10-21-2021, 03:05 PM
(This post was last modified: 10-21-2021, 03:24 PM by ColoradoTree.)
The doubles side of Northwest Regionals gives us a first look at what pairings Lele is thinking might work. Here are those seeds:
(1) Blake/Ma, Stanford
(2) Wong/Olsen, UW
(3) Alsola/Richardson, Cal
(4) Colyer/Martinez Vaquero, USF
(5-8) Madurawe/Yepifanova, Stanford
(5-8) Mould/Teixido Garcia, Oregon
(5-8) Broerman/Sosnowska, Gonzaga
(5-8) Thiel/Miller Voeller, Cal
Unseeded duos for us are Xu/Houghton and Choy/Geller. I'm really excited about that Blake/Ma pairing, and I think they could be one of the better doubles teams in the nation. Madurawe made herself a regular with Gordon in doubles last year, so even if she's boxed out of the singles lineup, I'd expect to see her in doubles, sort of like Kimberly Yee her last couple of years. It also continues Lele's tradition of pairing freshmen with more experienced players in doubles. Not sure what to think about the two unseeded pairs, as Houghton barely played doubles last year, Geller played five matches at #2 with Arbuthnott when Blake was out but didn't otherwise play much, and Choy was a mainstay at #3 with Emma Higuchi. The use of height is interesting here, too: we have three legitimately tall players, Blake (5'10"), Houghton (5'10"), and Yepifanova (whose height isn't listed but she looks like she's got a couple inches on Houghton). Some balance on those teams.
Of course, if Gordon plays this season (and I'm still assuming she is), we may well see Gordon/Madurawe as our #1 in the spring, Ma/Blake as our #2, and your guess is as good as mine as what pair Lele plucks from the rest of the roster for #3.
So, after considering all of that, what does this mean? Well, the seeds suggest that the coaches in the region have the same view of Connie Ma as I do--she's bonkers good, and the ITA is silly for not having her at the top of the newcomer rankings. Kozyreva is the preseason #57 player in the country, and this group of coaches thinks Ma is better, trailing only #14 Vanessa Wong. If Gordon doesn't play, Connie Ma will be our #1--heck, she might be our #1 if Gordon does play. The seeds suggest the following pecking order:
1. Gordon
2. Ma
3. Yepifanova
4. Blake
5. Xu
6. Geller/Choy/Houghton/Madurawe, but probably Geller out of that group
Choy played #4 for us last year and she was good at #4, coming within inches of clinching wins over national runner-up Pepperdine for us. This freshman class is so good that it might push her out of the singles lineup altogether. Even if Gordon doesn't play, that looks like Choy at the #6 spot, where she should be absolutely dominant.
Friday Schedule (all times PT):
Doubles Round of 64
8:30am:
* (1) Blake/Ma vs. Tanevska/Alcon (Portland)
* Choy/Geller vs. Mulville/Luescher (Oregon)
* Xu/Houghton vs. Kobayashi/Olsen (Oregon)
* (5-8) Madurawe/Yepifanova vs. Weil/Chang (UW)
Singles Round of 128
10:15am:
* Madurawe vs. Jade Quintana (Seattle)
* (5) Yepifanova vs. Mia Angelina Ruja (UOP)
* Houghton vs. Alexis Sam (UOP)
12:00pm: Geller vs. Ella LeRoy (UOP)
1:00pm: (10) Xu vs. Irena Muradyan (SJSU)
1:30pm: (2) Ma vs. Eliza Bates (Cal Poly)
2:00pm: (6) Blake vs. Iva Zelic (Portland)
Singles Round of 64 (if our players win--this is for planning purposes, not woofing):
4:00pm: Madurawe vs. winner of Mould (Oregon) and Laursen (Gonzaga)
4:30pm: (5) Yepifanova vs. winner of Alcon (Portland) and Gabuzyan (E Wash)
4:30pm: Houghton vs. winner of Egan (Portland State) and Magrini (Fresno State)
5:00pm: (10) Xu vs. winner of Frampton (Gonzaga) and Ahmed (Fresno State)
5:30pm: Geller vs. likely (3) Mariia Kozyreva (St. Mary's)
5:30pm: (2) Ma vs. winner of Tsukamoto (UC Davis) and Massey (St. Mary's)
6:00pm: (6) Blake vs. winner of Ronney (St. Mary's) and Johnson (Sac State)
(1) Blake/Ma, Stanford
(2) Wong/Olsen, UW
(3) Alsola/Richardson, Cal
(4) Colyer/Martinez Vaquero, USF
(5-8) Madurawe/Yepifanova, Stanford
(5-8) Mould/Teixido Garcia, Oregon
(5-8) Broerman/Sosnowska, Gonzaga
(5-8) Thiel/Miller Voeller, Cal
Unseeded duos for us are Xu/Houghton and Choy/Geller. I'm really excited about that Blake/Ma pairing, and I think they could be one of the better doubles teams in the nation. Madurawe made herself a regular with Gordon in doubles last year, so even if she's boxed out of the singles lineup, I'd expect to see her in doubles, sort of like Kimberly Yee her last couple of years. It also continues Lele's tradition of pairing freshmen with more experienced players in doubles. Not sure what to think about the two unseeded pairs, as Houghton barely played doubles last year, Geller played five matches at #2 with Arbuthnott when Blake was out but didn't otherwise play much, and Choy was a mainstay at #3 with Emma Higuchi. The use of height is interesting here, too: we have three legitimately tall players, Blake (5'10"), Houghton (5'10"), and Yepifanova (whose height isn't listed but she looks like she's got a couple inches on Houghton). Some balance on those teams.
Of course, if Gordon plays this season (and I'm still assuming she is), we may well see Gordon/Madurawe as our #1 in the spring, Ma/Blake as our #2, and your guess is as good as mine as what pair Lele plucks from the rest of the roster for #3.
So, after considering all of that, what does this mean? Well, the seeds suggest that the coaches in the region have the same view of Connie Ma as I do--she's bonkers good, and the ITA is silly for not having her at the top of the newcomer rankings. Kozyreva is the preseason #57 player in the country, and this group of coaches thinks Ma is better, trailing only #14 Vanessa Wong. If Gordon doesn't play, Connie Ma will be our #1--heck, she might be our #1 if Gordon does play. The seeds suggest the following pecking order:
1. Gordon
2. Ma
3. Yepifanova
4. Blake
5. Xu
6. Geller/Choy/Houghton/Madurawe, but probably Geller out of that group
Choy played #4 for us last year and she was good at #4, coming within inches of clinching wins over national runner-up Pepperdine for us. This freshman class is so good that it might push her out of the singles lineup altogether. Even if Gordon doesn't play, that looks like Choy at the #6 spot, where she should be absolutely dominant.
Friday Schedule (all times PT):
Doubles Round of 64
8:30am:
* (1) Blake/Ma vs. Tanevska/Alcon (Portland)
* Choy/Geller vs. Mulville/Luescher (Oregon)
* Xu/Houghton vs. Kobayashi/Olsen (Oregon)
* (5-8) Madurawe/Yepifanova vs. Weil/Chang (UW)
Singles Round of 128
10:15am:
* Madurawe vs. Jade Quintana (Seattle)
* (5) Yepifanova vs. Mia Angelina Ruja (UOP)
* Houghton vs. Alexis Sam (UOP)
12:00pm: Geller vs. Ella LeRoy (UOP)
1:00pm: (10) Xu vs. Irena Muradyan (SJSU)
1:30pm: (2) Ma vs. Eliza Bates (Cal Poly)
2:00pm: (6) Blake vs. Iva Zelic (Portland)
Singles Round of 64 (if our players win--this is for planning purposes, not woofing):
4:00pm: Madurawe vs. winner of Mould (Oregon) and Laursen (Gonzaga)
4:30pm: (5) Yepifanova vs. winner of Alcon (Portland) and Gabuzyan (E Wash)
4:30pm: Houghton vs. winner of Egan (Portland State) and Magrini (Fresno State)
5:00pm: (10) Xu vs. winner of Frampton (Gonzaga) and Ahmed (Fresno State)
5:30pm: Geller vs. likely (3) Mariia Kozyreva (St. Mary's)
5:30pm: (2) Ma vs. winner of Tsukamoto (UC Davis) and Massey (St. Mary's)
6:00pm: (6) Blake vs. winner of Ronney (St. Mary's) and Johnson (Sac State)