In a weekend that saw each team play two dual matches each, the Stanford men’s (11-2) and women’s (8-1) tennis teams played a total of 22 individual matches. They came out of the weekend with 21 wins.
Both of the men’s team’s two matches were played at home this weekend, the first of which came against the unranked Arizona State Sun Devils (4-7).
Sophomore Timothy Sah was first off the courts with a victory over Makey Rakotomalala (6-1, 6-2) and was shortly joined by sophomore Axel Geller. Geller moved up to No. 8 in the latest ITA poll — his career high — and took down Dominik Kellovsky after a first-set tiebreak (7-6[2], 6-1). Stanford’s top freshman, No. 32 Alexandre Rotsaert, defeated Arizona State’s top player in No. 74 Nathan Ponwith (6-2, 7-5) after missing last weekend’s matches with an undisclosed injury.
The night concluded with a 7-0 victory for the Cardinal on Friday evening. The team added another undefeated victory the next day with a 4-0 victory over No. 21 Arizona.
Stanford’s dominating performance this weekend was headlined by the men’s team’s senior night on Saturday evening. The team celebrated the achievements of its two seniors — Michael Geneder and team captain Sameer Kumar — in a special on-court ceremony at Taube Family Tennis Stadium shortly after the convincing victory over the Wildcats. The victory was also the men’s sixth straight victory, and their third undefeated victory in their last four matches.
Stanford’s women’s team grabbed a 6-1 victory at home over the Santa Clara Broncos on Thursday afternoon before heading to Eugene, Oregon for a faceoff with the Ducks on Sunday morning. The Cardinal left Oregon with a 7-0 victory, their 28th consecutive regular-season conference match win.
First off the court against the Broncos was freshman Nikula Madurawe in singles, who quickly dispatched Nadine Del Carmen (6-1, 6-0) before teaming up with sophomore No. 55 Janice Shin in doubles to take down Del Carmen/Schroer (6-1).
Stanford’s only loss last week came on Thursday when sophomore No. 22 Michaela Gordon fell in an upset marathon match at the hands of Maddie Pothoff (6-4, 3-6, 1-0[11]). Gordon has had a rough few weeks, falling to Vanderbilt’s No. 3 Fernanda Contreras and Georgia’s No. 1 Katarina Jokic in her previous two matches.
Gordon sat out in singles on Sunday against Oregon, but her teammates stepped up. A doubles win for Stanford’s top doubles team in No. 11 Lampl/Yee followed up six straight victories for the Cardinal in singles, capping off a 7-0 victory over the Ducks that ended a victorious weekend for Stanford tennis.
Contact Shan Reddy at rsreddy ‘at’ stanford.edu.