Having concluded the regular season with convincing victories over Pacific and No. 14 California, the No. 10 Stanford men’s tennis team seems to be peaking at just the right time as it enters postseason play in the form of the inaugural Pac-12 Championships in Ojai, Calif.
“The team is excited about the opportunities ahead of us,” said senior Ryan Thacher. “The last week of practice was the best of the year, illustrating the team’s focus heading into the postseason. I am confident in this team’s ability to make some noise in the Pac-12s and in the NCAAs following that.”
The No. 3-seed Cardinal (16-7, 5-2 Pac-12) will face No. 7-seed Utah today in the quarterfinals. The Utes (12-11, 1-6) cruised to a convincing 4-0 victory over No. 6-seed Oregon yesterday to progress to the quarterfinals.
The winner of today’s match will face No. 2-seed (and the No. 1 team in the nation) USC, in the semifinals on Friday. The victor in the other quarterfinal, between No. 4-seed Cal and No. 5-seed Washington, will square off with No. 1-seed (and No. 5 nationally) UCLA earlier on Friday for a place in the final on Saturday.
While Utah’s struggles in conference play may bode well for Stanford, the competition between the two teams in early April was tightly contested. In an indoor match at high elevation, and in front of a partisan crowd, the Cardinal jumped out to a 3-0 lead but struggled to put the Utes away, eventually clinching a 4-3 victory in the penultimate match.
For this match, however, both teams will be much better-known entities. Utah’s lineup will remain unchanged, while Stanford will likely make only one change — starting junior Denis Lin ahead of freshman Robert Stineman — from the earlier contest. Nevertheless, Stanford will look to take advantage of momentum garnered through two emphatic victories over Cal and Pacific, as well as greater stability and depth in the lineup against a Utah team that had dropped five straight before winning its last two matches.
The Cardinal should also be able to exercise a significant advantage over the Utes in individual matches, with the presence of two top-50 players — No. 27 Thacher and No. 36 senior Bradley Klahn — going unmatched by Utah.
Looking ahead to the prospective semifinal matchup against the Trojans, however, Stanford will likely face a significantly stiffer challenge. The Cardinal has struggled to gain any traction against USC in two matchups this year, with Stanford succumbing to 7-0 sweeps on both occasions.
However, with the Trojans’ confidence likely dented as they come off their first loss of the season — a narrow 4-3 defeat against rival UCLA — the opportunity for the Cardinal to get revenge should provide a tantalizing challenge after overcoming today’s test.
“We are taking it one match at a time starting with Utah,” Thacher said. “The conference is deep and we know that we can’t take any team lightly. That said, I think that everyone is quietly and eagerly awaiting the rematch with USC if we can get there.”
The Cardinal and the Utes will square off today at 2 p.m. in Ojai.