Saturday, October 21, 2023

What ties did we have for week 4 of 2023 USTA League Nationals? A 4-0 team sent home!

The round-robin for week 4 of 2023 USTA League Nationals is complete and we have eight sets of semi-finalists.

The 18 & Over 4.0 women had two 4-0 teams in Texas and Florida, then a 5-way tie at 3-1 for two spots.  Mid-Atlantic and New England went 14-6 and 13-7 on courts which was better than Southern and Middle States both at 12-8.  I noted in the preview/simulation that Texas had 9 self-rates and they came through to be the #1 seed perhaps bringing into question the validity of those self-ratings.

The 18 & Over 4.0 men also had two 4-0 teams in Middle States and Southern, then a 4-way tie at 3-1 with Florida and Eastern getting the spots with better court records than SoCal and Hawaii.

The 40 & Over 3.0 women also had two 4-0 teams in Texas and NorCal, then a 4-way tie at 3-1 with PNW and SoCal having better court records over Florida and Midwest.

The 40 & Over 3.0 men is where things got interesting with five 4-0 teams and Texas being sent home without a loss with the worse court record despite having a tougher schedule than those who did advance.  The teams going on are Middle States, NorCal, Southern, and PNW.  See this for some suggestions on how to fix this.

The 55 & Over 6.0 women continued the trend of two 4-0 teams in MOValley and Midwest, then a 5-way tie at 3-1.  Northern had the best court record, but then SoCal and NorCal were both 9-3 on courts and SoCal got the spot having lost fewer sets.

The 55 & Over 6.0 men is an odd one as yet again there were two 4-0 teams in Eastern and NorCal, then a 4-way tie at 3-1 with Northern and SoCal listed as in 4th due to better court records than Midwest and PNW, but SoCal is not listed in the semis draw!  Instead Midwest is listed.  Looking at SoCal's matches, I see they defaulted a court every match (and still were in 4th!) which Nationals tries to avoid, so I have to think something happened due to that.

The 55 & Over 8.0 women also had two 4-0 teams!  Here it was Texas and Midwest, then Florida and Middle States were 3-1 with better court records than SoCal and Southern.

The 55 & Over 8.0 men broke the trend and had three 4-0 teams in Southern, SoCal, and Florida.  Four teams were tied at 3-1 for one spot, and Mid-Atlantic got it over NorCal despite both being 3-1 / 8-4 / 18-10.  This tie-breaker came down to games lost where Mid-Atlantic was better.

Congratulations to all the teams, good luck on Sunday

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