No signs of slowing down for women’s tennis as team rolls through Utah

March 5, 2021, 8:30 p.m.

Stanford women’s tennis (3-0, 1-0 Pac-12) won its third straight shutout victory, defeating Utah (6-3, 0-1 Pac-12) 7-0 on Friday. The team has yet to see a player lose a match this season, despite several close calls, including one on Friday.

Freshman Ana Geller and fifth-year Emily Arbuthnott dominated their opponents 6-1 in the first set of doubles play. Senior Michaela Gordon and junior Niluka Madurawe won their set 7-5 and senior Janice Shin and junior Sara Choy edged out their opponent 7-6 to close out the doubles sweep and give Stanford the 1-0 head start.

Arbuthnott finished first in the singles portion of the match, winning with a quick 6-0, 6-1 score. Choy finished second with the same score. Gordon and fifth-year Emma Higuchi followed in quick succession, giving Stanford the 5-0 lead. This left Shin and Geller to battle it out against their opponents. Shin finished first, showcasing her consistency in long rallies defeating her opponent 6-2 in the first set and 6-3 in the second. 

Geller barely lost the first set 7-6 and struggled to keep up with her opponent, Utah’s Emily Dush, who had her running from sideline to sideline in the second set. Dush jumped out to an early 3-0 lead but Geller rallied back, winning the next five games. Geller was able to keep control of the rallies and Dush became the one running across the court, struggling to keep up. Geller closed out the second set 6-4, while winning 76% of service points in the set.

In the tiebreak set, Geller and Dush played each other close, splitting the first nine points to an even 5-4. In the sets tenth point, Dush hit a clutch shot over her shoulder while chasing down the ball and evened it out 5-5. That flash of brilliance wasn’t enough to save the Utes from a shutout, as Geller went on to win the tiebreaker 10-8.

The team will stay in the mountains for the weekend, facing Colorado (6-2, 0-0 Pac-12) on Sunday.

Michael Espinosa '22 is majoring in international relations. He's the head of The Daily's social media team, and editor for the University beat and also occasionally writes for sports, arts, and The Grind. He's the biggest Taylor Swift fan at Stanford and the proudest New Yorker you will ever meet. Contact him at mespinosa 'at' stanforddaily.com.

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