This is it, the last of our quarterfinal previews before the action starts in Kalamazoo bright and early Monday morning. This match will get going at 8:30 am, which is way too early for me to be awake, but WestW will give me the play by play to read when I wake up. For anyone that follows my Twitter account religiously, I recently tweeted that I was stopped by TSA for having 5 lbs of gummy bears in my backpack and I just wanted to reassure everyone that, yes, those gummy bears were all for me, and yes, the TSA let me keep them. I have to attend a college graduation this weekend and those can get brutal. Y’all know how it is. Anyways, blog enigma CentralW isn’t available this weekend so I’m tackling this preview all by myself. This match-up features an all-UAA lineup and is a rematch of the UAA title match, which Emory took 5-4. Naturally I will be talking a lot about that match considering it was only a few weeks ago and all the matchups are identical. However, as you’ll see below, I get the feeling that this time around won’t be as close, given the different environment and how big the stage is. Let’s take a look.
#1 Emory
Best wins: #2 CMS, #4 Wesleyan, #5 Pomona-Pitzer, #6 Amherst, #9 Tufts, #11 CMU (x2), #12 Chicago
Worst losses: #3 Middlebury
Seniors: Daniela Lopez (#2 singles, #2 doubles)
Starting freshman: Emma Cartledge (#4 singles), Lauren Yoon (#6 singles), Jessica Fatemi (#5 singles, #2 doubles)
Where they are strongest: #1 and #2 singles are the closest you can get to a lock in college tennis
Where they are vulnerable: If I’m picky, #3 singles and #3 doubles
How they got here: By having a very dominant season, winning UAAs, and taking out W&L in the round of 16
What would be considered a success: The Eagle’s first national championship since 2016
Three words to describe this team: Tested, dominant, pumped
Don’t forget: It’s been three whole years since Emory won a national championship, meaning Lopez is the only starter who has been there before. 3 out of 6 starters in singles are freshmen, and while I might not believe in the magic of senior sauce as much as some other bloggers, I would put the youth in the weakness column for the Eagles.
#12 Chicago
Best wins: #19 MIT, #13 Kenyon, #8 Brandeis
Worst losses: #2 CMS (x2), #5 Pomona Pitzer, #10 Williams, #1 Emory
Seniors: NONE (where the seniors at?)
Starting freshman: Eugenia Lee (#5 singles, #1 doubles), Annika Pandey (#6 singles), Lauren Park (#3 singles, #3 doubles), Nicole Semenov (#4 singles, #3 doubles)
Where they are strongest: #3 and #5 singles
Where they are vulnerable: I’m comparing them to Emory so #1 and #2 singles are definitely a liability in this one
How they got here: They placed second at UAAs in a surprisingly competitive 5-4 loss in to Emory in the final, made the tournament via Pool C, then cruised through their regional by taking out Carleton in the Sweet 16
What would be considered a success: An upset to reach their first NCAA semifinals since 2012.
Three words to describe this team: Young, peaking, hopeful
Don’t forget: This is another young team that seems to be peaking at just the right time. It would serve these ladies well to remember that they had this exact match on their rackets only a few weeks ago and they have nothing to lose here.
Match rundown: So, a few weeks ago these two teams met in an absolute thriller of a match. Emory ended up coming away with 5-4 victory to earn the UAA title, but Chicago certainly had their eyes on that trophy. Somehow, I don’t think the match will be as close this time. Emory retired at #6 singles in the third set to even the match at 4-4, and before that point Emory looked comfortably in the lead. Of course, anything can happen, but I think Emory will have a little extra intensity this time around and won’t be looking to let this match get close.
#1 doubles: Ysabel Gonzales-Rico/Defne Olcay (Emory) vs Catherine Xu/Eugenia Lee (Chicago)
ASW: Emory’s #1 duo are match tested and tough. Xu and Lee have had a lot of really solid wins this season but against the Emory’s powerhouse #1 team it comes down to making the big plays on important points. This is Emory’s match to win or lose. Emory 8-4
#2 doubles: Daniela Lopez/Jessica Fatemi (Emory) vs Marjorie Antohi/Daryn Ellison (Chicago)
ASW: Lopez and Fatemi took this one 8-3 in their last match and are undefeated against D3 opponents. Antohi and Ellison have been kicking butt in the tournament so far but the caliber of their opponents is about to go way up. Emory 8-2
#3 doubles: Stephanie Taylor/Christina Watson (Emory) vs Lauren Park/Nicole Semenov (Chicago)
ASW: Chicago won this match last time by a score of 8-6 and the freshman duo of Park and Semenov is undefeated together. Something tells me that Taylor and Watson, neither of whom play singles, are going to come out ready to get down to business this time. This is one of the toughest matches as #3 doubles is a relative weak spot but I take risks and I’m admittedly biased towards my ASouth teams this week. No matter who wins, this will be the last doubles match playing. Expect it to be loud. Emory 8-7(4)
Can I share an embarrassing secret? When I was playing in college, I could never remember if you played the tiebreak at 7-7 or 8-8. I’m generally an intelligent human being, but for some reason this concept was just too much for me to grasp. I could have sworn that we used to play tiebreaks at 8-8 but when I was writing this preview and checking the season results all the tiebreak matches were listed as 8-7. Did this change in the past 10 years and I just missed it? Have we always played tiebreaks at 7-7? Is it sad that I don’t know how scores work?
#1 singles: Ysabel Gonzales-Rico (Emory) vs Marjorie Antohi (Chicago)
ASW: YGR has been undefeated in singles in D3 this ENTIRE year. So yeah, Chicago’s got this one no problem. Kidding. YGR won the meeting between these two very comfortably at UAA’s, and there’s no reason to suspect this time will be different. Emory 6-3, 6-1
#2 singles: Daniela Lopez (Emory) vs Catherine Xu (Chicago)
ASW: Lopez took this one easily at UAAs. Xu has had a great season and I actually view her as a strong #2, so I was surprised she lost to Lopez 0 and 2. I think this one will be closer given that NCAAs adrenaline rush but Lopez will still manage to take it. Emory 6-2, 6-2
#3 singles: Defne Olcay (Emory) vs Lauren Park (Chicago)
ASW: This is where things get more fun. Park took their last encounter at UAAs in 3 sets. I don’t think it will finish this time but Lauren Park is playing lights out right now. Due to my regional bias, she was not previously on my radar as much as Olcay, but take notes everyone, we’ll be hearing much more from freshman Park in the coming years. Chicago leads 6-4, 4-4
#4 singles: Emma Cartledge (Emory) vs Nicole Semenov (Chicago)
ASW: These two played each other at UAAs but both of them were playing at #5 singles at the time. I don’t know if I was the only one shocked by Semenov’s 6-0, 6-1 victory in Florida, but I was very impressed. Cartledge clinched the Indoor title for Emory and had previously been a guaranteed win for her team. I won’t hold one bad day against her, and something tells me this match will be a lot closer than the last one. Chicago leads 6-4, 4-1
#5 singles: Jessica Fatemi (Emory) vs Eugenia Lee (Chicago)
ASW: Fatemi clinched the UAA title against Lee 6-4 in the third set. This is going to be another close one that probably won’t finish. Beating someone in a close match once is hard enough, but doing it again becomes infinitely harder. Lee will be in it to win it this time. Chicago leads 7-5, 3-2
#6 singles: Lauren Yoon (Emory) vs Annika Pandey (Chicago)
ASW: Yoon had to retire in the third set when these two played in Florida, so hopefully she is healthy and ready to play a lot of tennis this week. Like many of their teammates, both of these freshmen will be new to the big stage of the NCAA quarterfinals, and this match will come down to who can stomach that pressure and make the ball in the court. Emory leads 6-3, 2-4
Overall prediction:
ASW: So I called the Emory doubles sweep, and if they sweep then I think they pick up two pretty quick singles victories. Emory 5-0. HOWEVER, if Chicago manages to get that third doubles point then this match will probably be a lot closer. In that case I think Emory 5-3.
Alright, get your popcorn/gummy bears/red Sour Patch/ fructose shot of choice ready, matches are less than a day away! The Blog will be here every step of the way to help you navigate the excitement of NCAAs!
ASW