The Stanford men’s tennis team (4-2) is approaching one of its biggest weekends thus far in the fledgling season, as it prepares to battle Cal in “The Big Match” on Saturday.

The No. 14 Golden Bears boast a 7-2 record, and their only losses came in the ITA National Men’s Team Indoor Championships last weekend to No. 5 Illinois and No. 15 Columbia. They ended the tournament on a high note, however, with a 4-2 victory over No. 22 Penn State.

The Cardinal, however, enter the match on a solid 3-0 streak, pulling them up to an overall record of 4-2. The two losses can be attributed to the Cardinal’s extremely tough opening weekend in late January, during which they had to face off against No. 29 South Carolina and No. 13 Florida in back-to-back days, losing the first 4-1 and the second 4-2.

Stanford has managed to battle back from this early setback, however, due in no small part to the play of freshman phenom Tom Fawcett, whose team-best 16-4 match record has propelled him to a No. 28 national ranking. He will likely face off against Cal’s 42nd-ranked Andre Goransson this Saturday.

Fellow Stanford freshman David Wilczynski, senior John Morrissey and junior Nolan Paige have further helped the Cardinal’s comeback, each notching three straight-set victories over the last three weeks. Their recent run culminated this past Tuesday when team penciled their first shutout of the season against Sacramento State, winning all six of their individual matches in straight sets en route to a 7-0 victory.

The Cardinal looks to keep this streak alive when they travel to Berkeley this Saturday for a 10 a.m. match time.

Contact Paul Steenkiste at pws ‘at’ stanford.edu.