The No. 6 Stanford men’s tennis team had a busy holiday weekend in Thousand Oaks, Calif., competing in the early-season Sherwood Collegiate Cup. The annual tournament features some of the best programs and players in college tennis, giving coaches a privileged opportunity to watch their squads face off against elite competition on the eve of the dual-match season.
“The competition is great down there,” said Stanford head coach John Whitlinger. “The guys saw some of the best tennis players in the country. It was a great test for us.”
This year’s Sherwood Cup field featured four prominent teams: Stanford, No. 9 UCLA, No. 5 Baylor and the two-time defending national champion, No. 1 USC.
The Cardinal was without the services of its top player, senior Bradley Klahn, who is out “for at least another month” with an injury, according to Whitlinger. The Stanford delegation, without Klahn, was still eight-men deep and was led by the impressive play of senior Ryan Thacher, who will likely be filling in for Klahn in the team’s No. 1 spot when the dual-match season kicks off this Friday.
Thacher and junior Dennis Lin, who returned to his hometown for the tournament, were the two Cardinal representatives to make it past the first round of the draw. In the second round, Lin fell to UCLA’s Nick Meister, while Thacher bruised his way past USC’s Roberto Quiroz by the score of 6-0, 6-1. Thacher’s run ended in the quarterfinals when Quiroz’s teammate, Daniel Nguyen, got revenge to the tune of 6-4, 6-3.
The Trojans continued their strong play from last season by sweeping through the doubles and singles draws, with Trojans winning and finishing runner-up in both draws. Coach Whitlinger, though, does not put too much stock in the results of this tune-up tournament.
“It’s good to play those guys and see where you’re at and see what their teams are going to be like,” he said. “It’s really just a good tournament to start the year off with.”
“It’s still a long way from May,” he added , referring to the annual NCAA Tennis Championship.
Stanford will surely be looking to play its best tennis late in the spring, when the team hopes to avenge its memorably heartbreaking loss to No. 2 Virginia in last year’s NCAA quarterfinal, and when Klahn has returned to the court in full health.
The Cardinal will face its next opponent on Friday, Jan. 20, when it travels to No. 23 Tulsa.