No. 16 Stanford women’s tennis (7-1) stays unbeaten at home this season as it earned two victories this weekend, blanking Fresno State (3-5) on Friday before slipping by Texas (4-4) 4-2 on Saturday.
On Friday, the Cardinal rolled past Fresno State in under two hours to claim their fourth sweep of the season. In doubles, senior Taylor Davidson and freshman Emily Arbuthnott cruised to a 6-0 shutout on Court 2 while sophomore Caroline Lampl and freshman Emma Higuchi clinched the point after a 6-2 victory. When the match on Court 1 was halted, senior Caroline Doyle and sophomore Melissa Lord possessed a 4-3 advantage.
Higuchi increased Stanford’s lead to 2-0 as she dominated Olivia Noble on Court 6, winning in straight sets 6-1, 6-1. On Court 2, Doyle put the Cardinal within one point of victory, triumphing 6-1, 6-0 in her match. The clincher came from court 5, where Arbuthnott overwhelmed Ndindi Ndunda 6-2, 6-1.
Davidson and Lampl then followed, triumphing in straight sets on Courts 1 and 4. Lord completed the shutout as she earned her 11th straight victory in a two-setter, 7-5, 6-1.
Against Texas, the Cardinal showed their depth as they outlasted the Longhorns 4-2 without playing the doubles point.
As the singles were played first because of forecasted rain, Higuchi advanced to her team-high 17th victory on Court 6 as she crushed Daniella Roldan 6-1, 6-0. Lampl quickly added a second point for the Cardinal as she won on Court 4 in straight sets 6-4, 6-2.
The Longhorns quickly bounced back and cut the Cardinal’s lead, as No. 39 Bianca Turati outlasted Davidson 6-3, 6-4 on Court 1 to bring Texas within one. Texas’ Petra Granic tied it at two apiece as she snapped Lord’s winning streak 7-5, 6-3.
On the final courts, Doyle and Arbuthnott were both coming back in the second set after losing the first one. Arbuthnott was the first one to pull ahead, as she surged in the third to take the match 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 and put the Cardinal back ahead 3-2.
After winning her second set 7-6, blanking her opponent in the tie breaker, Doyle earned a hard-fought 5-7, 7-6(0), 6-4 victory on Court 2 to clinch the Cardinal victory.
Stanford returns to action next week as it opens its Pac-12 schedule at UCLA on March 10 and at USC on March 11.
Contact Alexandre Bucquet at bucqueta ‘at’ stanford.edu