The Stanford men’s tennis team had a busy spring break, going 1-2 against three top-20 teams and rounding out the toughest stretch of its regular season schedule with a resounding win against No. 15 UCLA.
On Tuesday, Stanford (9-5, 1-1 Pac-10) traveled to Waco, Texas to play No. 16 Baylor (12-3, 1-0 Big-12), a team that had defeated the Cardinal in all eleven previous matches between the two squads. Unfortunately for the Cardinal, Baylor’s streak remained intact on a hot Texas afternoon as Baylor grabbed a quick 3-0 lead and never relinquished it.
In its first team match in almost a month, Stanford got off to a slow start and seemed to lose every close set of the day. The Bears took the doubles point and the first two singles matches in close, but ultimately quick victories as the Card played catch-up all afternoon. A 6-3, 7-5 victory by Ryan Thacher at the No. 3 spot kept the match competitive at 3-1, but the match ended in a 5-2 victory for Baylor. The result became official when Baylor’s 27th-ranked John Peers held off tenth-ranked Bradley Klahn in a second-set tiebreaker, 7-4.
After returning from Texas, Stanford opened conference play at home against a surging USC squad (16-2, 2-0), now ranked third in the country. The Cardinal had a split season series against the Trojans, 1-1, but USC tipped the scale in its favor with a hard-fought 4-2 victory.
With rain in the forecast, the doubles point was canceled to get straight to the singles.
Stanford took an early lead with Senior Greg Hirshman’s 6-1, 6-3 victory over Emilio Gomez at the No. 5 spot. The Trojans then won three straight matches until senior Alex Clayton overcame a 3-0 deficit in the second set to win 6-3, 7-5 over USC’s Daniel Nguyen.
With the Cardinal trailing 3-2, the meet came down to a three-set thriller between USC’s Jaak Poldma and Stanford’s Ryan Thacher. The Cardinal junior had leads of 3-1, 5-4 ad 6-5 in the third frame, but Poldma stayed strong, winning the third-set tiebreaker 7-2 and clinching victory for USC.
The weekend ended with a Saturday match against 13th-ranked UCLA (11-5, 0-2) and a chance for the Cardinal to get back on the winning path.
UCLA started the season in impressive fashion, garnering a 9-1 record and a national No. 5 ranking. However, the Bruins had lost five of their last seven matches and had consequently dropped in the rankings. With the bitter taste of a loss to Cal suffered the day before, the Bruins were also looking to rebound come Saturday afternoon.
It was Stanford who seized the opportunity, winning impressively, 6-1.
“We started much better than we have in our last few matches,” said head coach John Whitlinger. “We got off to a good start both in doubles and especially in singles. We didn’t get a good start against Baylor or USC, but we did get one Saturday, and it made the difference.”
The momentum clearly shifted in Stanford’s favor after Bradley Klahn and Ryan Thacher, the sixth-ranked doubles team in the country, clinched the doubles point by defeating their seventh-ranked UCLA counterparts in an exciting match, 9-8 (6), that went to a tiebreaker. Stanford never let UCLA back into the match after taking that early point.
“Right at the beginning of the match you look up at our scoreboard, and both matches are up 2-0 on serve,” Whitlinger continued. “It was great for us to get that start, because that’s what we’ve been lacking in some of the matches.”
Sophomore Matt Kandath clinched the match at the No. 6 spot, winning 6-4, 7-5.
The weekend’s matches mark the beginning of the Pac-10 regular season but also punctuated an extremely difficult stretch of games for Stanford. The Card has played eight top-15 teams in the past month and a half.
The matches have not been easy, and the Cardinal has lost some close ones, but Whitlinger is confident going forward.
“I think we were in every match in this stretch. We came up a little short in a few of these matches, but we learned that we can compete with anyone. This was a good stretch for us–a tough one.