Stanford men’s tennis (10-6, 2-0 Pac-12) looks to end a drought in Los Angeles when they face USC and UCLA this weekend. The Cardinal have not won a match at either school since 2010, despite annual trips down south.

“I don’t want these guys graduating without going down to LA and getting a win,” head coach Paul Goldstein said of the current senior class.

Stanford played USC (11-4, 1-1) and UCLA (14-2, 2-0) at home earlier this season and lost both of those matches — 5-2 to USC on Feb. 26 and 4-3 to UCLA on Feb. 27.

Both Goldstein and freshman Sameer Kumar mentioned the importance of getting the doubles point, which starts off the match, to gain momentum.

“You ride the momentum of your teammates,” Kumar said. “If you see that other people are doing well, it makes you want it more, makes you fight more.”

The team is currently riding a five-match win streak, including three wins on the road this past week. However, the Cardinal are 0-5 this year against teams that are currently ranked in the top 25, and in order to remain in conference title contention, Stanford will need some key victories.

“I can’t tell you that we’re going to win, but I can tell you that we’re going to go down there and compete our tails off, give ourselves a chance,” said Goldstein.

Stanford plays UCLA on Friday at 3 p.m. and USC on Saturday at noon.

 

Contact Elliott Lapin at elapin ‘at’ stanford.edu.