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Update: the AD wants us to go with the short roster tomorrow. Right now I have 6 confirmed, and 2 possible which would give us 8.
As for how we'd forfeit, I have some flexibility. I could forfeit the bottom 2 doubles spots and play 4 singles/2 doubles. If we have 8, we have some leeway with losing a match and still winning the overall match (I don't even know how a tie would work when we forfeited two spots...and I'd rather not find out)
In a normal scenario, this school would have no chance at beating us in any matches. But in this instance, I'd be afraid of giving them No. 1 singles if the doubles team they split up (who are surely pushers of some kind) are going to be decent enough to run my kids around. In the world where my two seniors decide they cannot come, we're going to be going down there like a wounded deer.
My lineup going to this match confirmed would be:
Senior (has improved a lot over the year. Lefty, but still best served as a fringe varsity or 4th doubles player.)
Senior (has more experience and is one of our captains. Can hit hard, but extremely inconsistent. If she gets frustrated, her game falls apart. I prefer she has the easiest match possible.)
Sophomore (Huge strokes, inexperienced overall. But won a tough 3-set match for us the other day at 2nd singles. I cannot imagine any kid on this other team is as good as the pusher she beat, so she'd be a reliable win for us at either singles spot.)
Senior (Primarily part of my most consistent doubles pairing. Solid, but not a standout. It would be best to pair her with another person at 1st doubles, though she'd probably be a solid singles player if we needed in a pinch. Just hard to say.)
Sophomore (Is still relatively new, but is a good player who has played some singles for us this year, as well as doubles. Probably better than I think she is for this particular moment, but I'm just nervous about her facing some kid with decent strokes unwittingly. If we have to go with a 4 singles/1 doubles lineup, she'll have to play singles.)
Sophomore: (Honestly, she practices with varsity and is pretty consistent. Would play doubles. I think would be fine given the competition and not a liability there.)
The other two maybe players are two seniors who are probably our 3rd & 5th best players respectively. With them in the lineup, I'd feel a lot more comfortable.
Honestly, it's harder to get my girls to care about winning the league title in a season with no state tournament (Who can blame them?) but I'm hoping that the mere respectability of losing our perfect season to a team that is seriously the 2nd worst team in our league should rally the few troops we have to participate.
Wish us luck, I'll report back tomorrow night with the results from the carnage
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