April 21, 2000
LOS ANGELES, Calif. - Top-ranked Stanford University (22-0) moved within one victory of its third perfect regular season in the last six years with a 5-2 non-conference win at No. 16 USC (15-8) on Friday afternoon at the Marks Tennis Center. The Cardinal finished the 1998 regular season 24-0 and went 23-0 in 1995.
The Cardinal concludes its regular season against second-ranked UCLA (20-3) on Saturday at noon at the Los Angeles Tennis Center. Stanford is 2-0 against the Bruins this season, winning by 4-3 scores on Feb. 27 in the finals of the National Team Indoor Championships and Apr. 7 at Stanford. The pairings for the 64-team NCAA Tournament are announced on Thursday, May 4, and Stanford is expected to host the first and second rounds at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium on May 13 and 14. The final four rounds of the NCAA Tournament will be held in Athens, Georgia on May.
The Pac-10 champion Cardinal won five of the six singles matches to clinch the victory, and sweep the season series with the Trojans. After starting the afternoon with singles play, the coaches mutually agreed to cancel doubles play.
Freshman David Martin (Key Biscayne, FL/Boca Raton Prep) pulled off the biggest singles victory for the Cardinal by upsetting 63rd-ranked Daniel Langre (Mexico City, Mexico) 6-4, 6-2. Martin improved to 25-10 with the win, and has now won nine of his last 10.
Stanford also received victories from third-ranked Alex Kim (Potomac, MD/Winston Churchill HS) at No. 1, 12th-ranked Geoff Abrams (Newport Beach, CA/Newport Harbor HS) at No. 2, 94th-ranked Scotty Scott (Belvedere, CA/Pinewood HS) at No. 5 and Ali Ansari (Houston, TX/Second Baptist HS) at No. 6. The win for Abrams was his 16th in a row, and 19th in 21 dual matches this season.
#1 Stanford 5, #16 USC 1
Singles
No. 1 - #3 Alex Kim (S) d. #31 Patrick Gottesleben, 6-4, 6-3
No. 2 - #12 Geoff Abrams (S) d. #83 Andrew Park, 7-6, 4-6, 6-2
No. 3 - Ryan Moore (U) d. #13 K.J. Hippensteel, 7-6, 6-7, 6-3
No. 4 - David Martin (S) d. #63 Daniel Langre, 6-4, 6-2
No. 5 - #94 Scotty Scott (S) d. Nicholas Rainey, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4
No. 6 - Ali Ansari (S) d. Parker Collins, 7-5, 6-3
(The three doubles matches were cancelled because of a mutual agreement between the coaches.)
Records - #1 Stanford 22-0, #16 USC 15-8.