THE EVE EDITION
FIRST BLUSH | FRI OCT 23
Rotterdam crowns a world all-around champion this afternoon, and the two best gymnasts in qualifying are only half a point apart. Kaylia Nemour of Algeria, the Olympic champion on uneven bars, led the field. Skye Blakely of the United States, two years after an Achilles tear cost her a shot at the Paris team, was right behind her in her first world all-around final.
The day starts early in Ningbo, where Elena Rybakina, the world #1, meets a qualifier who has already beaten a seed. In Columbus, Ohio State puts its #1 ranking on the line against unbeaten Colgate before #5 Florida, the best blocking team in the SEC, opens its weekend at home against LSU and one of the most prolific hitters in the country.
The night is for the NWSL playoff race. Four of the teams in the race for the last places play on Friday, and the Thorns and Courage meet in Portland two points apart. On the other side of the world, the LPGA’s third round starts at Pine Beach Golf Links.
Women’s All-Around Final in Rotterdam
Nemour qualified first with 55.999, more than half a point clear of Blakely at 55.465, and Elena Colas of France also cleared 55 with 55.032. Nemour won the Olympic bars title in Paris and is the reigning world champion on the event. Blakely is making her world all-around debut at her fourth world championships, after missing the 2024 Olympic Trials with a torn Achilles. Claire Pease, a worlds rookie, qualified seventh and gives the United States two in the final. China, which ended the American run of seven straight world team titles on Wednesday, has its own all-around contenders in the field of 24.
EVE’s Edge: Kaylia Nemour to win. She led qualifying by more than half a point, nobody in the field can match her on bars, and a clean night would make her the first African world all-around champion.
#1 Elena Rybakina vs. Katarzyna Kawa
Rybakina, the Australian Open and US Open champion this year, needed 33 minutes on Thursday. Polina Kudermetova called for treatment at 3-0 and retired at 5-0 in the first set, and the defending champion moved into the Ningbo quarterfinals in her first match since a foot injury forced her out of Wuhan. Kawa, a Polish qualifier ranked #128, is having the week of her career. She beat #5 Belinda Bencic 7-5, 6-2 for her first win over a top-20 player and is into her first WTA 500 quarterfinal. The winner meets #4 Iva Jovic or #6 Diana Shnaider in Saturday’s semifinals.
EVE’s Edge: Rybakina to win, 6-2, 6-3. Kawa will swing freely after the Bencic upset, but she has not seen serving like this all week.
#8 Colgate at #1 Ohio State
Ohio State is 7-1-0 after a split at Minnesota, losing 6-2 on Friday and winning 6-5 on Saturday behind Joy Dunne’s hat trick. Dunne leads the Buckeyes with eight goals, and defender Mira Jungåker has 16 points, second in the country and first among defenders. Dunne and Hilda Svensson have three power-play goals each, tied for the most in the nation. The Buckeyes average 37.4 shots a game and allow 23.6. Colgate is 6-0-0. Ohio State leads the series 7-2-2 and has won five of the last six meetings, including a 5-0 shutout last season.
EVE’s Edge: Ohio State to win, 4-2. Colgate has not lost yet, but the Buckeyes will spend most of the night in its end, and Jungåker will run the power play from the point.
North Carolina Courage at Portland Thorns
Portland is seventh on 44 points and North Carolina ninth on 42, with eight playoff places and Decision Day still to come. A Courage win would leave them needing a home win over Denver on November 1 to get in. The Thorns are without leading scorer Sophia Wilson, who serves the second game of a red-card suspension, and drew 2-2 at Bay FC last weekend. Pietra Tordin has eight goals and nine assists and is close to the first 10-goal, 10-assist season in NWSL history. The Courage lost 2-1 to San Diego after trailing 2-0. Both teams have conceded 41 goals.
EVE’s Edge: Portland to win, 2-1. Wilson’s absence costs the Thorns their sharpest finisher, but Tordin and a full Providence Park should be enough.
LPGA Round 3 in Haenam
Haeran Ryu is the player to catch. The world #3 shot an 8-under 64 with eagles on the 2nd and 6th holes, leads at 13 under and has not made a bogey in 36 holes at Pine Beach Golf Links. Min-sun Kim, a two-time KLPGA winner this year making her second LPGA start, and Lauren Coughlin are two back at 11 under. Sei Young Kim won here last year at a tournament-record 24 under, close to her hometown of Yeongam, on a par 72 that runs along the sea. There is no cut this week, and the wind off the water can still move a leaderboard in a few holes.
EVE’s Edge: Haeran Ryu to win in Haenam. She has not dropped a shot all week, and a two-shot lead with the best ball-striking in the field is hard to run down.
UNBUCKLING THE BELT
NCAA Volleyball. #5 Florida hosts LSU at 7:00 PM on SEC Network+, with Jurnee Robinson, second in the country in kills, testing the SEC’s best block. #18 Indiana plays at Ohio State at 7:00 PM on BTN.
NCAAW Hockey. #5 Quinnipiac at Union, #6 Penn State at St. Lawrence and #7 Princeton at RPI all start at 6:00 PM on ESPN+, and #9 St. Cloud State hosts Bemidji State at 7:00 PM on BTN+.
NWSL. The playoff race runs all night. Utah, sixth on 46 points, hosts eighth-place Seattle at 9:30 PM, and Chicago hosts Houston at 8:00 PM, both on NWSL+.