Valencia XuValencia Xu
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Women's Tennis

Stanford Splits Between Sectionals and SDSU

Final NCAA qualifying chance comes at ITA Sectional Championships in Los Angeles

ITA Sectional Draws ITA Sectional Live Stream SDSU Fall Classic Central
  • In its final action before the NCAA Individual Championships later this month, five Cardinal will split between two events this weekend.
  • Valencia Xu and Alexis Blokhina will be at the ITA Sectional Championships running from Nov. 7-10 in Los Angeles, the final opportunity to qualify individuals for the NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships later this month in Waco, Texas.
    • Xu, attemping to earn her NCAA spot in singles, begins the 32-player draw on Thursday, Nov. 7 at 10 a.m. against UCLA's Ahmani Guichard. Six players will qualify for the NCAA Singles Championship - the four semifinalists and two quarterfinal playoff winners.
    • The pair is the top seed in the doubles draw and has a bye into the quarterfinals, where they will face the winner of Sophie Luescher/Erika Matsuda (Washington) and Patricija Spaka/Sara Svetac (Arizona State). Three doubles teams will qualify for the NCAA Doubles Championship - the champion, runner-up and third-place playoff winner.
  • Meanwhile, Valerie Glozman and Connie Ma, already qualified for NCAAs, will be at the SDSU Fall Classic along with Morgan Shaffer from Nov. 8-10.
  • The Cardinal has already qualified three in singles and a doubles pair for the NCAA Individual Championships from Nov. 19-24.
    • Freshman Valerie Glozman was the first to qualify with a run to the quarterfinals at the ITA All-American Championships in Cary, N.C. in late September.
    • Glozman, who received a wild card into the main draw, knocked off a trio of ranked opponents in No. 56 Alina Shcherbinina (Oklahoma), No. 53 Elizabeth Coleman (Duke) and No. 10 Sarah Hamner (South Carolina).
  • Stanford picked up its two other singles berths and its doubles qualifier at the ITA Northwest Regional Championships in Berkeley in October, where the Cardinal swept both singles and doubles titles for the first time since 2021.
    • Playing in Berkeley following 16 consecutive regionals hosted on The Farm, Valerie Glozman defeated senior Connie Ma in singles, before teaming up with Ma to take down Alexis Blokhina and Valencia Xu in doubles. Glozman is the first freshman to win in singles since Ma in 2021.
    • By virtue of her runner-up finish, Connie Ma joined Glozman as a qualifier for the NCAA Singles Championship. Becuse Glozman had already earned her NCAA spot at the ITA All-American Championships, a third-place playoff was contested to determine the region's second NCAA automatic qualifier and the Cardinal's Alexis Blokhina won that match over Washington's Reece Carter to book her ticket to Waco.
    • The doubles title for Glozman and Ma also qualified the pair for the NCAA Doubles Championship late next month.
  • The Cardinal boasts six ranked singles players this fall in Connie Ma (No. 4), Alexis Blokhina (No. 64), Valerie Glozman (No. 69), Katherine Hui (No. 76), Valencia Xu (No. 77) and India Houghton (No. 85). Those six players also form three nationally-ranked doubles teams. Ma and Blokhina are No. 19, Xu and Glozman are No. 54 and Houghton and Hui are No. 57.
  • While no stranger to The Farm, Stanford begins its first season with Frankie Brennan as the program’s Peter and Helen Bing Director of Women's Tennis. The third-generation coach was hired to replace the legendary Lele Forood on  Sept. 11. Forood announced she was stepping down following 24 seasons and 10 NCAA titles as head coach on Aug. 20.
    • Brennan has been on staff at Stanford for 29 seasons and a part of 12 of Stanford’s record 20 NCAA championships. The Cardinal has gone 700-71 during his tenure.
  • On Sept. 19, Brennan hired Stanford alumna Janice Shin as his assistant coach. A two-time NCAA team champion during her playing career from 2018-21, Shin was a key contributor on Stanford’s 2018 and 2019 NCAA title teams, going a perfect 8-0 in postseason matches and earning NCAA All-Tournament Team recognition at No. 5 singles both years.
  • Stanford put together a 25-3 overall campaign in 2023-24, including an 8-1 mark in Pac-12 competition and a 13-1 mark at Taube Family Tennis Center. The program reached the NCAA quarterfinals for the 39th time in 42 NCAA Tournaments and won its third consecutive Pac-12 Tournament title.