At the end of three hours of emotional tennis and an extraordinarily long rally, Stanford junior Bradley Klahn fell to his knees and let out a scream after Texas A&M’s Austin Krajice’s forehand clipped the top of the net and landed out. Klahn had capped off his team’s comeback victory and the Stanford men’s tennis team advanced to the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals. As his teammates rushed the court to celebrate and a rowdy crowd cheered, it was hard not to get the sense that this team has more than a bit of magic left.
The eighth-seeded Cardinal (21-5, 5-1 Pac-10) knew that beating ninth-seeded Texas A&M (29-6, 5-1 Big-12) would be no easy task. Both teams had been in the top ten all season and had been playing their best tennis recently. Stanford was riding a 12-match winning streak and Texas A&M recently claimed the Big-12 Tournament championship.
The day started with three extremely tight doubles matches and a boisterous crowd in the stands to match the action on the court. Sophomores Matt Kandath and Denis Lin struck first for Stanford—winning their match 8-6—as both of the other two matches were about to go the Cardinal’s way. A&M kept sticking around, though, and eventually won the No. 3 doubles match, 8-6, despite a large crowd rooting on the Stanford duo of freshman Jamin Ball and senior Alex Clayton. The doubles point came down to an incredible match at the top slot.
Stanford’s No. 1 doubles team of juniors Klahn and Ryan Thacher was ranked third in the country, which set up a key matchup with Texas A&M’s squad of Austin Krajice and Jeff Dadamo, who were ranked fourth. The sun was out and the stands were full to witness one of the highest-caliber doubles matches of the season. In a back-and-forth affair where each team managed to break only once, the match came down to a tiebreak. At 5-5, it seemed like it could go either way and Stanford had a match point at 7-6, but the Aggies ended up securing a 10-8 victory in the tiebreak and earning their team the doubles point.
Stanford had won the doubles point in all but one of its matches in the current winning streak (and that lone loss came in a Klahn-less 6-1 victory at San Francisco), so head coach John Whitlinger had to be more than a little worried about his team’s chances. The crowd was a bit deflated—and as the warm afternoon turned into a chilly night, one had to wonder if the Cardinal could win four of the six singles matches they needed to take the match.
But Stanford started singles play with a bang. Kandath and Clayton controlled both of their matches to earn two quick points for the team right off the bat. The Aggies managed to strike back at the No. 6 spot to make it 2-2, but Thacher won his match to put Stanford up 3-2. It was up to Klahn to redeem his earlier loss—and he came through, outlasting Krajice to seal the match for the Card.
When asked what made the difference Thursday night, Ball acknowledged the crowd and the high energy of the match were on the players’ minds and in their ears.
“The crowd was awesome,” Ball said. “The energy was unreal and it helped a lot. Everyone’s excited to do it again on Saturday.”
Stanford now has a 13-match win streak and is 16-1 at home. The Cardinal’s versatility as a team was showcased once again on Thursday, as the team was able to win despite losing the doubles point, perhaps the one component the team had been able to rely on all season. But Stanford will need all of that and more tomorrow as it moves to the Elite Eight.
The Card’s next opponent is No. 1 Virginia (33-0, 11-0 ACC). The Cavaliers are undefeated, having blown everyone they have played out of the water this season and never letting any opponent win more than two matches. Last night, they blanked Illinois 4-0 after Stanford’s win. A bid to the semifinals will be on the line when the match starts at 4 p.m. Saturday night at Taube Tennis Center.