April 30, 2000
OJAI, Calif. - The third time was a charm for Stanford's Geoff Abrams (Newport Beach, CA/Newport Harbor HS). The Cardinal senior was 0-2 against teammate and doubles partner Alex Kim (Potomac, MD/Winston Churchill HS) this season, but turned the tables on Sunday with a thrilling 7-6, 6-7, 6-4 win in the Pacific-10 Conference Men's Singles Final at Ojai's Libby Park. Also bringing home a Pac-10 title for the Cardinal was Jennifer Heiser (Stockton, CA/Lincoln HS), who won the conference women's invitational for the second straight year.
Ironically, both of the previous meetings between Abrams and Kim this season had come in tournament finals. Kim won 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 at the ITA Regional in Seattle on Nov. 9 and 6-3, 6-2 at the National Collegiate Tennis Classic in Thousand Oaks on Jan. 16.
Kim and Abrams, who also form the top-ranked doubles team in the nation, each won a tiebreaker on Sunday to send the match into a third and deciding set. Abrams jumped out to a 5-3 lead in the third set, but Kim, who is ranked sixth in the nation by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, broke serve to keep the match alive. Abrams, however, returned the favor, to capture his first singles title of the year and improve to 42-6. The Cardinal senior, who is ranked eighth in the nation, has now won 22 straight matches and has not lost since Feb. 24.
"I knew Alex had my number before, so I was looking to do a few things differently this time around," Abrams said. "I wanted to change up the pace a little bit, and throw some different things at him instead of trying to blow the ball right by him. This win is a good confidence builder. I'm just going out and trying not to put a lot of pressure on myself."
Abrams' win gives Stanford four straight Pac-10 Men's Singles titles, and seven of the last 10. Ryan Wolters won the title last year, and was proceeded by Paul Goldstein in 1998 and Bob Bryan in 1997.
Heiser clinched her second straight women's invitational title with an impressive 7-5, 6-2 win over Elizabeth Schmidt of UCLA. Heiser, who is now 28-8 on the season, won all five of her tournament matches in straight sets and lost just 18 games in the process. In the women's doubles invitational final, Heiser and Sarah Pestieau (New York, NY/Lycee Francais de New York) fell to Jacqui Boyd and Jewel Peterson of USC 6-4, 7-6.
In the men's doubles invitational final, UCLA's Lassi Ketola and Travis Rettenmaier evened the season series with Stanford's Ali Ansari (Houston, TX/Second Baptist HS) and Scotty Scott (Belvedere, CA/Pinewood HS) at two matches apiece with a 6-4, 7-6 victory. Ansari also participated in the singles invitational final, and fell to 100th-ranked Erfan Djahangiri of UCLA 6-1, 6-2.
The top-ranked Stanford men's and women's teams will now sit back and wait for the announcement of their respective 64-team NCAA Tournament fields on Thursday, May 4. Both the men and women are expected to host the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium on the weekend of May 12-14.
Men's Singles
Main Draw Championship:
#8 Geoff Abrams (Stanford) d. #6 Alex Kim (Stanford), 7-6, 6-7, 6-4
Invitational Championship:
#100 Erfan Djahangiri (UCLA) d. Ali Ansari (Stanford), 6-1, 6-2
Women's Singles
Main Draw Championship:
#7 Sara Walker (UCLA) d. #23 Allison Bradshaw (Arizona St.), 6-1, 6-1
Invitational Championship:
Jennifer Heiser (Stanford) d. Elizabeth Schmidt (UCLA), 7-5, 6-2
Men's Doubles
Main Draw Championship:
#7 Brandon Kramer/Jong-Min Lee (UCLA) d. #26 Guillermo Carter/Leslie Eisinga (Oregon), 3-6, 6-2, 7-5
Invitational Championship:
Lassi Ketola/Travis Rettenmaier (UCLA) d. Ali Ansari/Scotty Scott (Stanford), 6-4, 7-5
Women's Doubles
Main Draw Championship:
#9 Lindsay Blau/Michelle Gough (Arizona) d. Tiffany Brymer/Kara Warkentin (USC), 6-4, 3-6, 7-5
Invitational Championship:
Jacqui Boyd/Jewel Peterson (USC) d. Jennifer Heiser/Sarah Pestieau (Stanford), 6-4, 7-6