US College Signings 2017 (and general college tennis chat)

indiana · Tennis legend

US College Signings 2017 (and general college tennis chat)

Oakland2002 · All-time great

It is a slightly flawed format for a number of reasons

1. Although winning the doubles point does confer a significant advantage, it's one set wham bam done in 45 minutes so relatively low brow
2. The way to win is strength in depth, so generally the strong teams will have much stronger players at 3,4,5 and 6, most colleges have decent no1's which are fairly evenly matched so you settle down to watch the top game between the best players and they never finish it let alone get to a third set, as the weaker team receives a dose of bakery products at 3,4,5,and 6.

All that said as the tournament reaches its pinnacle teams will be much more closely matched and it should get pretty exciting.

Nice to see Emily Smith get a singles match at No. 6, explains why Vandy are so highly seeded, most of our female players are at the bottom end of the singles rosters for their teams.

Oakland2002 · All-time great

Stanford v Idaho streamed all courts on the Stanford website Emily and partner on serve in the no.1 doubles

Oakland2002 · All-time great

Emily needs to hold serve for her match

Oakland2002 · All-time great

To love no1 doubles stanfords

Oakland2002 · All-time great

All 6 games first set to Stanford 6-2 or better, race is on to see who is left out there.

Oakland2002 · All-time great

Emily wins 6-2 6-0 really had to bagel her opponent in the second set to get the opportunity to finish. Hopefully saved plenty of gunpowder for tomorrow.

the addict · Tennis legend

Wow, some race to finish !

The Optimist · ATP qualifying

The rest of the women's first round finished yesterday including, as Oakie says, Stanford

Stanford Box

#6 Stanford bt Idaho (who could only field 5 players) 4-0

5. Emily Arbuthnott (Stanford) bt Shion Watabe (Idaho) 6-2, 6-0

Dubs

1. #39 Emily Arbuthnott / Taylor Davidson (Stanford) bt Lucia Badillos / Marianna Petrei (Idaho) 6-3

Stanford play Texas Christian later today - streaming on Stanford website

Oakland2002 · All-time great

It was pretty confusing trying to work out exactly what was going on. The men's team appeared as soon as Emily finished and there were only two doubles games initially, the second stopped again as soon as Emily won.

In retrospect Idaho were a player short so Stanford needed one doubles for the point and then another player retired in the singles so Emily really did need to Bagel the second set to complete her match and win the tie.

Not really a great advert for the depth in college tennis, Cal won 4-0 against St Jose state. I just hope Meagan Manasee was serving over arm, she does have an impressive under arm serve but she won her singles with ease. Pepperdine (very strong but not in a power conference so reliant on their out of conference games to build a decent schedule) whooped UCLA 4-1 after UCLA took the doubles point, I winced at this a bit given UCLA's reputation as a perennial tennis super power they have the pick of SoCal but to be fair they are a genuinely academic school and Pepperdine are strong with a mature line up and star import Luisa Stefani likely to go deep in the NCAA singles. UCLA's Edna Shibahara who lost the first set on a tie break to Luisa, is one of the PAC 12 better players and will be around for sometime so with the likes of Jeda Hart I think the programmes are just in different phases of maturation.

The early rounds of the NCAA tornement I feel illustrate how variable the standard is across the conferences and what a massive gulf there is in class between the vast majority of girls and the WTA. Day to day the level of competition may be OK at the standout colleges with depth ie Stanford and Pepperdine (UCLA, Cal and USC for various reasons are weak this year by comparison) but competition pretty dilute in conference in season , at least it leaves time for study. For those that have those realistic and genuine aspirations of going pro, being generous it must be 2-3 across the whole PAC 12 with Luisa from Pepperdine it really is a plan B very different from the WTA. The closer you look at it the more clearly you see those programmes that offer a chink of professionalism and the infrastructure within which you could nurture a longer term aim of a professional tennis career.

-- Edited by Oakland2002 on Sunday 14th of May 2017 07:19:31 AM

The Optimist · ATP qualifying

Florida Box

#1 Florida bt Massachusetts 4-0

4. #44 Anna Danilina (CH=334) (Florida) bt Anna Woosley (Massachusetts) 6-3, 6-1

Dubs

1. #11 Anna Danilina / Ingrid Neel bt Ruth Crawford / Anna Woosley (Massachusetts) 6-2

No further British interest in this box

The Optimist · ATP qualifying

I agree with you Oakie, there is huge variation between the conferences and this is really highlighted in the NCAA first rounds where winners from weak conferences just get swatted aside. But I think the strength is spread a bit further than you do! Someone like Holly Hutchinson is playing high up in an average conference but has a W/L record of just over 50% so is being challenged - there are other strong players at the top of the order in her conference (UTEP for example have an amazing Spanish girl who graduates this year) and the team have a good non-conference schedule.

The Optimist · ATP qualifying

Pepperdine Box

#12 Pepperdine bt Long Island-Brooklyn 4-0

3. #37 Mayar Sherif Ahmed (Pepperdine) bt Jennifer Gogova (Long Island-B) 6-0, 6-2

Dubs

3. Ashley Lahey / Dzina Milovanovic (Pepperdine) bt Jennifer Gogova / Isabella Wagner (Long Island-B) 6-1

No further British interest in this box

The Optimist · ATP qualifying

North Carolina Box

#4 North Carolina bt Furman 4-0

2. #18 Sara Daavetilla (N Carolina) led Katty Weymouth (Furman) 6-3, 3-4

5. #100 Makenna Jones (N Carolina) bt Hannah Ferrett (Furman) 6-0, 6-2

Dubs

2. Sara Daavettila / Makenna Jones (N Carolina) bt Katty Weymouth / Danni Vines (Furman) 6-1

#29 Mississippi bt William and Mary 4-1

6. Alexa Bortles (Mississippi) bt Cecily Wuenscher (William and Mary) 6-4, 6-3

Dubs

3. Anna Vrbenska / Tea Jandric (Mississippi) bt Natalia Perry / Cecily Wuenscher (William and Mary) 7-6(3)

No further British interest in this box

Oakland2002 · All-time great

The Optimist wrote:
I agree with you Oakie, there is huge variation between the conferences and this is really highlighted in the NCAA first rounds where winners from weak conferences just get swatted aside. But I think the strength is spread a bit further than you do! Someone like Holly Hutchinson is playing high up in an average conference but has a W/L record of just over 50% so is being challenged - there are other strong players at the top of the order in her conference (UTEP for example have an amazing Spanish girl who graduates this year) and the team have a good non-conference schedule.

O, I get your point and college tennis isn't there to produce professional players necessarily. But really on the girls side beyond the select few programmes that always have depth, even in the power conferences there are some very weak teams by professional standards. I appreciate that there are programmes in different phases of maturation as mentioned UCLA will be on the way to being a major force again perhaps as earlier as next year but this year got their place on reputation (Oregan did a Wimbledon on them in the PAC 12 tournie v fun to see). Depth in other conferences not really.

Old Dominion are definitely trying to build something and Holly has done very well, but at the moment they get whacked resoundingly out of conference. Playing number 1 as a Freshman I think is good and bad, good if you are at an elite team in a power conference but when your 50:50 record is such that almost all your wins are in conference and losses out implies you would be better playing 3-4 in the SEC with more room for growth. I understand completely that for the vast majority tennis is only part of a broader tennis experience. I can completely see why Emily Smith has transferred from Rice to Vandy to improve heR tennis and get more regular quality competition.

One thing I don't think is obvious from an external perspective is how much work the assistant coaches do. Particularly during matches. Very interesting that the assistant coach at Old Dominion has an outstanding record of transitioning his closest Mentees to the WTA in a case series of 1 its 100%! Although then not a college coach he must have a decent understanding of what is necessary.

-- Edited by Oakland2002 on Sunday 14th of May 2017 08:44:29 AM