After disappointment on the road, the No. 42 Stanford men’s tennis team (12-8, 4-2 Pac-12) has rebounded recently against strong opponents. The team looks to continue its two-match winning streak against the University of San Francisco Dons (4-15, 1-4) on Tuesday at home.
After their final home match of the season, the Cardinal will head to Berkeley to finish up the regular season against rival Cal before the Pac-12 championships. Winning these last two matches will give the team the momentum they need to do well in the postseason.
Despite dropping two matches in two days to No. 5 UCLA and No. 9 USC on the road, the team has rebounded with two strong victories over higher ranked No. 36 Oregon and No. 30 Washington this past weekend. The matches were set to draw a big crowd for the team’s Senior Night, but rain forced the team to play indoors at the Broadway Tennis Center in Burlingame on Saturday.
The Cardinal will benefit from strong play from No. 1 player sophomore Tom Fawcett, who is ranked No. 8 in the nation for singles. In doubles, the pair of Fawcett and senior captain Maciek Romanowicz, ranked No. 38, will lead the charge for the ever-important doubles point.
Doubles will not be enough to secure victory, however, as the team won the point against both UCLA and USC before getting swept in singles. In order to compete against stronger teams, Stanford’s singles players will need to step up and perform at a higher level they did earlier in the season, when they were able to snatch singles victories from teams such as the Bruins and the Trojans in the first meetings between the teams.
While the final games of the season will be crucial in gaining momentum and determining seedings for the postseason, the Cardinal should not have too much trouble against the Dons, as they have had difficulties this season stringing together wins. They are currently in a four match skid, losing to BYU on Saturday 4-0.
The match will be played at Taube Family Tennis Center on Tuesday 3:30 pm.
Contact Yousef Hindy at yhindy ‘at’ stanford.edu.