March 28, 2000
STANFORD, Calif. - The third-ranked Stanford University men's tennis team improved to 13-0 on the season with a 7-0 home win over No. 66 Harvard (8-7) on Tuesday afternoon at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium.
The Cardinal's win was highlighted by the return of sophomore K.J. Hippensteel (Roanoke, VA/International Academy), who had been out of action since Jan. 14 with a ruptured spleen that was brought on by a severe case of mononucleosis. Hippensteel was ranked No. 1 in the nation in singles and No. 5 in doubles with freshman David Martin (Key Biscayne, FL/Boca Raton Prep) at the time of the illness. He was dropped from the singles and doubles rankings on Mar. 15 because of inactivity. On Tuesday, he and Martin improved to 8-1 in doubles this season with an 9-8 victory over the Crimson's John Doran (Dublin, Ireland/Blackrock College) and Cillie Swart (Lynwood, South Africa/Afrikaanse).
Stanford's Geoff Abrams (Newport Beach, CA/Newport Harbor HS) and Alex Kim (Potomac, MD/Winston Churchill HS) - the No. 1 ranked doubles team in Division I men's tennis - improved to 11-1 in duals and 25-3 overall with an 8-4 win over 27th-ranked Joe Green (Dublin, Ireland/Belvedere College) and David Lingman (Irvine, CA/Woodbridge HS). Abrams and Kim have now defeated four of the top 30 doubles teams in the country in the last seven days alone.
The Cardinal then won all six singles matches in straight sets to post its first 7-0 victory since it blanked Hawaii on Jan. 25 at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium. At No. 1 singles, Kim extended his winning streak to eight matches with a 6-1, 6-2 win over William Lee (Houston, TX/Cypress Falls HS). Kim, who is currently the No. 2 ranked collegiate singles player in the nation, is 12-1 in duals and 28-3 overall. At No. 2 singles, 15th-ranked Abrams also extended his winning streak to eight matches with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Lingman.
Harvard's lone win came at No. 3 doubles as Lee and Andrew Styperek (Boca Raton, FL/St. Andrew's) teamed to beat Cardinal freshmen Ryan Haviland (Sumter, SC/Sumter HS) and Scott Lipsky (Merrick, NY/Bellinore-Kennedy HS) 8-5.
Stanford continues its nine-match homestand this weekend with "Fan Appreciation Weekend" presented by Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown. The Cardinal hosts No. 44 Arizona (8-5) on Friday at 1:30 p.m. and No. 45 Arizona State (5-7) on Saturday at noon in non-conference contests at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium. Harvard continues its West Coast trip on Wednesday at California at 1:30 p.m.
#3 Stanford 7, #66 Harvard 0
Singles
No. 1 - #2 Alex Kim (S) d. Joe Green, 6-2, 6-2
No. 2 - #15 Geoff Abrams (S) d. Dave Lingman, 6-1, 6-4
No. 3 - #77 Scotty Scott (S) d. John Doran, 7-5, 6-3
No. 4 - #100 (tie) David Martin (S) d. William Lee, 6-1, 6-2
No. 5 - Ali Ansari (S) d. Andrew Styperek, 6-3, 7-6
No. 6 - Carter Morris (S) d. Anthony Barker, 6-3, 6-3
Doubles
No. 1 - #1 Geoff Abrams/Alex Kim (S) d. #27 Joe Green/David Lingman, 8-4
No. 2 - K.J. Hippensteel/David Martin (S) d. John Doran/Cillie Swart, 9-8
No. 3 - William Lee/Andrew Styperek (H) d. Ryan Haviland/Scott Lipsky, 8-5
(Stanford wins doubles point)
Records - #66 Harvard 8-7, #3 Stanford 13-0.