10-19-2022, 10:10 AM
Yepifanova won the singles title yesterday in a slugfest over Blake, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2. That's her first collegiate title, so congrats to her!
Both of them automatically qualify for ITA Fall Nationals on Nov. 2-6 in San Diego. In past years, Ma's rank might have given her a shot at a wild card or at-large selection, but it's now a 32-player field instead of the old 64-player field, so the at-large selections got squeezed out. So, Ma won't have a chance to test herself against the best in the country this fall, making the fact Stanford didn't enter anyone at ITA All-Americans all the more frustrating. (The semifinalists at All-Americans all make the Fall Nationals field.) You get better by playing good players, and in that sense, this fall was a real missed opportunity for Stanford. Yepifanova and Blake will get some matches now, but they could've had more tough matches. As it is, Ma's only tough match this fall will have been against Yepifanova.
Up next for Stanford is the St. Mary's Invitational starting on Oct. 28. Unclear how strong the field will be, but last year it was basically a lot of the same teams that compete at the Northwest Regionals, so probably not a ton of new faces. But you never know--these fields can change quite a bit from year to year depending on other teams' schedules.
Both of them automatically qualify for ITA Fall Nationals on Nov. 2-6 in San Diego. In past years, Ma's rank might have given her a shot at a wild card or at-large selection, but it's now a 32-player field instead of the old 64-player field, so the at-large selections got squeezed out. So, Ma won't have a chance to test herself against the best in the country this fall, making the fact Stanford didn't enter anyone at ITA All-Americans all the more frustrating. (The semifinalists at All-Americans all make the Fall Nationals field.) You get better by playing good players, and in that sense, this fall was a real missed opportunity for Stanford. Yepifanova and Blake will get some matches now, but they could've had more tough matches. As it is, Ma's only tough match this fall will have been against Yepifanova.
Up next for Stanford is the St. Mary's Invitational starting on Oct. 28. Unclear how strong the field will be, but last year it was basically a lot of the same teams that compete at the Northwest Regionals, so probably not a ton of new faces. But you never know--these fields can change quite a bit from year to year depending on other teams' schedules.