The Stanford women’s tennis team took full advantage of a beautiful day to come out firing, racing to a 7-0 victory over a competitive SMU team.
With sophomore Mallory Burdette in the lineup for the second straight game, the No. 1 Cardinal (5-0) had its full squad on display again. After proving she had no rust in her 6-0, 6-1 victory over then-No. 36 Courtney Dolehide of UCLA last Saturday, Burdette was back to contribute to a very one-sided doubles victory. She and senior Hilary Barte both defeated their opponents, 8-2.
“It’s really good to be back,” Burdette said. “Especially in that first match against UCLA, I was a little nervous. It turned out really well, but today was a little bit of a struggle. Still, I think it was good prep for Indoors next week.”
On Court Three, Stanford’s ever-consistent squad of junior Veronica Li and senior Carolyn McVeigh partnered brilliantly to run away with an 8-2 score and clinch the doubles point. On Court Two, the freshmen tandem of Kristie Ahn and Nicole Gibbs won with an identical 8-2 score.
Singles proved to be a much tougher test. Led by Marta Lesniak in the top spot, the Mustangs (5-2) proved to have fight in them throughout their lineup. Barte was able to pull an upset over the Lezniak–ranked 2nd in the nation– with an impressive tiebreak performance in the 2nd set, overpowering her to earn a 6-4, 7-6 (2) victory.
At the No. 2 position, Gibbs struggled early with her opponent. Frustrated with her play in the first set, she was able to turn it around early in the second set, returning to her dominant style of play and eventually closing out her opponent, 2-6, 6-3, 6-2. After suffering a few close losses in the fall, a come-from-behind win at the collegiate level like this is a big mental boost for Gibbs.
“The girl I played came out hitting winners all over the place, and I was surprised at first,” Gibbs said. “It caught me off guard because it didn’t look like she was going to have a game that was that aggressive to that degree when we were playing her in doubles.
“I came in with some assumptions that ended up hurting me in the first set,” she said. “It took me a while to get caught up to how she was hitting the ball, but once I did, I feel like I made the proper adjustments.”
The only two players who appeared to have an easier time with their opponents were Ahn at the No. 3 spot and McVeigh at the No. 5 spot. Ahn won, 6-2, 6-2, with an excellent running forehand, while McVeigh was able to keep up her strong momentum this year and come away with a 6-3, 6-1 win.
Sophomore Stacey Tan also closed her match out in a tiebreaker, coming back from multiple set points in the breaker to eventually win, 6-4, 7-6(7). Finally, Burdette was last off the court after fighting through her own struggles and her opponent’s varying pace to win, 7-5, 7-5.
“She got a lot of my shots back and had a weird pace,” Burdette said. “She’d hit it hard and then not give me any pace at all. That was frustrating for me. I don’t think I’m back to 100 percent with my serve yet also, but there was no pain so it’s great to be back out there.”
With the National Team Indoor Championships coming up next week, a tough test like this match was important, as the competition will be stiffer. Burdette summarized the day with the old adage, “winning ugly is still winning.”
Stanford is off until Feb. 17, when they travel to Charlottesville, Va., to compete in the NTICs.