The Stanford women’s tennis team reappeared on the Taube Family Tennis Center courts to kick off its 2012 campaign without a home winning streak, without former No. 1 player Hilary Barte and without holding the top spot in the ITA national rankings. Even with the new flavor, however, the No. 2 Cardinal (1-0) breezed past No. 58 UC-Davis (1-3) to capture the win, 6-1. The match had several firsts, with sophomore Nicole Gibbs debuting at No. 1 on the ladder, top-recruited freshman Ellen Tsay participating in her inaugural collegiate dual match and three doubles teams consisting of completely new pairings.
“First” didn’t translate into “foreign” though, as Stanford demonstrated its familiar powerful doubles play with three straight victories to gain the first point of the match. The No. 1 team of junior Mallory Burdette and Gibbs pumped up the Cardinal’s spirits as the duo crushed the Aggies’ Chui/Heneghan 8-1 in the first match.
“We’ve had great results together so far and we’re looking forward to improving our chemistry and match play,” Gibbs said. “It’s a privilege to be on court with her, and I’m going to continue to work on getting closer to the net, finishing points more effectively and making more returns.”
The other two courts followed suit, as junior Stacey Tan and Tsay defeated Koehly/Zamudio of UC-Davis 8-5, and sophomore Amelia Herring and senior captain Veronica Li also beat Curry/Edles 8-3.
Singles matches began soon after, as Gibbs remained on court one to compete in her opening match as the Cardinal’s top player.
“It was definitely an honor to be playing at this spot in the lineup, but in terms of strategy, it was the exact same,” Gibbs said. “ I was just trying to put a win up on the board for my team as I tried to do all of last year.”
Gibbs gave her team more than just a win as she delivered a devastating blow to Dahra Zamudio of the Aggies, 6-0, 6-1. She finished at about the same time as Li, who blanked Nicole Koehly, 6-0, 6-0. The two victories collectively gave the Cardinal the morale boost it needed to close out the match. Although junior Natalie Dillon fell to Ellie Edles in a tight, three-set match, 6-0, 4-6, 1-0 (7), Stanford managed to pull out the victory with wins from Burdette on court two, 6-7 (6), 6-2, 1-0 (8), Tan on court three, 6-3, 6-1, and Tsay, in her first dual singles match, on court four, 6-1, 6-2.
“We were all really impressed with her performance and her constant positive outlook throughout the match,” Gibbs said of Tsay’s triumph. “It’s tough to step into your first dual match as a freshman, but she definitely took advantage of the opportunity.”
Stanford’s victory over the Aggies was the first step in its journey to fulfill an obvious season goal: winning the NCAA Tournament.
“I think we see our goals in terms of the big picture,” Gibbs said. “We are narrow-minded in that we are looking for a championship. We won’t be perfect on day one, but we hope to be as close to perfect as possible come May.”
The Cardinal heads north this weekend to face Oregon and will have its second opportunity to develop and improve. Even though Stanford cleaned up last year with a 7-0 win against the Ducks, the women are not entering the match with a lackadaisical mentality.
“Our expectation is always to win, and I think we’ll be able to do that,” Gibbs said. “Individually, though, we always have to expect a battle. I’m looking forward to matching up to a higher-ranked team and continuing to build.”
The action continues in Eugene this Saturday at 12 p.m.