After grabbing a big rebound win against Hawaii on Tuesday, the Stanford men’s tennis team looks to continue its win streak this Friday against BYU.
The No. 9 Cardinal (5-1) dropped its two biggest matches of the season last weekend to USC and UCLA and heads to the ITA Indoor National Championships in Charlottesville, Va., next week, so regaining the momentum lost to the L.A. schools will be the major goal of this weekend.
Stanford does have a 19-2 all-time record against BYU, but if the Cardinal wants to overcome the Cougars (3-4) this weekend, it will have to overcome three ranked players at the top of the lineup who are all off to hot starts in the spring season.
Senior Georgy Batrakov, who plays at the number one spot, is the nation’s 43rd-ranked player thanks to his 12-6 record this season. Batrakov’s doubles partner, sophomore Patrick Kawka, is the 106th-best player in the country, and the two have combined to notch an 11-6 doubles record this year.
Rounding out the three ranked BYU players is freshman Keaton Cullimore, who has risen to No. 67 in the country thanks to a 14-7 start to his year.
Aside from the three ranked players, senior Spencer Smith, the Cougars’ number-two player, holds the best singles record on the team with an 18-6 record this season.
Getting a big win over a ranked player will certainly be important for Stanford’s No. 1 player, Ryan Thacher, who fell to two ranked players in tough third sets last weekend and sat out Tuesday’s singles matches against Hawaii to rest up for the long road ahead.
An added subplot to the weekend’s matches is the health issues of ace player Bradley Klahn, whose back injury has kept him off the courts so far this season. Klahn, the 2010 NCAA singles champion, said his health has been steadily improving, but isn’t completely sure when he’ll return to the courts.
“Obviously, it’s a hard injury to diagnose when I can play exactly,” Klahn said. “The biggest thing is just trying to minimize my pain level on the court and then also speed up my recovery time once I’m done, so that I’m able to not feel any effects after practice or a match—to the point where I can train and practice at my full capabilities and then be able to do it the next day.
“I feel like I’m improving in that respect, and I’m hoping it’s one of those things where doubles may come first. I can build myself back that way, start by playing doubles and then singles,” he continued.
The return of Klahn would be a big boost to an already solid Cardinal squad that could use its best player to help it down the stretch, but Klahn said he wants to make sure he’s at full strength before he gets back in the lineup.
“Obviously the goal is to be ready as soon as possible—I’d like to be ready for Indoors if possible,” he said. “But its one of those things where you never know where setbacks may occur.”
Stanford and BYU hit the courts today at 1:30 p.m at the Taube Family Tennis Center.