The No. 7 Stanford men’s tennis team is looking like a championship team.
With a 4-0 victory over No. 21 Pepperdine on Sunday at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium, the Cardinal advanced to the round of 16 in the NCAA Tournament.
Hosting a regional for the second straight year, Stanford made the most of its opportunity. Freshmen Matt Kandath and Denis Lin got the Cardinal off to a strong start with a dominating 8-2 doubles victory.
The sophomore team of Bradley Klahn and Ryan Thacher and the No. 2 team of junior Alex Clayton and senior Richard Wire each were in a tight battle. Tied 5-5, Klahn and Thacher held serve to go up 6-5. The two lefties then broke Pepperdine, and Klahn held serve to win the clinching eighth game to give Stanford the early doubles point.
On the singles side, Klahn and Wire kept the momentum going.
Wire, playing his last home match at Stanford, had a day to remember. The senior, who claims he is playing his best tennis of the year, was nearly infallible on the court, winning easily 6-2, 6-4 over Alex Llompart.
“It gave me extra motivation,” Wire said. “Obviously, I wanted to finish on a high note, but the main focus was still the team and the NCAAs.”
A few minutes after Wire closed out his match, Klahn finished his, defeating Bassam Beidas 6-2, 6-1. With most of the fans centered around court one, Klahn benefited from the crowd noise that affected Beidas. Nearly every side change, Beidas would say something to the umpire about the crowd talking to him.
“The crowd definitely helped me out today,” Klahn said.
Leading 3-0 with four singles matches left, Stanford needed just one more victory. Thacher, Clayton and junior Greg Hirshman all won their first sets, but it was Hirshman who finished first to provide the clincher, 6-4, 6-4.
To advance to Sunday, Stanford needed to defeat Quinnipiac on Saturday in the first round of the tournament. Considering most of the Cardinal players probably couldn’t name the state Quinnipiac is in (Connecticut), Stanford wasn’t too worried.
The Cardinal routed the Bobcats 4-0 in less than two hours, extending its winning streak to eight. No Cardinal player lost a set, and Klahn didn’t even lose a game, winning 6-0, 6-0. Clayton was close to perfection as well, winning 6-0, 6-1. Wire provided the clincher in the No. 5 singles spot with a 6-2, 6-4 victory.
Next up for the Cardinal is a trip to Athens, Ga. for the round of 16. Stanford will face UCLA at 9 a.m. this Friday. The Cardinal defeated the Bruins 4-3 on April 3 in Los Angeles, the only time the two teams have faced each other this season.
In the meantime, Stanford is just trying to take care of itself.
“The most important thing for us is that everyone gets healthy,” Wire said. “Every team seems to have one or two injuries this year.”
Currently, it seems like Thacher could have that injury. The sophomore was battling through a foot injury against Pepperdine, visibly limping on the court. With nearly a week to rest and heal, Thacher should be good to go in time for UCLA.
Stanford will fly to Georgia tomorrow afternoon to start preparing. If Stanford defeats UCLA, it will play the winner of Virginia-Duke in the quarterfinals. The championship match is on May 25.
The Cardinal has a tough road – and a long flight – to get to that match.