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NCAA Women’s Elite 8 Preview

by | May 19, 2018 | Blog

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There won’t be any scheduling issues in the quarterfinals because the NCAA has decided to play all the matches at Wake Forest and space them out three hours apart starting at 10 a.m. eastern. If it rains they’ll go indoors but there’s a good chance that some will be played outdoors since the rain isn’t due to come in until later in the day. 

The top seed Vanderbilt will try to beat Florida State for a second time this season while the No. 15 seed Stanford will try to take out another higher seeded team when it plays Georgia. Duke and Texas Tech will kick the day off while Georgia Tech and UCLA will close the night out. 

[1] Vanderbilt vs. Florida State – 4 p.m. ET

Notables:

  • VU’s Astra Sharma has won 10 of her last 11
  • VU’s Fernanda Contreras has won 4 straight and 11 of her last 12
  • VU’s Summer Dvorak has won 7 straight 
  • VU’s Amanda Meyer and Christina Rosca have won 11 of their last 12 in doubles 
  • VU’s Sharma and Contreras have won 5 straight at No. 1 doubles 
  • FSU’s Andrea Garcia has won 10 of her last 11 matches at No. 6 
  • FSU’s Nandini Das has won 6 of her last 7 matches

Regular Season Meeting:

#2 Vanderbilt 4, Florida State 1 
Jan 27, 2018 at Nashville, Tenn. (Currey Tennis Center)
Singles competition
1. Astra Sharma (VANDY) def. Carla Touly (FS) 6-3, 7-5
2. #4 Fernanda Contreras (VANDY) def. Gabriella Castaneda (FS) 6-3, 6-3
3. #19 Christina Rosca (VANDY) def. Petra Hule (FS) 6-2, 6-1
4. Emma Kurtz (VANDY) def. Ariana Rahmanparast (FS) 7-5, 6-0
5. #96 Summer Dvorak (VANDY) vs. Julia Mikulski (FS) 5-7, 2-3, unfinished
6. Emily Smith (VANDY) vs. Andrea Garcia (FS) 4-1, unfinished
Doubles competition
1. Petra Hule/Andrea Garcia (FS) def. Emma Kurtz/Christina Rosca (VANDY) 7-6 (7-5)
2. Carla Touly/Ariana Rahmanparast (FS) def. Summer Dvorak/Astra Sharma (VANDY) 6-3
3. Fernanda Contreras/Emily Smith (VANDY) def. Julia Mikulski/Gabriella Castaneda (FS) 6-3
Match Notes:
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (3,4,2,1)

Vandy FSU

Who Wins: Vandy will be favored in every spot though Florida State is playing with nothing to lose since no one expected them to get this far. Vandy will win but FSU could make it interesting. 

 

[7] Georgia vs. [15] Stanford – 1 p.m. ET

Notables:

  • Emma Higuchi has won 15 in a row with 14 of those in straight sets.
  • Janice Shin has won 9 in a row 
  • Caroline Lampl has won 3 in a row and 9 of 10
  • Emily Arbuthnott has won 6 in a row and 15 of 16
  • Melissa Lord and Janice Shin are 11-2 at No. 3 doubles since pairing up on 3/28. 
  • Caroline Lampl and Kimberly Yee have won 11 of 13 doubles matches at No. 2
  • UGA’s Morgan Coppoc has won 12 in a row
  • UGA’s Mariana Gould has won 11 in a row
  • UGA’s Katarina Jokic has won 3 of her last 4 at No. 1
  • UGA’s Kennedy Shaffer has lost 6 of her last 7

UGA Stan

Who Wins: Stanford showed in the Sweet 16 that it can beat anyone and while Georgia will put up a good fight this Stanford team is just too deep. I’ll take Stanford in doubles and Lord, Lampl, and Shin in singles for a 4-1 win. 

 

[3] Duke vs. [11] Texas Tech – 9 a.m. ET

Notables

  • TT’s Gabriela Talaba has won 4 of her last 5
  • TT’s Felicity Maltby has won 5 of her last 6
  • TT’s Alex Valenstein has lost 4 of her last 5
  • TT’s Sabrina Federici has won 5 straight and 8 of her last 9
  • TT’s Sarah Dvorak has won 6 straight 
  • TT’s Katelyn Jackson has won 9 of her last 10
  • Duke’s Samantha Harris has lost 3 of her last 4
  • Duke’s Kaitlyn McCarthy has won 8 of her last 9
  • Duke’s Kelly Chen has won 19 straight
  • Duke’s Ellyse Hamlin has won 11 straight

Duke TT

Who Wins: Texas Tech has to get the doubles point to have a real shot in this one however I’ll take the Blue Devils to jump out to the early 1-0 lead. Texas Tech’s best chances in singles are from Talaba at 1 and Dvoark at 5 but both of those will be tough. I’ll take Duke 4-0. 

 

[4] Georgia Tech vs. [12] UCLA – 7 p.m. ET

Notables:

  • GT’s Paige Hourigan and Kenya Jones have won 8 of their last 9 at No. 1 doubles 
  • GT’s Ida Jarlskog has won 11 straight matches with 9 of them in straight sets
  • GT’s Victoria Flores has won 7 of her last 8 completed matches
  • UCLA’s Ena Shibahara has won 8 matches in a row at No. 1 
  • UCLA’s Terri Fleming hasn’t won a match since 4/8 (0-3 with 6 DNFs)
  • UCLA’s Alaina Miller has won 14 of her last 15 matches 
  • UCLA’s Alaina Miller and Ena Shibahara have won 18 matches in a row at No. 3 doubles

GT UCLA

Who Wins: I’m going to take UCLA in doubles and Shibahara and Miller in singles but I’ll take GT at 2 through 5 to pull out the 4-3 win.