April 15, 2000
TUCSON, Ariz. - The Stanford University men's tennis team (20-0 overall, 7-0 Pac-10) clinched its third straight Pacific-10 Conference title and 12th overall with a 5-2 win over host Arizona (9-10, 2-5) on Saturday afternoon at the LaNelle Robson Tennis Center in the conference finale for both teams.
The Cardinal finished Pac-10 play a perfect 7-0, and won the conference title by one game over second-ranked UCLA. Stanford also clinched its 13th consecutive 20-win season with Saturday's victory, and the 22nd under 33rd-year head coach Dick Gould.
Stanford got off to a fast start on Saturday in Tucson by winning all three doubles matches to capture the first point of the dual for the 17th time this season. Juniors Ali Ansari (Houston, TX/Second Baptist HS) and Scotty Scott (Belvedere, CA/Pinewood HS) increased their winning streak to 10 matches with a 9-7 over Alex Aybar (Dominican Republic/Tyler JC) and Tom Lloyd (Yorba Linda, CA/Esperanza HS) at No. 3 doubles. Stanford's No. 1 doubles team of Geoff Abrams (Newport Beach, CA/Newport Harbor HS) and Alex Kim (Potomac, MD/Winston Churchill HS), who have been the top-ranked duo in the nation since December, improved to 31-4 with an 8-5 victory and the 21st-ranked duo of K.J. Hippensteel (Roanoke, VA/International Academy) and David Martin (Key Biscayne, FL/Boca Raton Prep) upped their record to 12-4 with an 8-4 win at No. 2.
Stanford then won four of the six singles matches to clinch the dual and the conference title. All four victories came in straight sets, and in each win the Cardinal held its opponent to six games or less.
Abrams, who is currently ranked 12th in the country by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, extended his win streak to 14 matches with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Jean-Noel LaCoste (Stockholm, Sweden/Ostra Real) at No. 2. Abrams, the only senior on the Cardinal roster, is 17-2 in duals this season and 34-6 overall. Also picking up wins for the Cardinal in singles action was Hippensteel at No. 3 (6-4, 6-2), 94th-ranked Scott at No. 5 (6-0, 6-3) and Ansari at No. 6 (6-2, 6-0).
Stanford will try to wrap up its third undefeated regular season in the last six years next week, but it won't be easy. The Cardinal hosts third-ranked Pepperdine in "The Stanford Spring Smash" presented by Zoom Marketing on Tuesday at 1:30 p.m., and then travels to Southern California for non-conference meetings with No. 18 USC (Friday, 1:30 p.m.) and No. 2 UCLA (Saturday, noon).
#1 Stanford 5, #71 Arizona 2
Singles
No. 1 - Alex Aybar (A) d. #3 Alex Kim, 6-3, 6-2
No. 2 - #12 Geoff Abrams (S) d. Jean-Noel LaCoste, 6-3, 6-2
No. 3 - #13 K.J. Hippensteel (S) d. Michel Stopa, 6-4, 6-2
No. 4 - Alex Brown (A) d. David Martin, 6-4, 6-3
No. 5 - #94 Scotty Scott (S) d. Tom Lloyd, 6-0, 6-3
No. 6 - Ali Ansari (S) d. Caleb Marquardt, 6-2, 6-0
Doubles
No. 1 - #1 Geoff Abrams/Alex Kim (S) d. Jean-Noel LaCoste/Michel Stopa, 8-5
No. 2 - #21 K.J. Hippensteel/David Martin (S) d. Alex Brown/Brian Jackson, 8-4
No. 3 - Ali Ansari/Scotty Scott (S) d. Alex Aybar/Tom Lloyd, 9-7
(Stanford wins doubles point)
Records - #1 Stanford 20-0 overall (7-0 Pac-10), #71 Arizona 9-10 (2-5).