No. 15 ranked Stanford men’s tennis (13-5, 3-1 Pac-12) continues their regular season campaign this weekend with away games versus No. 37 ranked Washington (12-7, 1-3 Pac-12) and No. 23 ranked Oregon (16-4, 2-2 Pac-12). These matches will occur after a weekend of mixed results, as the Cardinal upset No. 5 ranked USC before falling to No. 10 ranked UCLA in matches at home.

The team will look to learn from last weekend’s matches as they take on more Pac-12 competition. The Cardinal’s play was marked by periods of inconsistency, something that will need to be addressed moving forward. Against USC, the team clinched the victory by a score of 4-1, winning all four singles points and dropping the doubles point. The results flipped against UCLA, with the team winning the doubles point but losing four singles matches to end the contest. Playing consistently through matches has been the cornerstone for some of the Cardinal’s biggest wins this season, and will be impactful in the games to come.

The team continues to live and die by the leadership and strong play of No. 17 nationally ranked junior Tom Fawcett. In his singles and doubles play, the Cardinal are set up for an advantage through his dominant performances, both on and off the court. He notched one doubles and two singles victories in the UCLA/USC matches over the weekend.

Historically, the competitions between Oregon, Washington and Stanford have gone poorly for schools not named “Stanford.” In the past 50 years that these schools have been playing against each other, Stanford is 40-3 versus Washington and 30-2 versus Oregon. Head Coach Paul Goldstein has never lost to either of these two schools. Regardless, the Cardinal will not let their guard down going into the weekend, and they will approach these matches like any other.

The action begins at 5 p.m. on Friday vs. Washington, and noon on Saturday vs. Oregon.

Contact Bobby Pragada at bpragada ‘at’ stanford.edu.