May 12, 2000
STANFORD, Calif. - The top-ranked Stanford University women's tennis team took its first step towards a second straight NCAA Championship with a 6-0 first round win over Weber State University (16-8) on Friday afternoon at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium.
The Cardinal (26-0) will host 39th-ranked Fresno State (16-8), who defeated Clemson 5-3 on Thursday morning, in the second round on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium. The Stanford-Fresno State winner will advance to the 2000 Women's NCAA Team Championships in Malibu, California on May 18-21. Also on Saturday on The Farm, the top-ranked Stanford men's tennis team will host a pair of NCAA first round matches. Thirtieth-ranked Auburn (14-9) will take on 35th-ranked California (12-10) at 9:00 a.m., and the Cardinal (22-1) will meet 54th-ranked Northwestern (11-11) at noon.
Stanford clinched the team victory in less than an hour, and won all six singles matches in straight sets. The Cardinal also did not lose a game in three of the six matches and lost a total of just 12 games in singles competition. The doubles competition was not held because the outcome had already been decided.
"This is the fun part of the season," Stanford head coach Frank Brennan said. "This was a typical NCAA first round match because of the excitement that surrounds that postseason. I thought everybody played very well for us today, and I look forward to playing Fresno State tomorrow because they're a familiar opponent and a good test for us."
"For a team with only six players on the roster, we overachieved this season," Weber State head coach Keith Cox said. "In today's match we probably played as well as we could, especially at No. 1 (Lenka Zacaharova) and No. 2 (Therina Steenkamp) singles. Today's experience will make all the difference in the world for our returners next year."
Stanford took a quick 4-0 lead over the Big Sky Conference champions by losing a combined total of just one game in the Nos. 3-6 singles matches. Seniors Teryn Ashley (Chestnut Hill, MA/Brookline HS) and Jennifer Heiser (Stockton, CA/Lincoln HS) and sophomore Lauren Kalvaria (Indianlantic, FL/Boca Raton Prep.) all won 6-0, 6-0, while sophomore Gabriela Lastra (Reno, NV/Reno HS) won 6-1, 6-0. Freshman Laura Granville (Chicago, IL/The Latin School) clinched the match with a win at No. 2 singles, while Marissa Irvin (Santa Monica, CA/Harvard-Westlake HS) picked up the sixth victory after the match had already been decided.
#1 Stanford 6, Weber State 0
Singles
No. 1 - #1 Marissa Irvin (S) d. Lenka Zacaharova, 6-4, 6-2
No. 2 - #3 Laura Granville (S) d. Therina Steenkamp, 6-3, 6-2* (deciding match)
No. 3 - #38 Teryn Ashley (S) d. Summer Marshall, 6-0, 6-0
No. 4 - #9 Lauren Kalvaria (S) d. Dana Delancey, 6-0, 6-0
No. 5 - #60 Gabriela Lastra (S) d. Veronica Reynosa, 6-1, 6-0
No. 6 - Jennifer Heiser (S) d. Tara Rosenweig, 6-0, 6-0
Doubles
No. 1 - #4 Teryn Ashley/Marissa Irvin (S) v. Therina Steenkamp/Lenka Zacharova (WS), not held
No. 2 - #13 Laura Granville/Keiko Tokuda (S) v. Dana Delancey/Veroinica Reynosa (WS), not held
No. 3 - #28 Lauren Kalvaria/Gabriela Lastra (S) v. Summer Marshall/Tara Rosenweig (WS), not held
Records - Weber State 16-8, #1 Stanford 26-0.