2016 Johns Hopkins Women’s Season Preview

What up party people!  I hope everyone had a good holiday break.  I made a smooth transition into my blogging role by slacking off completely the last month or so.  I’m gonna turn that around though and write up a bunch of season previews in the next two weeks.  First up is the Lady Blue Jays!  Fun fact: Blue jays are known to aggressively steal eggs, young birds, and even entire nests from other birds.  It is for this ruthlessness that Johnny Hopkins himself picked them as his school’s mascot[citation needed] and is also why they are the bird that D3Central most identifies with.

bluejay
The face of a monster

Coach: Dave Woodring, 6th year

Location: Baltimore, MD

2015 National Ranking: 11

I couldn’t find a picture of this year’s team so here’s the 1984 Johns Hopkins MAC champions
I couldn’t find a picture of this year’s team so here’s the 1984 Johns Hopkins MAC champions

Overview: Two years ago Johns Hopkins finished number 4 in the country, so bowing out in the round of 16 last year is definitely a step in the wrong direction.  On the other hand, their four D3 losses were to Williams, Washington & Lee, Emory, and Amherst.  None of those are bad losses and they also had wins over Sewanee, Chicago, and Carnegie to win national indoors.  I believe that they only graduated two doubles specialists and had overall positive results this fall with Ashnaa making another impressive run.  Hopkins should get back to the quarterfinals this year as they are very strong at courts 2, 4, and 5.  The one place I think they will struggle is doubles.  Their #1 team went 2-7 last year and half of that team graduated.

Lineup Analysis:

#1 singles—Ashnaa Rao (8.85 UTR)

Ashnaa has been the clear cut #1 for this team since her run in the fall last year.  Unfortunately, she played much better in the fall and really struggled in the spring especially towards the end of the year.  Ashnaa looked great in the fall again, making the finals of fall nationals.  The issue is if she will be able to perform in the spring this year.  I hate to say it, but I kinda see Ashnaa having another year like last year.  Players get better as the spring progresses and they get more matches under their belt.  I think most of her matches will be more competitive than last year, but I think winning half her matches against top schools would be a success.

#2 singles—Sydney Lehman (9.09 UTR)

This is Hopkins strongest spot in their lineup.  Lehman is a senior who has played mostly 2 and 3 and has 4 total losses in her career.  It’s really a shame that Lehman can’t make nationals if Ashnaa doesn’t do well.  Maybe look out for the two of them to switch off at the top spot in order to get Lehman in her senior year.  Lehman didn’t play this fall, but had straight set wins over Donnelly, Ghosh, and Raventos last year.  Look for her to be one of the best #2’s in the country this year.

 

#3-#4 singles—Megumi Chen (8.60 UTR)

Chen had a very impressive freshman season last year.  She played mostly court 5 and only had two losses to Williams and Emory.  Chen has kept that momentum going and made a run to the semis of her fall regional before falling to Ashnaa.  I think having a year of solid results moves Megumi up at least one spot in the Blue Jay lineup.

#3-#5—Amanda Austi (7.97 UTR)

Boy, Amanda Austi has fallen off since her freshman year.  Two years ago Austi came in and immediately played court 1 and put together a pretty solid season.  Last year was a different story.  She started at 2, lost her first four matches, and was moved to court 3 where she didn’t do much better.  I think Austi is a better fit at 4 or 5 and will thrive there.

#4-#5—Jody Law (8.39 UTR)

Law is another strength for Hopkins towards the bottom of the lineup.  Her freshman year Law played 6 and had a very good season.  Last year she played 4 and still did well, but struggled to beat the top schools.  I think court 5 is the perfect spot for her.  Hopkins will be very difficult to beat at 5 because I feel like their 3-5 are all play at a very similar level.

#6—Sunaina Vohra (7.49 UTR) and Chrissy Simon (8.17 UTR)

I think these two trade off at court 6 some until one of them really steps up.  Vohra is a sophomore who played some court 6 last year.  Her only loss was the only big match she played; against Amherst.  Simon is a freshman and won the B draw at Hopkins’ fall regional.  This will probably be a spot that Hopkins struggles to win against the top teams.

Schedule Analysis

Here’s Hopkins’ schedule for this year: http://www.hopkinssports.com/sports/w-tennis/sched/jhop-w-tennis-sched.html

I don’t really like Hopkins’ schedule, but I do think it’s a smart schedule.  They start of the spring by going to indoors where they will have 3 solid matches that I think they should win.  We can talk more about that when the time comes.  They will take over the number 1 spot in the country from their indoors win, as in tradition, and will lose it to Williams about 3 weeks later.  From there the Blue Jays have set them up with a very nice schedule to get one of the number 1 seeds going into NCAAs.  They completely dropped the match that they lost against Washington & Lee last year and they replaced their Emory matchup with one against Carnegie Mellon.  If they beat Carnegie they should be a 1 seed at NCAAs and make it to the quarters fairly easily. If they lose they should drop to a 2 seed and might have another disappointing round of 16 loss.

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