Competing in a field of more than 90 doubles teams, Stanford juniors Bradley Klahn and Ryan Thacher didn’t lose a set on their way to winning the Pacific Coast Doubles tournament in La Jolla, Calif.
The top Cardinal duo was one of two No. 1 seeds in the tournament, and therefore received a bye in the first round. After that, Klahn and Thacher defeated a pair of local players in the round of 64 before sweeping past teams from Pepperdine, Rice, USC and the University of San Diego to reach the tournament final. In the championship match, Klahn and Thacher quickly dispatched of Fresno State’s Remi Boutillier and Rikus de Villiers, 6-1, 6-2, to take the title.
The win gives Klahn and Thacher six doubles titles together.
Along with the two junior lefties, Stanford placed four other doubles teams in the tournament. Senior Greg Hirshman and sophomore Walker Kehrer lost in the round of 128 to a duo from Rice in a third-set tiebreaker. Freshmen Jamin Ball and Daniel Ho cruised through the first round before falling in the round of 64 to a team from Pepperdine.
A pair of seniors, Alex Clayton and Ted Kelly, received a first-round bye before winning a tough three-set match in the round of 64. The duo then fell in the round of 32 in another three-setter.
The sophomore team of Matt Kandath and Denis Lin also received a first-round bye, and the underclassmen proceeded to cruise through three easy wins. In the quarterfinals, Kandath and Lin won a three-set match against the same Pepperdine duo that knocked out Ball and Ho to reach the semifinals, where the pair fell to Boutillier and de Villiers.
Stanford will take a two-week break for winter quarter finals before returning to the dual-match season with a trip to Waco, Texas to face Baylor on March 22.