In tournaments across the country over the last week, Cardinal men’s and women’s tennis players notched individual wins to kick off their spring season. Players from the No. 20 men’s and No. 8 women’s teams competed in collegiate tournaments in the Greater Los Angeles Area, Indian Wells and Las Vegas, as well as in a professional tournament in Florida. Both teams begin team competitions for the season with dual matches at home this week.
Three of the six Stanford men competing advanced past the first round of the 32-person singles draw at the Sherwood Cup in Thousand Oaks, California amidst stiff competition from players representing No. 4 Baylor, No. 8 USC and No. 14 UCLA. Senior Nolan Paige and freshman Sameer Kumar fell in the second round, while freshman Michael Genender notched two wins before falling 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 to UCLA’s Gage Brymer in the quarterfinals.
Juniors Roy Lederman and Brandon Sutter, along with sophomore David Wilczynski, fell in the first round of the main draw. Lederman and Wilczynski rallied for one win each in the consolation ladder.
Two Stanford teams reached the semifinals in doubles. Paige and Wilczynski were stopped when Baylor’s Jimmy Bendeck and Will Little pulled out a tight match at 7-5. Kumar and Genender fell 6-2 to the eventual champions, UCLA’s Karue Sell and Joseph Di Giulio.
In the finals of the doubles consolation ladder, Lederman and Sutter were defeated by UCLA’s Austin Rapp and Gage Brymer.
At the NCTC Classic in Indian Wells, California, juniors Taylor Davidson and Caroline Doyle won their third doubles title in a dominant 6-0 victory over University of Arizona team Shayne Austin and Lauren Marker. Senior Lindsey Kostas and freshman Naomie Rosenberg won one doubles match before losing 6-3 in the quarterfinals.
In singles play, Doyle reached the semifinals before falling 6-4, 6-4 in a closely-contested match to Arizona State’s Desirae Krawczyk. Davidson won one match before losing 6-0, 6-2 in the second round to Kinga Gartner from the University of Arizona. Kostas and Rosenberg each lost in the first round. In the consolation draw, Rosenberg rallied to win 6-1, 6-4 over Laura Luca from UCLA.
In Las Vegas, freshman Caroline Lampl clinched the consolation singles title at the Freeman Memorial Invitational. Lampl rebounded for the win after a losing a three-set battle, 4-6, 6-1, 7-6, against Florida’s Spencer Liang, who is ranked No. 73 nationally.
Senior Krista Hardebeck and freshman Melissa Lord reached the quarterfinals in the the singles main draw. Freshman Kimberly Yee failed to secure a win, along with freshman Elizabeth Yao and sophomore Paulette Wolak.
In doubles, the freshmen pairing of Lord and Yee reached the semifinals before falling 7-6 to USC’s Giuliana Olmos and Gabby Smith, the fourth-ranked doubles team nationally.
Junior Carol Zhao, last year’s NCAA Singles Championship runner-up, is testing herself on the professional circuit before the key matches of the college season. Last week, Zhao won one singles match and advanced to the doubles finals at the USTA Pro Futures of Daytona Beach, Florida. Zhao is entered to compete in USTA Pro Futures tournaments at Wesley Chapel and Sunrise over the next two weeks.
On Wednesday, the men’s team will face off against Sacramento State at 10:30 a.m. and UC Davis at 3 p.m. at Stanford’s Taube Tennis Center to kick off the Cardinal’s dual match season. The Cardinal women will host their first dual match on Friday against Santa Clara at 3 p.m.
Contact Alexa Corse at corsea ‘at’ stanford.edu.