The No. 10 Stanford women’s tennis team (19-1, 7-0 Pac-10) clinched at least a share of the Pac-10 title by defeating rival No. 12 California (18-5, 5-2) on Saturday, bringing the title back to the Farm after a one-year hiatus and achieving one of the team’s most important goals for the season.
Stanford added one more victory in a shutout over Santa Clara (14-7, 4-2 WCC) on Thursday to give the team momentum going into the rivalry match. Stanford won the doubles point against the Broncos despite a loss at the No. 2 position by freshmen Mallory Burdette and Stacey Tan. After going up 1-0 from doubles, Stanford swept its singles matches without giving up more than four games in a set. The day was highlighted by Veronica Li’s demolition of Santa Clara’s Kimmi Cox, 6-0, 6-1. This was Stanford’s seventh shutout on the year and its 11th straight win.
“We needed to play again before Cal,” said head coach Lele Forood, “so it was good to play that match and get ourselves tuned back up for dual match play.”
With that win, the Cardinal looked to prepare for the Spring Smash and its matchup against California. The last time these two teams faced off, Stanford came away with a 5-2 win at Berkeley, a major upset of the then-No. 5 Bears. This time, the stakes were higher: Stanford was guaranteed at least a portion of the Pac-10 title if it came away with the win. Cal has also proven to be a major challenge the past few years, as the Bears reached the national championship match each of the last two seasons.
“It was our Senior Day, it was our Spring Smash, final home match of the regular season. Yeah, it was very exciting,” Forood said.
Stanford was able to take the doubles point thanks to strong play from its No. 2 and No. 3 teams. The combination of junior Carolyn McVeigh and sophomore Veronica Li took the first point 8-2 before Mallory Burdette and Tan clinched the doubles point with an 8-4 victory. Unfortunately, the No. 2 duo in the nation of junior Hilary Barte and senior Lindsay Burdette dropped its match to Cal’s No. 7 Mari Andersson and Jana Juricova, 8-6.
With a 1-0 lead, the Cardinal started singles play. The Golden Bears quickly came roaring back to take a 2-1 lead with wins at the top two spots. In a matchup of top-five players, No. 2 Juricova defeated No. 4 Barte 6-3, 6-3. This was the first loss at home in dual match play for Barte since Feb. 28, 2009. Next, No. 17 Marina Cossou defeated No. 68 Lindsay Burdette 6-4, 6-2 to give California the lead.
Next to finish was No. 73 Tan, who, after grueling out a tiebreaker in the first set, breezed through the second set to win 7-6 (2), 6-0 over Cal’s Kasia Siwosz. The two teams were tied at 2-2 before No. 120 McVeigh defeated Annie Goransson 6-2, 6-3 to put Stanford within one match of victory.
The two matches remaining gave no indication as to who would come out on top. At the No. 3 spot, Mallory Burdette had lost the first set 6-4 and was down 3-2 in the second. At the No. 6 spot, Li had won her first set but was struggling to break out of a 4-4 tie in the second. Li broke at that point to go up 5-4 and tried to serve out the match. Her opponent, freshman Taylor Davis, survived one match point before knocking a forehand long that gave Li a 6-4, 6-4 win and Stanford a victory for the day. To make the day sweeter, Mallory Burdette came back to win in three sets, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.
“When we were up 4-2, the match was basically decided, but it was really important for Mallory to pull out her match,” Forood said. “It was really important for her to pull through in that third set and get that win.”
While the Cardinal took home the win and the regular season Pac-10 title that day, it was bittersweet for one player. Lindsay Burdette, who played her last regular season match, was honored beforehand.
“Lele and [assistant coach] Frankie [Brennan] did a really god job of keeping it light, which was awesome,” Lindsay Burdette said. “The fact that it was short and sweet was definitely the way I had hoped it would go so it was perfect.”
UCLA still has an opportunity to tie for the Pac-10 title. Stanford’s match against USC was suspended due to rain at 3-3 a few weeks ago and so the doubles matches will be played on Wednesday. If Stanford wins the doubles point, it will be 8-0 and win the title outright. If the Card loses, UCLA will be forced to play Cal in another cancelled match. Should the Bruins beat the Golden Bears, they would share the title with Stanford, but the Cardinal would still get the Pac-10’s automatic bid to the postseason thanks to its 5-2 victory over UCLA on April 3.
“It’s been a very productive season. I’m very proud of the team for getting the Pac-10 title back,” Forood said. “That was one of our biggest objectives this year. We structured our season to get it back.”