No. 4 Stanford men’s tennis (20-2, 7-1 Pac-12) secured its first undefeated home season in 12 years with victories against No. 36 Oregon (16-8, 4-4) and Washington (13-12, 2-6) at Taube Family Tennis Stadium on Friday and Saturday. The stellar weekend also closed out the Cardinal’s best overall season performance since 2001.
Stanford earned a 4-1 triumph over Oregon in their second win against the Ducks this season, and a 4-0 victory over Washington, marking the Cardinal’s tenth meet sweep this year.
In the Friday meet, the Cardinal easily collected all three doubles matches led by juniors Sameer Kumar and Michael Genender in the No. 1 spot. Although Kumar’s singles loss cost Stanford a point, senior Tom Fawcett and freshman Axel Geller each won two-setters in the top two positions.
Senior David Wilczynski and sophomore William Genesen followed up with unsurprising two-setter wins. Graduate student Eric Fomba’s 7-6 (1), 6-2 clincher earned the team its fourth meet point once again, further cementing his position as a season breakout star and keystone singles player.
On Saturday, emotions were high as co-captains Fawcett and Wilczynski played their last regular season matches for the Cardinal. Kumar and Genender once again owned the top doubles position with a 7-5 victory, while doubles dream team Fawcett and Geller cleanly swept a 6-0 win in the second spot.
Wilczynski’s 6-3, 6-2 match marked his fifth consecutive decision win and a fitting end to his final, successful regular season. After Fawcett, Gellar and Kumar’s matches were abandoned, Genender and Fomba’s two set victories were once again the essential final components of the meet decision.
The Cardinal will take to the courts this Wednesday through Friday to compete in the Pac-12 championships in the No. 2 position, having only lost to one conference member, UCLA, during the regular season. The bracket and schedules will be released Monday, while the competition in Ojai, California will be streamed on Pac-12 networks.
Contact Sylvie Ashford at sylviash ‘at’ stanford.edu.