[ColoradoTree]

I realize I forgot about the USTA 18's singles tournament in August, where Hui beat Yu in the semifinals in three sets, so that's certainly another data point in Hui's favor. But Yu withdrew from the subsequent third place match due to injury, so I've got a bit of an asterisk next to that result. It could mean that Yu was limited in her match against Hui but gutted it out (and that if both were fully healthy, it might lean the other way), or it could mean that Yu was 100% against Hui but withdrew from a relatively meaningless match because she was a bit sore and didn't want to risk injury. As I'll remind you throughout the fall season, withdrawals due to injury only sometimes indicate "real" injuries. The fall season counts for individual rankings, but players and coaches are often exceedingly cautious since you want to ensure availability for the matches that really count in the spring. (I'm not suggesting that players withdraw for completely fictitious injuries; I'm just saying that the slightest of muscle pulls/strains or soreness that might be consistent with a minor injury will lead a player to back out of invitational matches when they'd play through something similar in the spring. It is a sensible approach, and one I support.) 

Interestingly, that semifinal round had three of four players with Stanford ties. You had the top two recruits in the 2023 class (Yu and Hui) on one side, and you had the top two recruits in the 2024 class on the other side--the #2 player, Valerie Glozman of Bellevue, Washington, has verbally committed to Stanford and is currently our lone commit in that class. The ultimate tournament winner was the fourth player, Clervie Ngounoue, but it's unclear whether she'll go the college tennis route or go pro. 

In that tournament, Hui knocked off #2 seed Reese Brantmeier of UNC (who somehow was still eligible for an 18u tournament since she graduated from high school a year early) in a close quarterfinal, 7-6, 7-6. And for her part, Yu beat two other top incoming freshmen, Florida's Qavia Lopez (the #7 newcomer) in the round of 16 and Michigan's Piper Charney (the #8 newcomer) in the quarterfinals, so that's a round of good results for our two newcomers. 

That Brantmeier result makes me think some things. Good things. Optimistic things. I'm going to rashly revise my projected top 6 as follows:

1. Yepifanova
2. Ma
3. Blake
4. Hui
5. Yu
6. Blokhina

Alexis Blokhina at 6 is just unfair. But so would Yu or Hui. And here's hoping Valencia Xu doesn't take this lying down either. 

I said above that we're in the mix this year. I just want to reiterate that our shot is very, very real. I think we should be the #2 team in the country behind North Carolina heading into the spring season.

[ColoradoTree]

I realize I forgot about the USTA 18's singles tournament in August, where Hui beat Yu in the semifinals in three sets, so that's certainly another data point in Hui's favor. But Yu withdrew from the subsequent third place match due to injury, so I've got a bit of an asterisk next to that result. It could mean that Yu was limited in her match against Hui but gutted it out (and that if both were fully healthy, it might lean the other way), or it could mean that Yu was 100% against Hui but withdrew from a relatively meaningless match because she was a bit sore and didn't want to risk injury. As I'll remind you throughout the fall season, withdrawals due to injury only sometimes indicate "real" injuries. The fall season counts for individual rankings, but players and coaches are often exceedingly cautious since you want to ensure availability for the matches that really count in the spring. (I'm not suggesting that players withdraw for completely fictitious injuries; I'm just saying that the slightest of muscle pulls/strains or soreness that might be consistent with a minor injury will lead a player to back out of invitational matches when they'd play through something similar in the spring. It is a sensible approach, and one I support.) 

Interestingly, that semifinal round had three of four players with Stanford ties. You had the top two recruits in the 2023 class (Yu and Hui) on one side, and you had the top two recruits in the 2024 class on the other side--the #2 player, Valerie Glozman of Bellevue, Washington, has verbally committed to Stanford and is currently our lone commit in that class. The ultimate tournament winner was the fourth player, Clervie Ngounoue, but it's unclear whether she'll go the college tennis route or go pro. 

In that tournament, Hui knocked off #2 seed Reese Brantmeier of UNC (who somehow was still eligible for an 18u tournament since she graduated from high school a year early) in a close quarterfinal, 7-6, 7-6. And for her part, Yu beat two other top incoming freshmen, Florida's Qavia Lopez (the #7 newcomer) in the round of 16 and Michigan's Piper Charney (the #8 newcomer) in the quarterfinals, so that's a round of good results for our two newcomers. 

That Brantmeier result makes me think some things. Good things. Optimistic things. I'm going to rashly revise my projected top 6 as follows:

1. Yepifanova
2. Ma
3. Blake
4. Hui
5. Yu
6. Blokhina

Alexis Blokhina at 6 is just unfair. But so would Yu or Hui. And here's hoping Valencia Xu doesn't take this lying down either. 

I said above that we're in the mix this year. I just want to reiterate that our shot is very, very real. I think we should be the #2 team in the country behind North Carolina heading into the spring season.