09-11-2023, 01:05 PM
The fall schedule will get going in a week and a half or so with the Battle of the Bay hosted by USF, which should see some of the top teams in the country for some invitational action, with other fall invitationals and the usual regional/national tournaments dotting the landscape:
Sept. 21-24: Battle of the Bay (San Francisco, CA)
Sept. 29-Oct. 1: Cal Invitational (Berkeley, CA)
Sept. 30-Oct. 8: Fall ITA All-American Championships (Cary, NC)
Oct. 13-17: ITA Northwest Regionals (Stanford, CA)
Oct. 26-29: St. Mary's Invitational (Moraga, CA)
Nov. 2-5: ITA Fall Championships (San Diego, CA)
A couple quick notes on those tournaments:
ITA Fall All-Americans
This is a great fall tournament that generally has all of the top players in the country, so it's a great measuring stick heading into the spring season. There are three stages, the main draw, the qualifying draw, and the pre-qualifying draw (which sees 12 players get into the qualifying draw, which in turn sees 8 players qualify for the main draw). The pre-qualifying starts on September 30 and the qualifying draw starts on October 2, so I would expect something of a mixed bag at the Cal Invitational. Any players involved in qualifying or pre-qualifying would likely skip it, while the folks involved in the main draw and the players at the bottom of the roster could still go.
If I understand the selection criteria correctly, I believe Angelica Blake would be in the main draw as the top-ranked player from the Northwest Region, while Alexandra Yepifanova should join her as a returning All-American. Connie Ma and Alexis Blokhina should then be in the qualifying draw as regional representatives, and Valencia Xu, Eleana Yu, and Katherine Hui would be no worse than the pre-qualifying round.
ITA Northwest Regionals
I love this tournament that Stanford hosts every year. The entire roster competes against teams in the rest of our region (which includes Cal, UW, Oregon, St. Mary's, Fresno State, UC Davis, etc.), and the two singles finalists qualify for Fall Nationals. We tend to do very well, and it's often the case that both finalists come from Stanford. (On especially good years, we have all four semifinalists, too!) The seeding for this tournament is a good clue as to how our head coach, Lele Forood, views the internal pecking order in our roster, and it's usually our first chance to see where the incoming freshmen stack up.
Sept. 21-24: Battle of the Bay (San Francisco, CA)
Sept. 29-Oct. 1: Cal Invitational (Berkeley, CA)
Sept. 30-Oct. 8: Fall ITA All-American Championships (Cary, NC)
Oct. 13-17: ITA Northwest Regionals (Stanford, CA)
Oct. 26-29: St. Mary's Invitational (Moraga, CA)
Nov. 2-5: ITA Fall Championships (San Diego, CA)
A couple quick notes on those tournaments:
ITA Fall All-Americans
This is a great fall tournament that generally has all of the top players in the country, so it's a great measuring stick heading into the spring season. There are three stages, the main draw, the qualifying draw, and the pre-qualifying draw (which sees 12 players get into the qualifying draw, which in turn sees 8 players qualify for the main draw). The pre-qualifying starts on September 30 and the qualifying draw starts on October 2, so I would expect something of a mixed bag at the Cal Invitational. Any players involved in qualifying or pre-qualifying would likely skip it, while the folks involved in the main draw and the players at the bottom of the roster could still go.
If I understand the selection criteria correctly, I believe Angelica Blake would be in the main draw as the top-ranked player from the Northwest Region, while Alexandra Yepifanova should join her as a returning All-American. Connie Ma and Alexis Blokhina should then be in the qualifying draw as regional representatives, and Valencia Xu, Eleana Yu, and Katherine Hui would be no worse than the pre-qualifying round.
ITA Northwest Regionals
I love this tournament that Stanford hosts every year. The entire roster competes against teams in the rest of our region (which includes Cal, UW, Oregon, St. Mary's, Fresno State, UC Davis, etc.), and the two singles finalists qualify for Fall Nationals. We tend to do very well, and it's often the case that both finalists come from Stanford. (On especially good years, we have all four semifinalists, too!) The seeding for this tournament is a good clue as to how our head coach, Lele Forood, views the internal pecking order in our roster, and it's usually our first chance to see where the incoming freshmen stack up.