Well, it happened. Florida, Caribbean, Southern, Midwest, and Eastern all went 4-0 winning each of their matches. The last three of those were all tied with 8-4 court records and Southern and Midwest both lost just 10 sets while Eastern lost 13 sets, so Eastern is left out and will miss out on the semis despite not losing a team match.
I've written about this numerous times before, that it could happen and the format really can't preclude it happening. And it has happened at various playoffs, several Sectionals I know of it happened, but this may be the first time it has happened at a Nationals event.
In this case, Eastern likely was the weakest of the five teams, they only went 16-13 sets won/lost while all the other teams went 18-10 or better. Still, it is tough to go to an event where the goal is to win team matches, win them all, and not advance.
And I haven't looked closely, but it is possible Eastern had a tougher schedule than the other teams and so their sets record may be more indicative of that than their not being as good as the other teams.
To be fair to the USTA, everyone knows (or should know) the situation going in to the event and know that this could happen and it may not be enough to just win the team matches. It could come down to tie-breakers and winning convincingly may be required. Let's hope Eastern knew this and it wasn't a surprise.
Good luck to the other teams in the semis tomorrow!
Eastern player here. Thank you for your review.
ReplyDeleteSorry it happened to your team. Was it a surprise? Or you knew it might happen going in or as the event progressed?
DeleteWe were hopeful but the stronger teams progressed.
DeleteSomething as simple as a lineup change or switching the courts could have created a different outcome. There are so MANY variables. To win an equal number of matches as those who went through to the next level, and yet not get there is painful to be sure. There’s undoubtedly a fairer way to do the scoring to avoid this in the future. This should absolutely be considered. Everyone knows that things should change when we see that there are glitches and (arguably) unfair outcomes like this. “Same old-same old” rules are changed in competitive sports every year to avoid discouragement and confusion.
DeleteGlad you brought this topic up making everyone aware! The member/players in the adult USTA programs hope the USTA will revisit this scenario so it can’t happen again.
We have it tough as we play indoors almost all year and we are not used to this heat. The higher altitude and the heat makes the balls bounce higher too. A lot of us came in early so we could get used to these conditions and for the most part we did. You are right about the lineup change but we played against competitive teams. One pairing was 4.5/3.5 combo as they moved up this year. We lost that match.
DeleteThank you.
ReplyDelete