[ColoradoTree]

New ITA rankings just dropped, and Stanford holds steady at #3:

1. Oklahoma State (L)
2. Michigan 
3. Stanford
4. UVA 
5. UNC 
6. Georgia 
7. Texas (W)
8. Pepperdine (W)
9. Cal (Apr. 19)
10. UCLA (L)
11. USC (W)
12. Texas A&M (W)
13. NC State
14. Florida (W)
15. Ohio State (W)
16. Auburn
17. Tennessee
18. Oklahoma
19. South Carolina
20. Miami
21. San Diego (W, away)
22. Georgia Tech
23. Florida State
24. Duke
25. Texas Tech
***
26. Washington (W, away)
31. Arizona State (W, away)
39. Arizona (W, away)
51. Utah (W)
53. UCSB (W)
58. Maryland (W)
61. Oregon (W)

Unranked wins: UC Davis, Colorado, Pacific, St. Mary's, Washington State

As of right now, the rankings are likely counting nine wins, so the ones that count for us are: #7 Texas, #8 Pepperdine, #11 USC, #12 Texas A&M, #14 Florida, #15 Ohio State, #21 San Diego (away), #26 Washington (away), and #31 ASU (away). If we beat Cal, we add #9 (away, which is like beating the #6 team at home) and drop ASU. If we add a couple of wins over the likes of Cal, USC, and UCLA in the Pac-12 tournament, we drop Washington, but the final pre-NCAA rankings count 10 wins, so our worst countable win at that point would be #21 (away), which is like beating #15 at home. Not bad at all. 

Here are the singles rankings:

#10 Ma
#32 Yepifanova
#35 Blake

And in doubles, we have #24 Ma/Yepifanova.

Looking ahead to Cal, here's how we'll probably line up:

1. #35 Blake vs. #38 Hannah Viller Moeller
2. #10 Ma vs. #81 Jessica Alsola
3. #32 Yepifanova vs. #45 Katja Wiersholm
4. Blokhina vs. Mao Mushika
5. Hui vs. Berta Passola Folch
6. Xu vs. Lan Mi

But #49 Valentina Ivanov has been out the last couple of weeks (no idea why, it's college tennis, no one tells us anything), so if she's back, then she'd likely be at #1 and everyone else would slide down a line. 

Given the above matchups, and keep in mind that this Cal lineup was good enough to beat Pepperdine, I think it would take a poor performance from us to lose. Entirely possible that happens--it's tennis, sometimes things just aren't working right--but I feel optimistic about how we'll do. Now, things get complicated if Blokhina misses more matches, or if Ivanov comes back in and we have tougher matchups throughout the lineup. But I like our odds.  

How to watch: https://calbears.com/sports/2013/4/17/208195810.aspx

[ColoradoTree]

New ITA rankings just dropped, and Stanford holds steady at #3:

1. Oklahoma State (L)
2. Michigan 
3. Stanford
4. UVA 
5. UNC 
6. Georgia 
7. Texas (W)
8. Pepperdine (W)
9. Cal (Apr. 19)
10. UCLA (L)
11. USC (W)
12. Texas A&M (W)
13. NC State
14. Florida (W)
15. Ohio State (W)
16. Auburn
17. Tennessee
18. Oklahoma
19. South Carolina
20. Miami
21. San Diego (W, away)
22. Georgia Tech
23. Florida State
24. Duke
25. Texas Tech
***
26. Washington (W, away)
31. Arizona State (W, away)
39. Arizona (W, away)
51. Utah (W)
53. UCSB (W)
58. Maryland (W)
61. Oregon (W)

Unranked wins: UC Davis, Colorado, Pacific, St. Mary's, Washington State

As of right now, the rankings are likely counting nine wins, so the ones that count for us are: #7 Texas, #8 Pepperdine, #11 USC, #12 Texas A&M, #14 Florida, #15 Ohio State, #21 San Diego (away), #26 Washington (away), and #31 ASU (away). If we beat Cal, we add #9 (away, which is like beating the #6 team at home) and drop ASU. If we add a couple of wins over the likes of Cal, USC, and UCLA in the Pac-12 tournament, we drop Washington, but the final pre-NCAA rankings count 10 wins, so our worst countable win at that point would be #21 (away), which is like beating #15 at home. Not bad at all. 

Here are the singles rankings:

#10 Ma
#32 Yepifanova
#35 Blake

And in doubles, we have #24 Ma/Yepifanova.

Looking ahead to Cal, here's how we'll probably line up:

1. #35 Blake vs. #38 Hannah Viller Moeller
2. #10 Ma vs. #81 Jessica Alsola
3. #32 Yepifanova vs. #45 Katja Wiersholm
4. Blokhina vs. Mao Mushika
5. Hui vs. Berta Passola Folch
6. Xu vs. Lan Mi

But #49 Valentina Ivanov has been out the last couple of weeks (no idea why, it's college tennis, no one tells us anything), so if she's back, then she'd likely be at #1 and everyone else would slide down a line. 

Given the above matchups, and keep in mind that this Cal lineup was good enough to beat Pepperdine, I think it would take a poor performance from us to lose. Entirely possible that happens--it's tennis, sometimes things just aren't working right--but I feel optimistic about how we'll do. Now, things get complicated if Blokhina misses more matches, or if Ivanov comes back in and we have tougher matchups throughout the lineup. But I like our odds.  

How to watch: https://calbears.com/sports/2013/4/17/208195810.aspx