May 13, 2000
STANFORD, Calif. - The top-ranked Stanford men's tennis team opened postseason play with a 4-0 win over #54 Northwestern (11-12) in the first round of the 2000 NCAA Men's Tennis Team Championships on Saturday afternoon at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium.
Saturday's victory gives Stanford (23-1) a second round match-up against #30 Auburn (15-9) on Sunday at noon at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium. The Tigers advanced to the second round with a 4-3 victory over #35 California on Saturday morning. The Auburn/Stanford winner advances to the NCAA Men's Tennis Team Championships in Athens, Georgia, which begins with the round of 16 on May 20 and concludes with the championship match on May 23.
"We were a little rusty because this was our first dual meet in three weeks," Stanford head coach Dick Gould said. "It will be nice to be able to come right back out and play again tomorrow. Auburn is one of the top programs in the SEC, and will be a very tough test for us."
"The biggest thing we talked about coming into this match was playing like we belonged here," Northwestern head coach Paul Torricelli said. "This can be an intimidating environment for a young team, but for the most part we did a good job today. Our goal was to get to the tournament, and we did that. I'm also happy because I saw a lot of growth in this team over the last few weeks."
Stanford opened the afternoon by sweeping all three doubles matches to win the first point of the dual. The Cardinal first received 8-3 wins from both juniors Ali Ansari (Houston, TX/Second Baptist HS) and Scotty Scott (Belvedere, CA/Pinewood HS) at No. 2 and freshmen David Martin (Key Biscayne, FL/Boca Raton Prep) and Carter Morris (Washington, D.C./St. Alban's HS) at No. 3 to clinch the point. The nation's top-ranked duo of Geoff Abrams (Newport Beach, CA/Newport Harbor HS) and Alex Kim (Potomac, MD/Winston Churchill HS) then gave Stanford a clean sweep by rallying from a 4-1 deficit to beat 42nd-ranked Brad Erickson (Eugene, OR/South Eugene HS) and Joost Hol (Newport Beach, CA/Foothill HS) 8-4.
Stanford later received straight set singles victories from Kim, Abrams and Scott to clinch the dual and lock up a spot in the second round. The Cardinal has now won 19 of its last 20 NCAA duals dating back to 1995, and 12 of the 19 wins have come by 4-0 scores.
#1 Stanford 4, #54 Northwestern 0
Singles
No. 1 - #7 Alex Kim (S) d. Brad Erickson, 6-0, 6-2
No. 2 - #5 Geoff Abrams (S) d. Joost Hol, 6-3, 6-3
No. 3 - David Martin (S) v. Josh Axler, suspended (6-4, 6-7, 2-0 Stanford)
No. 4 - Scotty Scott (S) d. Jackie Jenkins, 7-6, 6-1* (deciding match)
No. 5 - Ali Ansari (S) v. Jamie Sahara, suspended (3-6, 6-1, 4-0 Stanford)
No. 6 - Scott Lipsky (S) v. Russell Bennett, suspended (7-5, 5-2 Stanford)
Doubles (Stanford wins doubles point)
No. 1 - #1 Geoff Abrams/Alex Kim (S) d. #42 Brad Erickson/Joost Hol, 8-4
No. 2 - Ali Ansari/Scotty Scott (S) d. Russell Bennett/Jackie Jenkins, 8-3
No. 3 - David Martin/Carter Morris (S) d. Josh Axler/Jamie Sahara, 8-3* (clinched point)
Records - #54 Northwestern 11-12, #1 Stanford 23-1.