The Stanford men’s tennis team started out its dual-match season in style over the weekend, sweeping a pair of matches against highly-ranked opponents on the road in Tulsa, Okla. Stanford was able to weather the absence of two-time All-American Bradley Klahn—out for a month with an injury—and claim its first two wins of the young season. The Cardinal, ranked No. 6 in the preseason polls, beat the No. 23 Tulsa Hurricanes 4-3 on Friday afternoon and followed that victory up with a 5-2 beat-down of the No. 20 North Carolina Tar Heels on Saturday.
Friday’s match against Tulsa began inauspiciously for the Stanford squad as the Cardinal was defeated in all three doubles matches, providing Tulsa with the important first point of the day. The new doubles matchups for the Cardinal, which had to shuffle its lineup without Klahn, were unable to adapt to the more seasoned Hurricane tandems.
The six subsequent singles matches were mostly close from the start, and it was clear that this contest was going to go right down to the wire. True to form, the meet was tied at three points apiece entering the third and final set on the first court, where senior Ryan Thacher was battling sophomore Japie De Klerk as Thacher looked to avenge his loss to De Klerk a year ago. In the pivotal third set, De Klerk jumped out to a commanding 4-1 lead, but Thacher would amp up his game and storm to victory by winning the set’s final five games to close out the match for the Stanford victory. Freshmen Robert Stineman and John Morrissey, both playing in their first collegiate dual matches, also contributed greatly to the victory by both winning their singles matches.
Saturday’s match against North Carolina was a more one-sided affair. The Cardinal got off to a good start in the neutral-site contest by clinching the tightly contested doubles point when the No. 1 team of Thacher/Morrissey defeated its Tar Heel opponents 8-6.
From then on, the outcome of the match was never really in doubt as, after a loss by junior Denis Lin at the hands of UNC’s Esben Hess-Olesen on the No. 3 court, Stanford rattled off four straight points to cement the victory. Thacher and Stineman both won again for the Cardinal and were joined in the winners’ circle by junior Matt Kandath and sophomore Daniel Ho.
Head coach John Whitlinger spoke about the difficulty and importance of this early road trip and stressed the testing nature it was sure to have on his team:
“Those are two very good teams we’re having to face,” he said. “Tulsa—we had a real tough match against them at home last year and without Brad, it’s going to be a challenge for the guys. Brad’s absence means that some of the other guys are going to have to step up if we are going to be successful on this trip.”
Thacher and Stineman, two bookends of the Stanford team, seem to have risen to the challenge set by Whitlinger and stepped up their games in response to the absence of Klahn.
The Cardinal continues its season this weekend at home with a Friday afternoon match against Saint Mary’s and a Saturday contest against Boise State.