The No. 8 Stanford men’s tennis team opened its dual-match season at home on Tuesday afternoon with a resounding victory over Sacramento State at the Taube Family Tennis Center. The Cardinal swept all nine matches, resulting in a 7-0 victory over the visiting Hornets.

Stanford did not drop a set on the day, with junior Bradley Klahn, senior Greg Hirshman, sophomore Matt Kandath and senior Alex Clayton only dropping three games each. Overall, the Cardinal outscored the Hornets by 66 games, 97-31.

Stanford head coach John Whitlinger spoke highly of his team’s performance.

“I was really pleased with our effort today, regardless of the scores of the matches,” Whitlinger said. “I thought our guys competed well, played well and were really focused on the job at hand.”

There was little for Whitlinger to complain about, but the veteran coach saw room for improvement in the Cardinal’s debut.

“We have things we could work on,” Whitlinger said. “I think there were some nerves at the beginning for a couple guys, but they settled down and looked good. We’re just going to keep on working on improving everybody’s game, mentally and physically and technically. I’m looking forward to our two matches this weekend.”

Tuesday’s victory was a great start for the Cardinal in what promises to be an important week. Friday brings a visit from Santa Clara, followed quickly by Saturday’s matchup against either Nebraska or Vanderbilt. All of Friday and Saturday’s matches will be held at Taube Family Tennis Center.

Whitlinger stressed that winning Tuesday’s match in dominant fashion was a necessary start to a challenging week.

“We’re just trying to get our feet underneath us, to maybe get a little confidence, and then we just got to go out and perform,” he said. “We have some tough matches coming up. You better be ready for every match you play. That’s all I can ask of the guys.”