[ColoradoTree]

  it speaks well of not only Lele but of Blokhina and what she wants out of tennis and school 

Fixed it for you.   :)

That's what I was implying, but apologies for not being clear! For a lot of top junior players, tennis is the end in and of itself--college is merely a detour to the pro tour, so any college situation where you might not play top 2-3 early is a non-starter. For Blokhina to come here with the current crop of freshmen where they are (and recognizing Ma is likely to stay all four years due to her family's education-first emphasis) suggests she is willing to use and leverage tennis in pursuit of other goals (like getting into Stanford and getting an outstanding education), and playing lower in the lineup (at least for a bit) is less important to her than coming to Stanford is.

Of course, just because Ma is (seemingly) entrenched ahead of her doesn't mean Blokhina doesn't think she can surpass Blake, Xu, or Yepifanova next year. And more power to her! Internal competition for position is a heck of a motivator.  

She also seems to be a more accomplished doubles player than most of our high-ranked recruits seem to be coming in, so maybe we'll see something of a resurgence there, too. (Or continue a resurgence that we might start to see this spring.)

[ColoradoTree]

  it speaks well of not only Lele but of Blokhina and what she wants out of tennis and school 

Fixed it for you.   :)

That's what I was implying, but apologies for not being clear! For a lot of top junior players, tennis is the end in and of itself--college is merely a detour to the pro tour, so any college situation where you might not play top 2-3 early is a non-starter. For Blokhina to come here with the current crop of freshmen where they are (and recognizing Ma is likely to stay all four years due to her family's education-first emphasis) suggests she is willing to use and leverage tennis in pursuit of other goals (like getting into Stanford and getting an outstanding education), and playing lower in the lineup (at least for a bit) is less important to her than coming to Stanford is.

Of course, just because Ma is (seemingly) entrenched ahead of her doesn't mean Blokhina doesn't think she can surpass Blake, Xu, or Yepifanova next year. And more power to her! Internal competition for position is a heck of a motivator.  

She also seems to be a more accomplished doubles player than most of our high-ranked recruits seem to be coming in, so maybe we'll see something of a resurgence there, too. (Or continue a resurgence that we might start to see this spring.)