May 12, 2007
STANFORD, Calif.- Playing with its normal lineup in tact for the first time in almost three months, No. 1 Stanford easily handled No. 28 BYU 4-0 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday afternoon at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium.
The Cardinal (22-1, 8-0 Pac-10), which has now won 19 in a row since a 4-3 loss to then-No. 6 Georgia Tech back on Feb. 3 snapped an NCAA record 89-match winning streak, advances to next weekend's NCAA Round of 16 in Athens, Ga.
Stanford will be aiming for its fourth consecutive national championship when postseason play resumes next Friday. With Saturday's win, the Cardinal extended its NCAA winning streak to 20 matches in a row dating back to 2003.
It helped having everyone finally healthy and ready to go, as Stanford has battled through multiple injuries to key players for much of the year. If Saturday's shutout is any indication, the Cardinal appears to be back at full strength.
BYU (22-7, 7-1 Mountain West) challenged Stanford early on in doubles, as all three contests were tight. Lindsay Burdette and Anne Yelsey pulled away for an 8-4 victory over BYU's Anastasia Surkova and Jenny Miccoli in a battle of nationally-ranked teams at the No. 1 spot.
Meanwhile, Stanford's No. 2 team of Lejla Hodzic and Jessica Nguyen downed Lauren Jones and Dolly Chang 8-5. An emphatic ace down the middle of the court from Hodzic on match point served as the clincher.
At No. 3 doubles, Stanford's duo of Whitney Deason and Theresa Logar was quickly down four games before battling back to 5-6 as the match was abandoned.
The Cardinal then made quick work of the Cougars in singles. Nguyen, playing in just her fifth dual match in two months, looked sharp as she dispatched of BYU's Sofia Holden 6-0, 6-1. It wrapped up a solid weekend for Nguyen, who posted a 6-1, 6-0 victory yesterday against Sacramento State's Luba Schifris in her first dual since Mar. 2.
Yelsey also put the finishing touches on an impressive weekend, defeating Lauren Jones 6-1, 6-3 at the No. 2 position for a 3-0 Cardinal lead. Yelsey surrendered just five games in both matches combined and was a consistent weapon at the top of the lineup.
Seconds after Yelsey's victory, Whitney Deason provided the clinching point with a 6-2, 6-1 win at No. 5 over BYU's Chie Hayasaka.
Stanford has now won 26 consecutive NCAA Tournament matches played at Taube Family Tennis Stadium. Throw in a 95-match regular-season winning streak and that means the Cardinal has not been defeated on its home court in the last 121 contests since suffering a 5-4 upset to California back on Feb. 27, 1999.
No. 1 Stanford 4, No. 28 BYU 0
DOUBLES
(1) No. 21 Burdette/Yelsey (STAN) d. No. 34 Surkova/Jenny Miccoli (BYU) 8-4
* (2) Hodzic/Nguyen (STAN) d. Jones/Chang (BYU) 8-5
(3) Doerr/Holden (BYU) led Deason/Logar (STAN) 6-5, aban.
Order of Finish: 1, 2
* denotes clinched doubles point
SINGLES
(1) No. 8 Theresa Logar (STAN) led No. 82 Anastasia Surkova (BYU) 6-2, 3-5, aban.
(2) No. 17 Anne Yelsey (STAN) d. Lauren Jones (BYU) 6-1, 6-3
(3) No. 14 Celia Durkin (STAN) led Kristina Doerr (BYU) 6-3, 5-3, aban.
(4) No. 96 Whitney Deason (STAN) d. Chie Hayasaka (BYU) 6-2, 6-1
* (5) No. 20 Jessica Nguyen (STAN) d. Sofia Holden (BYU) 6-0, 6-1
(6) No. 41 Lindsay Burdette (STAN) led Dolly Chang (BYU) 6-4, 5-0, aban.
Order of Finish: 5, 2, 4
* denotes clinched match