The Golden Bears got their revenge.
Cal (16-6, 7-3 Pac-12), the tournament’s third seed, stopped the second-seeded Cardinal (14-4, 8-2 Pac-12) from winning their fifth straight conference title on Sunday. The 4-1 Stanford loss reversed a 4-3 victory in the Big Slam on April 16, the last match of the regular season.
The Cardinal entered Sunday with a 4-2 victory over seventh-seeded Washington (15-8, 5-5 Pac-12) in the quarterfinals, but it wasn’t enough to stop Cal’s Anna Bright and Hannah Viller Moeller. The duo turned a 6-3 loss in its doubles set last week into a 6-2 victory over fifth-year Emily Arbuthnott and sophomore Angelica Blake.
The loss put the Cardinal in a 1-0 hole to start singles play on Sunday. Bright toppled fifth-year Emma Higuchi on court six 7-6, 6-2, while Viller Moeller was defeated by junior Sara Choy, 6-2, 6-4. Choy’s victory would give the Cardinal their only point of the afternoon.
The Bears’ Haley Giavara, ranked No. 62 in the country for women’s singles, upset No. 39 senior Michaela Gordon, and Jada Bui beat Stanford freshman Ana Geller.
The season isn’t over for the Cardinal. The NCAA will announce the 64 teams competing for this year’s national championship on May 3. As a top 30 team according to Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings, it’s likely Stanford will get a shot at earning a third-straight national championship.