No. 5 Stanford men’s tennis (25-5, 10-3 ACC) advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals with a shutout victory over No. 13 South Carolina (21-8, 11-3 SEC) at Taube Pavilion Friday afternoon. The 4-0 win marks an undefeated 12-0 home season for the Cardinal and Stanford’s winningest season overall since 2003.
The Cardinal are continuing their 12-game winning streak after earlier 4-0 victories over New Mexico (16-9, 4-3 MW) and Pepperdine (17-11, 5-2 WCC) earlier in the tournament.
Stanford came out of warm-ups strong and never looked back. No. 47 ranked pair graduate student Henry Von der Schulenburg and sophomore Kyle Kang defeated their No. 56 ranked opponents 6-4 at the second doubles spot. No. 70 ranked sophomores Nico Godsick and Hudson Rivera clinched the doubles point soon after defeating the No. 3 ranked doubles team in the country at the top doubles spot with a score of 6-4.
In the first hour of play, South Carolina won only 12 total games across singles matches, with the Cardinal taking the first sets in all six singles matches.
Freshman Alex Razeghi swiftly finished his opponent 6-1, 6-1 at the sixth singles spot. No. 71 ranked Von der Schulenburg followed with a 6-1, 6-4 win on court four.
“I have a lot of confidence right now,” Von der Schulenburg said in an interview with The Daily after the match. “We practiced everyday for three hours this week, and it really showed in our performance today, taking all first sets.”
No. 101 ranked senior Max Basing closed out the under-two hour match with a 6-1, 6-4 clinching victory on court three. The Cardinal led on all three remaining matches as well.
For Basing and Von der Schulenburg, Friday’s victory marked their last match at home.
“I’ve enjoyed this year more than anything,” Basing said in an interview with The Daily. “Having a bunch of people out in this stadium is really special. I’m going to play tennis after college, but I think that the memories I’ve made here will be the best kind of memories I’ll ever make.”
The Cardinal will next play against No. 12 Mississippi State (25-5, 11-3 SEC) in the quarterfinals in Waco, Texas on Friday, May 16.