02-12-2024, 03:00 PM
Hey all, sorry I was out of pocket this weekend and I left you all to fend for yourselves!
But our Indoor Nationals is at an end, and we booked wins over #8 Florida and #12 Ohio State while dropping a competitive match to #3 Oklahoma State. As I noted in talking about this before the tournament, this particular result doesn't change my view that we're one of the handful of teams that have the talent to challenge for a national title. And given UNC's poor performances here, I'm probably a little more excited, because perhaps they're not quite as far ahead of everyone else as the tennis world has generally assumed. So, the big picture takeaway is that the loss to Oklahoma State shouldn't dampen our enthusiasm too much. We're still an excellent, deep team that is one of the few teams that is likely to make a run.
And FYI, Ohio State will climb higher than #12 based on their first-round win over #4 Georgia, though they also lost a 4-3 match to Texas yesterday. And Florida will drop, as they followed up their loss to us with a 4-1 loss to Georgia and a 4-0 loss to Auburn. Yikes. So, the OSU win will probably pay dividends as the season goes on, and the Florida win probably will, too (as their losses here were all to teams that will remain highly-ranked), as long as Florida manages to get several quality wins in SEC play. And the Oklahoma State loss will barely make a dent to us, as that looks like a team that should enjoy a top 5 ranking the rest of the year. If you're going to take a loss, then this sure isn't a bad one to take.
I'll get into some match-specific comments in a little bit, but first, here are some big picture thoughts on overall winners/losers from the weekend as far as teams go:
Stock pointing up: Oklahoma State (3-0), Michigan (3-0), NC State (2-1), Virginia (2-1)
Oklahoma State will probably be #1 next week, and rightfully so. And Michigan has a good argument to be right next to them, with good wins over Cal, UVA (also listed here because they beat UNC and Pepperdine), and NC State (also listed here because they beat UNC).
Held serve: Stanford (2-1), Georgia (2-1), Pepperdine (2-1), Texas (2-1), Ohio State (1-2)
Pepperdine got wins over Cal and USC, but that does less for them than it would for other teams, because USC is already on the Waves' schedule and Cal is already on there twice. So Pepperdine will have five matches in total against those two by the time the season is over. Georgia has to be frustrated in dropping the match to Ohio State, but they rebounded with nice wins over Florida and Texas A&M. Texas beat A&M, dropped a 4-3 match to Oklahoma State, and beat Ohio State, so nothing to be ashamed of there. And for OSU, they lost to two great teams but pulled off a big upset over Georgia, so that's a plus weekend on net for them.
Disappointed: UNC (1-2), Texas A&M (1-2), USC (1-2), Cal (1-2), Auburn (1-2)
Shocked by UNC's lackluster performance here. Losing a close one to NC State is one thing, but getting shut out by UVA?? And then A&M lost to Texas and Georgia but did notch a nice win over Auburn. USC lost to UNC, squeaked out a win over UW that won't count for a ton, and lost to Pepperdine. Same thing for Cal: lost to Michigan, beat UW, and lost to Pepperdine. And Auburn got smoked by Oklahoma State and A&M but then smoked the Gators, though that win might not be all that valuable in the end.
Might as well not have shown up: Washington (0-3), Florida (0-3)
The Huskies got crushed by NC State and then had the bad draw luck of catching two teams already on its schedule, Cal and USC. And Florida sure showed they're not the 8th-best team in the country.
But our Indoor Nationals is at an end, and we booked wins over #8 Florida and #12 Ohio State while dropping a competitive match to #3 Oklahoma State. As I noted in talking about this before the tournament, this particular result doesn't change my view that we're one of the handful of teams that have the talent to challenge for a national title. And given UNC's poor performances here, I'm probably a little more excited, because perhaps they're not quite as far ahead of everyone else as the tennis world has generally assumed. So, the big picture takeaway is that the loss to Oklahoma State shouldn't dampen our enthusiasm too much. We're still an excellent, deep team that is one of the few teams that is likely to make a run.
And FYI, Ohio State will climb higher than #12 based on their first-round win over #4 Georgia, though they also lost a 4-3 match to Texas yesterday. And Florida will drop, as they followed up their loss to us with a 4-1 loss to Georgia and a 4-0 loss to Auburn. Yikes. So, the OSU win will probably pay dividends as the season goes on, and the Florida win probably will, too (as their losses here were all to teams that will remain highly-ranked), as long as Florida manages to get several quality wins in SEC play. And the Oklahoma State loss will barely make a dent to us, as that looks like a team that should enjoy a top 5 ranking the rest of the year. If you're going to take a loss, then this sure isn't a bad one to take.
I'll get into some match-specific comments in a little bit, but first, here are some big picture thoughts on overall winners/losers from the weekend as far as teams go:
Stock pointing up: Oklahoma State (3-0), Michigan (3-0), NC State (2-1), Virginia (2-1)
Oklahoma State will probably be #1 next week, and rightfully so. And Michigan has a good argument to be right next to them, with good wins over Cal, UVA (also listed here because they beat UNC and Pepperdine), and NC State (also listed here because they beat UNC).
Held serve: Stanford (2-1), Georgia (2-1), Pepperdine (2-1), Texas (2-1), Ohio State (1-2)
Pepperdine got wins over Cal and USC, but that does less for them than it would for other teams, because USC is already on the Waves' schedule and Cal is already on there twice. So Pepperdine will have five matches in total against those two by the time the season is over. Georgia has to be frustrated in dropping the match to Ohio State, but they rebounded with nice wins over Florida and Texas A&M. Texas beat A&M, dropped a 4-3 match to Oklahoma State, and beat Ohio State, so nothing to be ashamed of there. And for OSU, they lost to two great teams but pulled off a big upset over Georgia, so that's a plus weekend on net for them.
Disappointed: UNC (1-2), Texas A&M (1-2), USC (1-2), Cal (1-2), Auburn (1-2)
Shocked by UNC's lackluster performance here. Losing a close one to NC State is one thing, but getting shut out by UVA?? And then A&M lost to Texas and Georgia but did notch a nice win over Auburn. USC lost to UNC, squeaked out a win over UW that won't count for a ton, and lost to Pepperdine. Same thing for Cal: lost to Michigan, beat UW, and lost to Pepperdine. And Auburn got smoked by Oklahoma State and A&M but then smoked the Gators, though that win might not be all that valuable in the end.
Might as well not have shown up: Washington (0-3), Florida (0-3)
The Huskies got crushed by NC State and then had the bad draw luck of catching two teams already on its schedule, Cal and USC. And Florida sure showed they're not the 8th-best team in the country.