No. 22 Stanford men’s tennis (12-4, 2-0 Pac-12) capped its four-game week sweeping Utah (14-6, 0-2) Saturday afternoon at Taube. Prior to this weekend’s victory over the Utes, the Cardinal beat No. 25 Illinois (10-9) 4-2 before blanking both San Diego State (5-12) and Arizona (9-11, 0-2).
The Cardinal started fast as they swept the doubles thanks to a 6-4 victory on court 2 by sophomore Sameer Kumar and freshman Michael Genesen. Junior David Wilczynski and senior Brandon Sutter clinched the point for the Cardinal after earning their fifth-straight win on court 3. This marks the 10th time Stanford has won the doubles point in duals this season.
Junior Tom Fawcett doubled the Cardinal lead after the singles started, as he dominated Utah’s David Micevski 6-2, 6-1 on court 1. Fawcett’s straight-set success is his first singles victory since March 7, when Stanford had stunned its Bay-rival, Cal.
At that point, Stanford didn’t look back as Sutter and Wilczynski added the Cardinal’s final two points in order to complete the sweep. Sutter finished first on court 5 as he earned his fifth-straight singles victory thanks to a success in straight sets, 6-4, 6-1.
In providing his third clincher for the Cardinal this season, Wilczynski kept intact a streak of his own. The junior’s 6-2, 6-2 triumph on court 3 extended to six his lossless stretch.
While Wilczynski’s victory stopped matches on all remaining courts, the rest of the Cardinal players had the upper hand in their games. Genesen was on the verge of winning on court 6 as he had established a 6-4, 5-3 lead over Utah’s Egbert Weverink. Similarly, Kumar was one game away from adding another point to the scoreboard as he had earned a 6-3, 5-3 lead at the No. 2 spot.
Although sophomore Michael Genender dropped the first set of his game 6-3 on court 4, it looked like he could force a third set as he gained a 4-1 advantage in the second set of the match.
The team will attempt to extend its four-game winning streak this weekend, as it hosts Southern Californian Pac-12 schools. The Cardinal will welcome USC on Friday before taking on UCLA on Sunday.
Contact Alexandre Bucquet at bucqueta ‘at’ stanford.edu.