April 1, 2000
STANFORD, Calif. - The third-ranked Stanford men's tennis team (15-0) tuned up for Friday's showdown with No. 1 UCLA with a 7-0 win over 56th-ranked Arizona State (5-9) on Saturday afternoon at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium. The win improved Stanford's all-time home record against Arizona State to 22-0.
On Friday at 1:30 p.m. at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium on the Stanford campus, the top-ranked Bruins and third-ranked Cardinal will have their second of three meetings this season. On Feb. 27, then-No. 2 Stanford beat then-No. 7 UCLA 4-3 in the finals of the National Team Indoor Championships in Louisville, Kentucky. The third and final regular season meeting between the teams is on Apr. 22 in Los Angeles.
On Saturday against the Sun Devils, the Cardinal swept all six singles and three doubles matches to post its third straight 7-0 victory. Stanford improved to 6-0 on its current nine-match homestand, and has outscored the six nationally ranked opponents 38-4 in the process.In doubles play, Stanford's No. 3 team of juniors Ali Ansari (Houston, TX/Second Baptist HS) and Scotty Scott (Belvedere, CA/Pinewood HS) improved to 9-2 in duals and 11-3 overall with a convincing 8-1 win over Matt Jacobs (Oyster Bay, NY/Univ. of Tennessee) and Pim Van Mele (Tremelo, Belgium/Koninklyk Atheneum Keerberger). Ansari and Scott have now won five in a row, and have lost just 14 games during that stretch. Stanford lost a combined total of just nine games in the three doubles contests.
In singles play, Stanford won five of the six matches in straight sets, and allowed two games or less in seven of the 13 sets. Senior Geoff Abrams (Newport Beach, CA/Newport Harbor HS) and junior Alex Kim (Potomac, MD/Winston Churchill HS), who are both among the top 10 ranked singles players in the country, each won their 10th straight match on Saturday afternoon. Kim, who is ranked third by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, dispatched of 82nd-ranked Alex Osterrieth (Wsterham, Kent, UK/Great Marlow School) 6-1, 6-4 at No. 1 singles, and the ninth-ranked Abrams beat 98th-ranked Ed Carter (Columbus, OH/Columbus Academy) 6-4, 6-2 at No. 2 singles by winning the final five games of the second set. Kim and Abrams, who are also the No. 1 doubles team in the nation, improved to 28-3 earlier in the day with an 8-3 victory over 37th-ranked Carter and Osterrieth.
#3 Stanford 7, #56 Arizona State 0
Singles
No. 1 - #3 Alex Kim (S) d. #82 Alex Osterrieth, 6-1, 6-4
No. 2 - #9 Geoff Abrams (S) d. #98 Ed Carter, 6-4, 6-2
No. 3 - #97 Scotty Scott (S) d. Matt Klinger, 6-1, 6-4
No. 4 - David Martin (S) d. Andrew Golub, 2-6, 6-3, 6-2
No. 5 - Ali Ansari (S) d. Pim Van Mele, 6-3, 6-2
No. 6 - Scott Lipsky (S) d. Matt Jacobs, 6-0, 6-2
Doubles
No. 1 - #1 Geoff Abrams/Alex Kim (S) d. #37 Ed Carter/Alex Osterrieth, 8-3
No. 2 - K.J. Hippensteel/David Martin (S) d. Mitchell Bowen/Matt Klinger, 8-5
No. 3 - Ali Ansari/Scotty Scott (S) d. Matt Jacobs/Pim Van Mele, 8-1
(Stanford wins doubles point)
Records - #56 Arizona State 5-9, #3 Stanford 15-0.