The Stanford women’s tennis team continued to demonstrate its dominance as it easily disposed of two Pac-10 rivals over the weekend. Despite just returning from the ITA National Team Indoor Championships last Wednesday and dealing with subpar weather conditions on the Farm, Stanford (11-0, 2-0 Pac-10) proved to be on top of its game.
On Friday afternoon, the Cardinal swept Oregon (6-4, 0-2 Pac-10) by a score of 7-0, and then on Saturday, coasted past Washington State (8-5, 0-2 Pac-10) as well, disposing of the Cougars, 7-0.
After capturing the indoor title over No. 2 Florida in Charlottesville, Va., over Presidents’ Day weekend, No. 1 Stanford continued to exert its power over its opponents with these two key victories. With the two wins, the Cardinal has prolonged its NCAA-record home winning streak to 171 matches, a stretch spanning 12 years.
Freshman Kristie Ahn understands the hardships of returning from a cross-country trek only to face two major rivals days later.
“The past week has been especially rough, making up work from missing school and such,” she said.
Despite the adjustments the team had to make, the Cardinal still got the job done.
“These victories were key in maintaining our momentum,” Ahn said. “It’s easy to become complacent after winning a big tournament, but we were looking to keep dominating, so these were both important wins for our team.”
Singles matches were played first under the threat of rain on Friday afternoon at Taube Tennis Stadium, with Ahn defeating Oregon’s Rabea Stuckemann, 6-1, 6-0, on court four in the first match. On court two, sophomore Mallory Burdette followed close behind with a victory over Patricia Skowronski, 6-2, 6-1. The Cardinal also clinched the next three points with victories from sophomore Stacey Tan over the Ducks’ Pascale Neubert, 6-1, 6-4; freshman Nicole Gibbs over Julia Metzger, 6-0, 6-2; and senior Jennifer Yen over Lana Buttner, 6-0, 4-6, 6-2. Last to finish the singles point was senior Hilary Barte on court one, beating Oregon’s Pavlina Smatova, 6-3, 7-5.
Stanford also swept the doubles point, with the team of Ahn/Gibbs cruising past Smatova/Skowronski, 8-1. Senior Carolyn McVeigh/Tan on court three finished next with an 8-4 victory over Neubert/Stuckemann, and the second team of Burdette/Yen concluded the match with an 8-4 triumph over Trudie du Toit/Metzger.
Weather was definitely a significant factor in this match.
“The conditions were tough for everyone, even though Oregon and Washington State usually play indoors, because we just came back from ITA National Indoors,” Ahn said. “It was windy, cold and ugly on Friday, and it’s safe to say that we didn’t play our prettiest tennis, but we got the job done. Luckily, it only rained in the morning, so we were able to get out there and finish our matches without too much of a delay.”
On Saturday afternoon, Stanford claimed a 7-0 win over Washington State. Singles was once again conducted first, with rain looming in the distance. Playing on court three, Gibbs captured the first victory over WSU’s Ksenia Googe, 6-1, 6-1. Next to finish was McVeigh with a 6-0, 6-2 win over Lea Jansen on court six, followed by Burdette with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Liudmila Vasilieva. The last three singles points were also clinched by Stanford, with victories from Ahn over Andjela Kankaras, 6-2, 6-2, to clinch the match; Barte over Elisabeth Fournier, 7-5, 6-0; and Tan over Olga Musilovich, 1-6, 7-5, 1-0 (12).
Stanford swept the doubles point as well, as Barte/Burdette defeated Musilovich/Vasilieva 8-3 and Ahn/Gibbs disposed of Googe/Kankaras, 8-0. McVeigh/Yen also easily thumped Jansen/Fournier, 8-1.
“I think our team could take even more pride in our doubles,” Ahn said. “We are no doubt known for our great singles play, but I think we should also be known for our doubles play.”
The Cardinal next takes on San Francisco Thursday at 1:30 p.m. at Taube Tennis Stadium.