Women’s tennis sweeps desert schools

March 30, 2015, 11:23 p.m.

Not even the desert heat could slow down the Stanford women’s tennis team (11-4, 4-2 Pac-12) this weekend. Playing in temperatures over 90 degrees, the No. 13 team in the country earned a pair of convincing 6-1 victories over No. 38 Arizona and No. 24 Arizona State.

NICK SALAZAR/The Stanford Daily
National No. 4 singles player Carol Zhao showed her composure over the weekend, winning a close match against ASU to record her 12th win of the season. (NICK SALAZAR/The Stanford Daily)

Stanford’s success in Arizona followed a tough road trip to Southern California last week. The team suffered back-to-back losses against No. 5 UCLA and No. 7 USC, both of which are now ranked in the top four in the country. The trip marked Stanford’s second time earning consecutive losses this season. The Cardinal had not dropped back-to-back matches since 1983 before this year.

Stanford first took on Arizona State in Tempe on Friday. The Sun Devils came into the match with a 12-3 record, having not dropped a single point in its first three Pac-12 matchups.

Looking for an upset, ASU came out strong in doubles play, with a victory at the No. 3 spot. However, Caroline Doyle and Ellen Tsay evened things out for the Cardinal with an 8-5 victory on Court 2. Stanford relied on the No. 2 doubles pairing in the nation of Taylor Davidson and Carol Zhao to clinch the doubles point for the Cardinal, with a tight 8-7 (2) victory over No. 36 Desirae Krawczyk and Stephanie Vlad.

Things went smoothly for the Cardinal in singles play, as Doyle and Tsay wrapped up straight-set victories at the Nos. 5 and 3 spots to give Stanford a 3-0 lead. Junior Krista Hardebeck clinched the match with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over the Sun Devils’ Joanna Smith. Zhao, the fourth-ranked player in the country, improved her season record to 12-2 with a grueling 6-7 (2), 6-1, 10-8 victory over No. 45 Krawczyk at the No. 1 spot.

The Sun Devils earned their lone consolatory point at No. 6, where Ebony Panoho defeated the Cardinal’s Lindsey Kostas in straight sets.

The Cardinal then looked to start a new winning streak on Saturday, as they took on No. 38 Arizona in Tucson. The Cardinal immediately clinched the doubles point with an 8-6 victory by Hardebeck and Kostas at the No. 3 spot.

Singles play was almost a mirror image of the match against Arizona State the previous day, as Stanford jumped to a 3-0 lead behind straight-set victories by No. 16 Davidson on Court 2 and Hardebeck on Court 4. This time, Zhao provided the clincher for the Cardinal with a 6-4, 6-1 victory over the Wildcats’ No. 80 Lauren Marker. A strong performance by Inge Hendrikx over Stanford’s Kostas granted Arizona a point at the No. 6 spot.

With the longest road stretch of the season behind them, the Cardinal will return home for the next two weeks. The team will take on Oregon and both Washington schools, before playing Pepperdine in the last home match of the season.

Stanford currently lies in fourth place in the Pac-12, behind USC, Cal and UCLA, all of which have handed the Cardinal losses this year and are ranked in the top-10 nationally. The Cardinal will have a chance at redemption against Cal later this season, and if they hope to make a deep postseason run, will likely meet another of their Pac-12 foes in May.

Stanford will look to continue their winning ways as they host Oregon on Friday at 1:30 p.m. and Washington on Saturday at noon.

Contact Neel Ramachandran at neelr ‘at’ stanford.edu.

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