The No. 7 Stanford women’s tennis team (16-1, 8-1 Pac-12) stayed perfect on the road as they swept past Oregon (7-12, 1-7 Pac-12) and No. 47 Washington State (17-10, 2-7 Pac-12) for their final away matches of the season this past weekend.
The weekend began in Eugene on Friday, where the No. 7 Cardinal snagged their 10th shutout of the season against the Ducks. After a rainy winter and early spring, it was just the first time this year that Oregon had played on its outdoor courts. The outdoor opener was sour for the Ducks, as Stanford quickly leapt out to a 4-0 lead for an overall victory, ending the other matches in progress.
Stanford’s lineup was significantly different Friday, with No. 4 senior Kristie Ahn, who normally plays on court one for the Cardinal, sitting out. Senior Amelia Herring stepped into her place with freshman Carol Zhao on the number two doubles court, while sophomore Lindsey Kostas filled the sixth spot in the singles lineup in place of Ahn.
The Cardinal won every match in straight sets against the Ducks, and would have been poised to win all seven if the teams had not ceased play at four. After taking the doubles point, No. 41 Caroline Doyle started off the singles wins on court number five. She was followed by No. 22 Zhao’s win on court two, and No. 28 freshman Taylor Davidson’s 6-0, 6-2 victory on court three to finish the day.
The following day found Stanford in Pullman, Wash., to face Washington State for the Cardinal’s final road match of the season. They stayed perfect in Pullman, beating the Cougars 4-0 overall for their 11th shutout of the year.
Though the matches moved indoors during the second sets, the Cardinal pushed past the Cougars with ease. During doubles play, the team dropped just three games between its two winning pairs to go up 1-0 against the Cougars. Ahn was back at her regular number one doubles spot with Zhao, though the pair did not complete their match before doubles play ended.
On the singles courts, Saturday was much the same as Friday. No. 47 sophomore Krista Hardebeck secured the first win, followed by Davidson on court three and Zhao on court two to clinch the match.
Kostas remained in the lineup once more and led WSU’s Dajana Ognejenovic 6-0, 2-3 at the time the match stopped.
The freshmen also continued to display their dominance this weekend. Together, the three have lost just 11 singles matches all year.
WSU faced a particularly tough slate this weekend, as it began with a 0-4 loss to No. 6 California at 9 a.m. before facing the Cardinal for a repeat result at 2 p.m. later that same day.
Stanford has just one game remaining this season against Cal, who currently holds the lead in the Pac-12 standings. The Cardinal already took down the Bears 5-2 earlier this season in Berkeley, but Cal has been on a hot streak after beating both No. 2 UCLA and No. 13 USC a few weekends ago. The winner of next Saturday’s Stanford-Cal dual match will almost certainly win the regular season Pac-12 title before the conference tournament starts on April 24.
The Cardinal face off against the Golden Bears on Saturday at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium. The match will begin at noon.
Contact Fiona Noonan at fnoonan ‘at’ stanford.edu.