09-11-2023, 11:14 AM
We've still got about a week and a half before the Stanford women's tennis team plays its first match of the fall, but we've got preseason ITA rankings and some preseason success to digest, so let's dive in!
The preseason rankings dropped, and based solely on those, we should be one of the precious few teams with a reasonable shot at challenging for a national title. Here are the rankings below, with Pac-12 teams and ACC teams (in italics) included, so you get a sense of the outgoing competition versus the incoming:
ITA Preseason Singles Rankings:
1. Fiona Crawley (UNC)
3. Alexa Noel (Miami)
4. Fangran Tian (UCLA)
5. Reese Brantmeier (UNC)
9. Carol Lee (GT)
10. Amelia Rajecki (NC State)
14. Angelica Blake
19. Carson Tanguilig (UNC)
21. Alexandra Yepifanova
26. Connie Ma
28. Kylie Bilchev (GT)
30. Abbey Forbes (UNC)
31. Annika Yarlagadda (UNC)
36. Emma Jackson (Duke)
38. Eryn Cayetano (USC)
39. Ozlem Uslu (VT)
43. Natasha Subhash (UVA)
44. Casie Wooten (WF)
47. Jessica Alsola (Cal)
52. Isabella Pfennig (Miami)
53. Page Freeman (ND)
54. Alexis Blokhina
55. Anna Arkadianou (FSU)
62. Maria Aguiar (BC)
63. Hadley Doyle (SMU)
65. Victoria Allen (FSU)
66. Kimmi Hance (UCLA)
68. Elizabeth Scotty (UNC)
71. Annabelle Xu (UVA)
72. Abigail Rencheli (NC State)
73. Julia Andreach (ND)
76. Reilly Tran (UNC)
78. Chelsea Fontenel (ASU)
81. Mahak Jain (GT)
84. Giulia Morlet (ASU)
85. Hibah Shaikh (UVA)
86. Eleni Louka (Clemson)
87. Alejandra Cruz (GT)
95. Ellie Schoppe (FSU)
96. Leonie Schuknect (Miami)
98. Katja Wiersholm (Cal)
100. Elaine Chervinsky (UVA)
101. Daniella Medvedeva (Clemson)
102. Viktoriya Kanapatskaya (Syracuse)
107. Sophie Edwards (BC)
110. Sophie Abrams (NC State)
111. Brianna Shvets (Duke)
115. Sarah-Maude Fortin (UW)
118. Valencia Xu
123. Christina Mayorova (Clemson)
ITA Preseason Freshman/Newcomer Rankings:
2. Katherine Hui
4. Eleana Yu
5. Emilija Tverijonaite (ASU)
Quick Rankings Thoughts
So, just based on rankings alone, we have 5 returning singles players ranked and two of the top 5 incoming freshmen. No one else in the Pac-12 is close, and we go into the season as the clear favorite for the conference title, though certainly USC and UCLA seem underrepresented in the rankings given the talent they have, so they won't be easy outs.
Also... my goodness, the sheer number of names in italics! The ACC is one of the two dominant forces in women's tennis at a conference level, along with the SEC. Joining the ACC will mean much more difficult matches for our players, and it's one of the brightest silver linings of landing with the ACC versus another potential conference destination. (The Big Ten would have been preferable for lots of reasons, but women's tennis sure as heck isn't one of them.)
* UNC has seven ranked singles players, and as the reigning national champion that returns everyone, they're obviously the team to beat.
* Michigan surprisingly has 6, plus the #8 newcomer, but then again they finished ranked 6th last year, so it's not a total shock.
* Joining Stanford with 5 returning ranked players is Texas A&M, which also has the #3 newcomer.
* Last year's national runner-up, Georgia, has just 3 ranked players after losing #1 Lea Ma and #5 Meg Kowalski to graduation, but the Bulldogs also have the #1 and #6 newcomers, so that's more of a reload than a rebuild, but they still might take a small step back.
* I'll get to Katherine Hui's news in the next post since this one is running long!
The preseason rankings dropped, and based solely on those, we should be one of the precious few teams with a reasonable shot at challenging for a national title. Here are the rankings below, with Pac-12 teams and ACC teams (in italics) included, so you get a sense of the outgoing competition versus the incoming:
ITA Preseason Singles Rankings:
1. Fiona Crawley (UNC)
3. Alexa Noel (Miami)
4. Fangran Tian (UCLA)
5. Reese Brantmeier (UNC)
9. Carol Lee (GT)
10. Amelia Rajecki (NC State)
14. Angelica Blake
19. Carson Tanguilig (UNC)
21. Alexandra Yepifanova
26. Connie Ma
28. Kylie Bilchev (GT)
30. Abbey Forbes (UNC)
31. Annika Yarlagadda (UNC)
36. Emma Jackson (Duke)
38. Eryn Cayetano (USC)
39. Ozlem Uslu (VT)
43. Natasha Subhash (UVA)
44. Casie Wooten (WF)
47. Jessica Alsola (Cal)
52. Isabella Pfennig (Miami)
53. Page Freeman (ND)
54. Alexis Blokhina
55. Anna Arkadianou (FSU)
62. Maria Aguiar (BC)
63. Hadley Doyle (SMU)
65. Victoria Allen (FSU)
66. Kimmi Hance (UCLA)
68. Elizabeth Scotty (UNC)
71. Annabelle Xu (UVA)
72. Abigail Rencheli (NC State)
73. Julia Andreach (ND)
76. Reilly Tran (UNC)
78. Chelsea Fontenel (ASU)
81. Mahak Jain (GT)
84. Giulia Morlet (ASU)
85. Hibah Shaikh (UVA)
86. Eleni Louka (Clemson)
87. Alejandra Cruz (GT)
95. Ellie Schoppe (FSU)
96. Leonie Schuknect (Miami)
98. Katja Wiersholm (Cal)
100. Elaine Chervinsky (UVA)
101. Daniella Medvedeva (Clemson)
102. Viktoriya Kanapatskaya (Syracuse)
107. Sophie Edwards (BC)
110. Sophie Abrams (NC State)
111. Brianna Shvets (Duke)
115. Sarah-Maude Fortin (UW)
118. Valencia Xu
123. Christina Mayorova (Clemson)
ITA Preseason Freshman/Newcomer Rankings:
2. Katherine Hui
4. Eleana Yu
5. Emilija Tverijonaite (ASU)
Quick Rankings Thoughts
So, just based on rankings alone, we have 5 returning singles players ranked and two of the top 5 incoming freshmen. No one else in the Pac-12 is close, and we go into the season as the clear favorite for the conference title, though certainly USC and UCLA seem underrepresented in the rankings given the talent they have, so they won't be easy outs.
Also... my goodness, the sheer number of names in italics! The ACC is one of the two dominant forces in women's tennis at a conference level, along with the SEC. Joining the ACC will mean much more difficult matches for our players, and it's one of the brightest silver linings of landing with the ACC versus another potential conference destination. (The Big Ten would have been preferable for lots of reasons, but women's tennis sure as heck isn't one of them.)
* UNC has seven ranked singles players, and as the reigning national champion that returns everyone, they're obviously the team to beat.
* Michigan surprisingly has 6, plus the #8 newcomer, but then again they finished ranked 6th last year, so it's not a total shock.
* Joining Stanford with 5 returning ranked players is Texas A&M, which also has the #3 newcomer.
* Last year's national runner-up, Georgia, has just 3 ranked players after losing #1 Lea Ma and #5 Meg Kowalski to graduation, but the Bulldogs also have the #1 and #6 newcomers, so that's more of a reload than a rebuild, but they still might take a small step back.
* I'll get to Katherine Hui's news in the next post since this one is running long!