Three national championships make this one hell of a week for Stanford tennis.
It has been a few years since the usually dominant Cardinal men’s and women’s tennis programs have won national titles, but it appears as if the Cardinal is back on top yet again.
The women’s team, which came into the NCAA Tournament as the No. 8 seed, began the championship parade on Tuesday with a thrilling 4-3 victory over No. 3 Florida. The only thing more exciting than freshman Mallory Burdette’s three-set victory to clinch the championship was her sister Lindsay Burdette’s celebratory tackle.
Now Lindsay Burdette, a senior, can add an individual title to the team championship as she and junior Hilary Barte, the No. 2 doubles team in the nation, took down No. 1 Natalie Pluskota and Caitlin Whoriskey of Tennessee in three sets on Monday.
Capping it off was sophomore Bradley Klahn, the No. 13 seed in the men’s draw, charging through the tournament and ultimately beating Austen Childs of Louisville 6-1, 6-2 for the title.
To say that this was a banner year for Cardinal tennis would be an understatement. Until Klahn’s victory on Monday, no Cardinal men’s singles player had won the national championship since Alex Kim in 2000. Similarly, Stanford women had not won the doubles crown since 2005 when Lindsay’s older sister, Erin Burdette, and partner Alice Barnes won the national title over another Stanford pair, Amber Liu and Anne Yelsey.
It is possible that these national titles could be the end of a down streak for Cardinal tennis. Had the women not won the team championship, it would have marked the first time since 1993-96 that the Cardinal women went four years without winning a title. Instead, with its first championship since 2006, the Cardinal can continue the tradition of every four-year athlete on the women’s tennis team leaving the Farm with at least one national championship.
Prior to the three-year national title draught, the Stanford women had won three straight championships (2004-06) and five out of six in total (2001-02, 2004-06).
It will be interesting to see where the Cardinal programs go from here.
On the men’s side, Klahn has a decision to make. After winning the national championship and reaching the semifinals in doubles with sophomore Ryan Thacher, does he want to turn pro? His stock is highest now, and Klahn definitely has had professional aspirations since arriving at Stanford. Furthermore, in recent history Cardinal players have started to fade in the latter halves of their careers. For example, Matt Bruch won the Pacific-10 title his freshman and sophomore years (2005-06), but proceeded to lose effectiveness his final two years.
On the other hand, Klahn values his studies a great deal. Add the great recruiting class Stanford has coming in next year and the return of every starter except Richard Wire, who spent most of the year playing No. 4 singles and No. 2 doubles with junior Alex Clayton, maybe Klahn wants to return and try and win a team national championship. Stanford’s loss to UCLA in the round of 16 this year has to have left Klahn with a bitter taste in his mouth.
My thoughts (as if they mean much)? Stay. Win more national championships and get the degree. Yes, Stanford is nice in that you can always return to school, but there is nothing like a college experience as a 20 year old.
For the women, things are really looking up. Lindsay Burdette is the team’s only senior, so a repeat team national championship is well within the realm of possibility. Barte, the team’s No. 1 player and fourth-ranked player in the nation, was a semifinalist in the women’s singles draw this year, and could easily compete for that crown next year again.
It is funny how things work out. This was supposed to be a down year for Stanford tennis going into the postseason. Neither of the teams was expected to win a championship, and while both had highly ranked singles and doubles players, they were by no means favorites. Now the season is over and the Cardinal has three titles.
Daniel Bohm is great friends with Bradley Klahn. Get an autograph via bohmd “at” stanford.edu.