05-02-2024, 12:01 PM
New ITA rankings dropped, and as expected, Stanford is #2. UMass is unranked (the ITA only lists the top 75, and they're at #151, per collegetennisranks.com), and our potential second-round opponents are #32 (LSU) and #34 (Baylor).
In singles, we've got three ranked players: #7 Ma, #25 Blake, and #29 Yepifanova. And we've got one ranked doubles team: #10 Ma/Yepifanova.
A couple other lineup quirks of note, and they're likely Super Regional opponents on the other half of the bracket, which is good for us:
* UNC is listing #22 Elizabeth Scotty as their #1, bumping #6 Fiona Crawley down a line. Crawley has a 12-3 record at #1 this year and 3-0 at #2, while Scotty is just 1-0 there, compared to 7-0 at #2, 2-0 at #3, and 2-0 at #4. I'm not going to pore over every UNC box score to see how many times Scotty played #1 this year, but since UNC lost Reese Brantmeier for the year with a meniscus tear at National Indoors, I looked at the three matches they had just before then, and sure enough, Brantmeier was at 1, Crawley was at 2, and Scotty was at 4 for each of those matches. While both are terrific players, Crawley has been above Scotty all year. This one just feels wrong. That said, I don't see a brobdingnagian advantage in doing it. I think this makes UNC slightly less likely to win on Court 1 and more likely to win on Court 2, but they were already very likely to win on both courts, so it's just strange.
* Texas A&M has inserted Carson Branstine back into their lineup after she was out much of the year playing ITF tournaments internationally. She made the following statement in response to someone on Twitter questioning why she's back on the roster and taking the spot of someone who's been playing all year:
"Four surgeries, countless hours of rehab, all crafting a comeback story that wouldn't fit on your average stat sheet. My journey back to @AggieWTEN was less about physical presence and more about mental fortitude. So as the postseason rolls in and I'm back on the roster, remember, the true essence of teamwork is not just showing up, it's never giving up."
A nice sentiment, and she indeed had hip surgery 12 months ago, but then there's this: she played in an ITF tournament in April in Tunisia; she played in two different ITF tournaments in February in Turkey (and was scheduled for a third that was cancelled); two January ITF tournaments in Tunisia and one in the US; and another couple of tournaments in Tunisia in November. Rather than work her way back into form playing a mix of college matches and domestic tournaments, she was off the A&M roster and played international tournaments.
She is eligible to play, that's not the issue. But she hasn't been on the roster before now this season, and some feel that this is dirty pool, to use a phrase that I'm sure the kids these days wouldn't understand. Anyway, she was entered at #3 singles in her first match back, that was challenged, and she was forced to play at #1, while Mary Stoiana--ranked #1 in the country basically all year--now plays #2 singles for the Aggies, bumping everyone down a line and making this a very different team. Having her at 1 vs. 3 doesn't mean a whole lot--it's a very dangerous top 3 either way, though A&M probably would have just listed her at #1 if they truly thought she was ready to come back at #1--but it's the downstream effects on the lineup that are frustrating for potential opponents. Doesn't mean that A&M is destined for another deep NCAA run, and this new lineup just lost to Georgia in the SEC tournament final, 4-1 (and it could've been 6-1; Branstine had lost at 1, Stoiana was about to lose at 2, and the match at 6 was about to go into a third set). But the Aggies now look a lot more dangerous than your average #13 national seed.
Anyway, I'm very happy to be on the other side of the bracket from both of these potentially very dangerous teams. (Of course, two of UNC's losses this year were to NC State, our likely Super Regional opponent, and this A&M just lost 4-1 to our likely quarterfinal opponent, Georgia. So, there's danger everywhere you look, I guess.)
In singles, we've got three ranked players: #7 Ma, #25 Blake, and #29 Yepifanova. And we've got one ranked doubles team: #10 Ma/Yepifanova.
A couple other lineup quirks of note, and they're likely Super Regional opponents on the other half of the bracket, which is good for us:
* UNC is listing #22 Elizabeth Scotty as their #1, bumping #6 Fiona Crawley down a line. Crawley has a 12-3 record at #1 this year and 3-0 at #2, while Scotty is just 1-0 there, compared to 7-0 at #2, 2-0 at #3, and 2-0 at #4. I'm not going to pore over every UNC box score to see how many times Scotty played #1 this year, but since UNC lost Reese Brantmeier for the year with a meniscus tear at National Indoors, I looked at the three matches they had just before then, and sure enough, Brantmeier was at 1, Crawley was at 2, and Scotty was at 4 for each of those matches. While both are terrific players, Crawley has been above Scotty all year. This one just feels wrong. That said, I don't see a brobdingnagian advantage in doing it. I think this makes UNC slightly less likely to win on Court 1 and more likely to win on Court 2, but they were already very likely to win on both courts, so it's just strange.
* Texas A&M has inserted Carson Branstine back into their lineup after she was out much of the year playing ITF tournaments internationally. She made the following statement in response to someone on Twitter questioning why she's back on the roster and taking the spot of someone who's been playing all year:
"Four surgeries, countless hours of rehab, all crafting a comeback story that wouldn't fit on your average stat sheet. My journey back to @AggieWTEN was less about physical presence and more about mental fortitude. So as the postseason rolls in and I'm back on the roster, remember, the true essence of teamwork is not just showing up, it's never giving up."
A nice sentiment, and she indeed had hip surgery 12 months ago, but then there's this: she played in an ITF tournament in April in Tunisia; she played in two different ITF tournaments in February in Turkey (and was scheduled for a third that was cancelled); two January ITF tournaments in Tunisia and one in the US; and another couple of tournaments in Tunisia in November. Rather than work her way back into form playing a mix of college matches and domestic tournaments, she was off the A&M roster and played international tournaments.
She is eligible to play, that's not the issue. But she hasn't been on the roster before now this season, and some feel that this is dirty pool, to use a phrase that I'm sure the kids these days wouldn't understand. Anyway, she was entered at #3 singles in her first match back, that was challenged, and she was forced to play at #1, while Mary Stoiana--ranked #1 in the country basically all year--now plays #2 singles for the Aggies, bumping everyone down a line and making this a very different team. Having her at 1 vs. 3 doesn't mean a whole lot--it's a very dangerous top 3 either way, though A&M probably would have just listed her at #1 if they truly thought she was ready to come back at #1--but it's the downstream effects on the lineup that are frustrating for potential opponents. Doesn't mean that A&M is destined for another deep NCAA run, and this new lineup just lost to Georgia in the SEC tournament final, 4-1 (and it could've been 6-1; Branstine had lost at 1, Stoiana was about to lose at 2, and the match at 6 was about to go into a third set). But the Aggies now look a lot more dangerous than your average #13 national seed.
Anyway, I'm very happy to be on the other side of the bracket from both of these potentially very dangerous teams. (Of course, two of UNC's losses this year were to NC State, our likely Super Regional opponent, and this A&M just lost 4-1 to our likely quarterfinal opponent, Georgia. So, there's danger everywhere you look, I guess.)