02-24-2024, 03:57 PM
(This post was last modified: 02-24-2024, 04:19 PM by ColoradoTree.)
So, let's talk about what worked well, and what didn't.
On the big plus side, let's look first at Ma and Hui. They both had difficult first sets but then cruised in the second to give us a much-needed boost. The match was in a very delicate place, teetering on the edge, and without that shot in the arm those two wins gave us, it's very easy to imagine Blake or Blokhina not finding the extra gear they needed in the third set.
Blake and Blokhina are a mixed bag. In doubles, they got smoked, continuing a worrying recent trend where they've had poor performances at the top of the doubles lineup. And in singles, they both had significant hiccups. Now, you can have hiccups against excellent players, of course, but eating a bagel is no mere hiccup. I mean, it's amazing that Blake could shake off such a disastrous second set and still find a way to close out her match, so on one hand, it's amazing. To dig out of a hole that big is truly impressive. But, uh, why dig yourself that hole in the first place? As for Blokhina, she had more than a little trouble finishing off that match, but bottom line, she finished it off. And to get that result against a player like Chavatipon, who mostly played #2 for the Longhorns last year and has been a fixture in the rankings for the past three years, is really impressive. Especially with the weight of the team result hanging over it. Serious kudos to her.
As for what didn't go well? Doubles with Blake/Blokhina and Hui/Xu, for one. Yeesh. And then in singles, you've got the mildly disappointing (Xu frittering away opportunities in her first set and then failing to get it done in the third against a player she should beat) and the downright horrific (Yepifanova's absolute no-show against Rapolu). Now, Rapolu is a good player, but Sasha is too dang good to lay an egg like that. Let's hope it's a one-off, but the truth is, we've seen some frustrating results from her so far this year.
As far as the rankings go, I'd normally say this result should see us climb the rankings. But Oklahoma State's resume is still ahead of ours, and Michigan just beat N.C. State, so that's another really valuable win that might keep them ahead of us.
We were right back at it the next day against UCSB, which is a good team but by no means someone we should struggle to beat. I'd wondered whether some of the players would take a day off in order to get some rest, particularly Blokhina, Xu, and Blake, whose matches went longest. But Blokhina and Xu played, with Hui resting in both singles and doubles and Blake taking singles off, meaning Xu partnered with Houghton in doubles, Xu bumped up to the #4 line in singles, Yu entered the lineup at #5, and Houghton at #6. Also interesting was that we saw Ma/Yepifanova move to the top doubles line, with Blake/Blokhina sliding back down to 2. That change might not be permanent, of course, but it certainly seems warranted based on recent results.
So it's Ma at Court 1 that gets the only real threat in UCSB's lineup, #62 Amelia Honer, though Camille Kiss is also a decent player. But Yepifanova shouldn't have any trouble with her. Of course, whether she does--particularly in light of her worrying recent form--is another question.
Stanford took the doubles point without much difficulty, and while Ma and Yepifanova struggled on the top two courts, the other four were off to the races as UCSB just doesn't have the depth to compete.
While Yepifanova lost her first set in a tiebreaker and Ma was tied up at 5-5 in hers, the other four matches all saw Stanford up a set and at least a break in the second, with the only question which three of those would be fastest to the win.
Xu was first, shaking off yesterday's disappointing with a 6-1, 6-0 win on Court 4, while Blokhina followed soon after with a 6-1, 6-1 win on Court 3 that made it 3-0 to Stanford. Ma won her first set in a tiebreaker, while Yepifanova seemingly remembered that she's good at tennis and was taking control of her second set. Yu was up 4-1, but Houghton would have first crack at the clincher, up 5-1. And it was indeed Houghton getting the clincher with a 6-1, 6-1 win on Court 6.
But it looks like they'll play it out. Yu didn't take much longer to make it 5-0 Stanford with a 6-3, 6-1 win of her own.
Yepifanova won her second set 6-3, and then they played a 10-point match tiebreaker (which remains the absolute dumbest way to decide a match, but no one asked me). Yepifanova lost that, but if they'd played out a full third set, I have no doubt that she would've won, the way she'd been playing. But tiebreakers are weird. But a loss is a loss, and if she didn't want to take a bad loss to a lesser player, she should've played better and won the first set. She showed signs of life today, but yeah, she's not herself right now. Some very high highs this season, but some very low lows, too.
At that point, Ma was down an early break in her second and had just held for 2-3 down. But then she broke as Honer double-faulted on break point to get it back on serve, and she held to go up 4-3.
You should all watch Ma play a match sometime. Not only is she amazing at tennis, but it's kind of hilarious how slowly she moves in between points. Some players hustle or bounce. Not Ma. Not one bit of wasted energy. Just absolutely plods and shuffles in between points. It's pretty entertaining. She's not quite as slow in between points on her opponent's serve, which is sporting of her, but on her serve? Molasses. Love it.
Anyway, Honer held for 4-4 and then broke Ma to go up 5-4, so now Ma will have to break back to stay in the set. Come on, Connie! Close it out!
Ma held for 6-5, so let's hope she can break now and end this thing!
Aaaaand it's another tiebreaker....
She goes down 0-2, but then wins 4 straight as they change ends. But Honer gets it to 4-4 before Ma holds for 5-4. Ma had a match point on her serve, up 6-5, but she sprayed a forehand long and it's 6-6 as they change ends again.
Ma takes the breaker 8-6, and she wins a "straight sets" match, 7-6, 7-6. Great, great tennis match, and a great win that makes the final score 6-1 Stanford. Not much to complain about in this one, except for, you know, Yepifanova.
On the big plus side, let's look first at Ma and Hui. They both had difficult first sets but then cruised in the second to give us a much-needed boost. The match was in a very delicate place, teetering on the edge, and without that shot in the arm those two wins gave us, it's very easy to imagine Blake or Blokhina not finding the extra gear they needed in the third set.
Blake and Blokhina are a mixed bag. In doubles, they got smoked, continuing a worrying recent trend where they've had poor performances at the top of the doubles lineup. And in singles, they both had significant hiccups. Now, you can have hiccups against excellent players, of course, but eating a bagel is no mere hiccup. I mean, it's amazing that Blake could shake off such a disastrous second set and still find a way to close out her match, so on one hand, it's amazing. To dig out of a hole that big is truly impressive. But, uh, why dig yourself that hole in the first place? As for Blokhina, she had more than a little trouble finishing off that match, but bottom line, she finished it off. And to get that result against a player like Chavatipon, who mostly played #2 for the Longhorns last year and has been a fixture in the rankings for the past three years, is really impressive. Especially with the weight of the team result hanging over it. Serious kudos to her.
As for what didn't go well? Doubles with Blake/Blokhina and Hui/Xu, for one. Yeesh. And then in singles, you've got the mildly disappointing (Xu frittering away opportunities in her first set and then failing to get it done in the third against a player she should beat) and the downright horrific (Yepifanova's absolute no-show against Rapolu). Now, Rapolu is a good player, but Sasha is too dang good to lay an egg like that. Let's hope it's a one-off, but the truth is, we've seen some frustrating results from her so far this year.
As far as the rankings go, I'd normally say this result should see us climb the rankings. But Oklahoma State's resume is still ahead of ours, and Michigan just beat N.C. State, so that's another really valuable win that might keep them ahead of us.
We were right back at it the next day against UCSB, which is a good team but by no means someone we should struggle to beat. I'd wondered whether some of the players would take a day off in order to get some rest, particularly Blokhina, Xu, and Blake, whose matches went longest. But Blokhina and Xu played, with Hui resting in both singles and doubles and Blake taking singles off, meaning Xu partnered with Houghton in doubles, Xu bumped up to the #4 line in singles, Yu entered the lineup at #5, and Houghton at #6. Also interesting was that we saw Ma/Yepifanova move to the top doubles line, with Blake/Blokhina sliding back down to 2. That change might not be permanent, of course, but it certainly seems warranted based on recent results.
So it's Ma at Court 1 that gets the only real threat in UCSB's lineup, #62 Amelia Honer, though Camille Kiss is also a decent player. But Yepifanova shouldn't have any trouble with her. Of course, whether she does--particularly in light of her worrying recent form--is another question.
Stanford took the doubles point without much difficulty, and while Ma and Yepifanova struggled on the top two courts, the other four were off to the races as UCSB just doesn't have the depth to compete.
While Yepifanova lost her first set in a tiebreaker and Ma was tied up at 5-5 in hers, the other four matches all saw Stanford up a set and at least a break in the second, with the only question which three of those would be fastest to the win.
Xu was first, shaking off yesterday's disappointing with a 6-1, 6-0 win on Court 4, while Blokhina followed soon after with a 6-1, 6-1 win on Court 3 that made it 3-0 to Stanford. Ma won her first set in a tiebreaker, while Yepifanova seemingly remembered that she's good at tennis and was taking control of her second set. Yu was up 4-1, but Houghton would have first crack at the clincher, up 5-1. And it was indeed Houghton getting the clincher with a 6-1, 6-1 win on Court 6.
But it looks like they'll play it out. Yu didn't take much longer to make it 5-0 Stanford with a 6-3, 6-1 win of her own.
Yepifanova won her second set 6-3, and then they played a 10-point match tiebreaker (which remains the absolute dumbest way to decide a match, but no one asked me). Yepifanova lost that, but if they'd played out a full third set, I have no doubt that she would've won, the way she'd been playing. But tiebreakers are weird. But a loss is a loss, and if she didn't want to take a bad loss to a lesser player, she should've played better and won the first set. She showed signs of life today, but yeah, she's not herself right now. Some very high highs this season, but some very low lows, too.
At that point, Ma was down an early break in her second and had just held for 2-3 down. But then she broke as Honer double-faulted on break point to get it back on serve, and she held to go up 4-3.
You should all watch Ma play a match sometime. Not only is she amazing at tennis, but it's kind of hilarious how slowly she moves in between points. Some players hustle or bounce. Not Ma. Not one bit of wasted energy. Just absolutely plods and shuffles in between points. It's pretty entertaining. She's not quite as slow in between points on her opponent's serve, which is sporting of her, but on her serve? Molasses. Love it.
Anyway, Honer held for 4-4 and then broke Ma to go up 5-4, so now Ma will have to break back to stay in the set. Come on, Connie! Close it out!
Ma held for 6-5, so let's hope she can break now and end this thing!
Aaaaand it's another tiebreaker....
She goes down 0-2, but then wins 4 straight as they change ends. But Honer gets it to 4-4 before Ma holds for 5-4. Ma had a match point on her serve, up 6-5, but she sprayed a forehand long and it's 6-6 as they change ends again.
Ma takes the breaker 8-6, and she wins a "straight sets" match, 7-6, 7-6. Great, great tennis match, and a great win that makes the final score 6-1 Stanford. Not much to complain about in this one, except for, you know, Yepifanova.