplus to requirements? Maybe she'd been dealing with a nagging injury, hoped the time off would get it better, and it just didn't? The fact that Gordon didn't play last summer suggested to me she was certainly not ramping up for an attempt at a pro career. Maybe she's done, and if so, she's been a hell of a contributor for us. But the career of a Stanford great like Gordon should go out with a bang, not a whimper.