Draws Released for ITA Team Indoor; Junior Success at Surprise
I spent a couple of hours this afternoon on a podcast with Granger Huntress of the Texas College Tennis blog, discussing the ITA Team Indoor Championships, which start on Friday.
We tried a podcast prior to the Kickoff Weekend at the end of January, but there were some technical difficulties, so that podcast wasn't released. It was good practice for us however, and this time we spoke first about the women's teams and then in a separate segment, the men's. We didn't disagree on much, and Granger being the persuasive person he is, was able to get me to make predictions, which I usually avoid. I doubt any of our picks will surprise you, although I hope we were able to provide some informed reasons for failing to pick any big upsets.
One thing I did want to mention concerns the lineups. We were given access to the lineups after they were finalized (post challenges), and we are grateful for that, but they are not available online, which I think is a mistake. I have been told that the coaches voted not to make the lineups available. I do not know why that would be the case, but it is not the way to build interest in the sport, and I hope they will reconsider this policy. There are many passionate fans out there who would love to be talking right now about the lineup the Stanford women will be putting on the court Friday, or who is going to play in the No. 1 spot for the Georgia men. The Virginia men's doubles lineup would also be good for a conversation or two.
I will link to the podcasts once they become available, probably Thursday, but if you'd like to make predictions, please feel free to do so in this post.
The women's draw is here; the men's draw is here.
The was an article today in the Seattle Times about the men's event, with quotes from Washington head coach Matt Anger.
The Cavalier Daily published this article today on No. 2 ranked freshman Alex Domijan, which features quotes from his mother and his coach at Saddlebrook, Rene Moller. Moller closes the story with this:
"I don’t think there’s any rush necessarily to turn pro,” Moller said. “I think a lot of people are saying, ‘Oh, you should only stay one year and turn pro.’ But I’d be quite happy if he stayed all four years and got his degree."
It was a good day for juniors at the $25,000 Pro Circuit women's tournament in Surprise, Arizona today. Wild card Liz Jeukeng beat former LSU All-American Megan Falcon, a qualifier, 1-6, 6-2, 7-5; lucky loser Eugenie Bouchard of Canada reaached the second round with a win over former UCLA player Liz Lumpkin, also a lucky loser. Qualifier Krista Hardebeck beat Lisa Whybourne 6-1, 6-2, and Monica Puig, who received entry as a junior exempt, beat No. 6 seed Camila Giorgi of Italy 6-4, 2-6, 7-5.
For the complete results, see the Pro Circuit page at usta.com.
9 comments:
I concur, lineup should be available for fans lol
Interesting thoughts on the lineups Colette. I agree everything should be available. They are trying something new in D3 for the Indoors this year, which I like, but I'm not sure if it would work for D1.
Play begins this Friday at 9am, and there is a coach's meeting at 8am. All proposed lineups were sent to coaches on Tuesday. At the meeting is where lineup challenges will be made, and for something to be overturned, more than half the coaches have to vote in favor of it (in our case 5 of 8).
2 questions I have for you, or anyone else who may know the answer:
1. Who has the final say on lineups? Is it someone from the ITA? If this is the case, don't you think they would have much less expertise than the actual coaches who have seen most of these kids play for several years?
2. How many lineup challenges are actually submitted? Are we talking 1 or 2 teams getting lineups questioned or close to half the teams getting questioned? How much do coaches actually try to get away with?
@D3Tennis:
This is a direct quote from the men's tournament guide (women's is similar):
A conference call will be held with the 16 participating coaches to review and a make final ruling on all protests on Tuesday, February 15th at 11am (Eastern). All 16 coaches will have a vote in each protest
(including a protest of their own team line-up). In the event that the vote is a “tie”, the line-up will remain as originally submitted. All decisions by the group of 16 participating coaches are final and not subject to additional appeal.
I don't know how many challenges are made. Only the ITA and the coaches would know that.
Mens Indoor Predictions:
UVA over Wash 4-0
Ill over A&M 4-2
OSU over TTech 4-0
Texas over UK 4-1
UCLA over Ville 4-2
UT over UGA 4-0
Stan over Fla 4-3
USC over Duke 4-0
UVA over Ill 4-0
OSU over Tex 4-1
UT over UCLA 4-2
USC over Stan 4-1
UVA over OSU 4-1
UT over USC 4-2
UVA over UT 4-1
me thinks Austin knows what he is talking about... I like those picks.
ok, we know the production quality of the podcasts was lacking, but what kinds of things did you like? What kinds of topics would you like us to talk about?
I am going to get Colette to give her side of the 'stacking' debate and trust me, I am on the other side... but we really do want some critique...
We also plan on having Erica Perkins on...
Without looking at Austin's I will go with...
1 Virginia over 16 Washington 4-0
9 Texas A&M over 8 Illinois 4-3
5 Texas over 12 Kentucky 4-1
4 Ohio St. over 13 Texas Tech 4-1
3 Tennessee over 14 Georgia 4-0
6 UCLA over 11 Louisville 4-0
7 Stanford over 10 Florida 4-3
2 USC over 15 Duke 4-2
1 Virginia over 9 Texas A&M 4-0
4 Ohio St. over 5 Texas 4-3
3 Tennessee over 6 UCLA 4-1
2 USC over 7 Stanford 4-3
1 Virginia over 4 Ohio St. 4-0
3 Tennessee over 2 USC 4-3
1 Virginia over 3 Tennessee 4-1
USC over UVA 4-3
At least show the final lineups. Plenty of die hard college fans here who would love to talk/debate tennis. Not sure if coaches realize they are frustrating some of their most devoted fans. If thats what they want ...
the live video at NTC has no sound, help anyone ??
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