[ColoradoTree]

The fall season kicks off in earnest at Taube today with the start of ITA Northwest Regionals. The real action doesn't start until tomorrow, but singles qualifying gets going today. This is one of my favorite events of the year because you see the depth of the entire team in the tournament and how they stack up against the best of our region (which includes Cal, UW, Oregon, and the other DI schools in Northern California and the Pacific Northwest). It usually gives us some early insight into what our lineup order is expected to be, too, though that doesn't always hold. 

Here's a link to the tournament page: https://colleges.wearecollegetennis.com/...AD068FB212

And here are the seeds!

Singles

(1) Connie Ma, Stanford
(2) Jessica Alsola, Cal
(3) Angelica Blake, Stanford
(4) Alexandra Yepifanova, Stanford
(5) Katja Wiersholm, Cal
(6) Alexis Blokhina, Stanford
(7) Hannah Viller Moeller, Cal
(8) Sarah-Maude Fortin, UW

(9) Valentina Ivanov, Cal
(9) Klara Kosan, UOP
(9) Sophie Luescher, Oregon
(9) Valencia Xu, Stanford
(9) Maria Martinez Vaquero, USF
(9) Iva Zelic, Portland
(9) Catherine Broerman, Gonzaga
(9) Hikaru Sato, UW

India Houghton and Ana Geller are in the main draw but unseeded, and Emma Sun is in the qualifying round today against U of Portland's Alaia Rubio Perez at 4:30pm.

Doubles

(1) Blake/Ma, Stanford
(2) Alsola/Wiersholm, Cal
(3) Jittakoat/Magrini, Fresno State
(4) Viller Moeller/Ivanov, Cal
(5) Yepifanova/Blokhina, Stanford
(6) Broerman/Sosnowska, Gonzaga
(7) Zelic/Pethybridge, Portland
(8) Fortin/Olsen, UW

Also in the draw are Houghton/Geller and Sara Choy pairing with Valencia Xu, though Choy is not in the singles draw. 

Analysis

So, Blake being seeded above Yepifanova is interesting, and it suggests to me that we will see Blake at 2 over Yepifanova this year. Blokhina as the 6 seed suggests she's got the inside track to be 4th in the lineup, with Xu at 5 and one of Geller/Houghton/Choy at 6, though Choy skipping the singles while playing doubles might be a sign of what we can expect from her this year. Yepifanova at 3 will absolutely crush people. 

Cal's Haley Giavara isn't here, and if she were, she'd be one of the top handful of seeds, too, but Alsola being #2 is a big jump from her preseason ranking of #50, which is behind Ma at #7, Yepifanova at #14, and Giavara at #25. (As a reminder, Xu was #83 and Blake was insultingly placed at #105.) I presume that Alsola's consolation singles title at All-Americans bumped her up (she got an injury walkover over 6th-seeded Carson Branstine of Texas A&M, beat USC's Snow Han in three sets, beat #125 Julia Fliegner of Michigan, and then won the championship match over #34 Solymar Colling of USD). As for Blake being put over Yepifanova in the seeding, that doesn't happen absent a strong indication from Lele about her internal pecking order.

[ColoradoTree]

The fall season kicks off in earnest at Taube today with the start of ITA Northwest Regionals. The real action doesn't start until tomorrow, but singles qualifying gets going today. This is one of my favorite events of the year because you see the depth of the entire team in the tournament and how they stack up against the best of our region (which includes Cal, UW, Oregon, and the other DI schools in Northern California and the Pacific Northwest). It usually gives us some early insight into what our lineup order is expected to be, too, though that doesn't always hold. 

Here's a link to the tournament page: https://colleges.wearecollegetennis.com/...AD068FB212

And here are the seeds!

Singles

(1) Connie Ma, Stanford
(2) Jessica Alsola, Cal
(3) Angelica Blake, Stanford
(4) Alexandra Yepifanova, Stanford
(5) Katja Wiersholm, Cal
(6) Alexis Blokhina, Stanford
(7) Hannah Viller Moeller, Cal
(8) Sarah-Maude Fortin, UW

(9) Valentina Ivanov, Cal
(9) Klara Kosan, UOP
(9) Sophie Luescher, Oregon
(9) Valencia Xu, Stanford
(9) Maria Martinez Vaquero, USF
(9) Iva Zelic, Portland
(9) Catherine Broerman, Gonzaga
(9) Hikaru Sato, UW

India Houghton and Ana Geller are in the main draw but unseeded, and Emma Sun is in the qualifying round today against U of Portland's Alaia Rubio Perez at 4:30pm.

Doubles

(1) Blake/Ma, Stanford
(2) Alsola/Wiersholm, Cal
(3) Jittakoat/Magrini, Fresno State
(4) Viller Moeller/Ivanov, Cal
(5) Yepifanova/Blokhina, Stanford
(6) Broerman/Sosnowska, Gonzaga
(7) Zelic/Pethybridge, Portland
(8) Fortin/Olsen, UW

Also in the draw are Houghton/Geller and Sara Choy pairing with Valencia Xu, though Choy is not in the singles draw. 

Analysis

So, Blake being seeded above Yepifanova is interesting, and it suggests to me that we will see Blake at 2 over Yepifanova this year. Blokhina as the 6 seed suggests she's got the inside track to be 4th in the lineup, with Xu at 5 and one of Geller/Houghton/Choy at 6, though Choy skipping the singles while playing doubles might be a sign of what we can expect from her this year. Yepifanova at 3 will absolutely crush people. 

Cal's Haley Giavara isn't here, and if she were, she'd be one of the top handful of seeds, too, but Alsola being #2 is a big jump from her preseason ranking of #50, which is behind Ma at #7, Yepifanova at #14, and Giavara at #25. (As a reminder, Xu was #83 and Blake was insultingly placed at #105.) I presume that Alsola's consolation singles title at All-Americans bumped her up (she got an injury walkover over 6th-seeded Carson Branstine of Texas A&M, beat USC's Snow Han in three sets, beat #125 Julia Fliegner of Michigan, and then won the championship match over #34 Solymar Colling of USD). As for Blake being put over Yepifanova in the seeding, that doesn't happen absent a strong indication from Lele about her internal pecking order.