Stanford Tennis Back In The Postseason On Both Sides

April 29, 2008

Complete Women's Bracket

STANFORD, Calif.- The Stanford men's and women's teams have qualified for the 2008 NCAA Championships, as announced this morning by the NCAA Division 1 Women's Tennis Subcommitte.

More information on both programs to follow, but here's a quick primer. The final 16 teams on both sides advance to Tulsa, Okla., the following week for the NCAA Championships.

Men
Currently ranked No. 22 in the country, Stanford (12-8) will battle UC Santa Barbara (15-9) at 2 p.m. on Saturday, May 10 in an opening round match to be played in Malibu, Calif. Host and No. 13 overall seed Pepperdine (18-6) faces Hawai'i (8-10) earlier in the day in the other first round contest at 11 a.m. UC Santa Barbara (Big West), Pepperdine (WCC) and Hawai'i (WAC) are all conference champions while Stanford is back in the postseason as an at-large selection. Stanford has never faced the Gauchos in the postseason.

The second round match, featuring the winners of Saturday's matches will be played the following day, May 11, at 1 p.m. Should Stanford advance, they will face the winner of Pepperdine and Hawai'i. Stanford has previously met Pepperdine four times in the NCAA tournament and the Cardinal hold a 3-1 NCAA tournament record against the Waves, winning in '80 (6-3), '86 (5-2), and '01 (4-1) and falling in '05 (4-2). Stanford has never faced Hawai'i in the NCAA Tournament, but have defeated them twice this year (scores of 6-1 and 7-0).

The Cardinal took third place in the Pac-10 this year at 5-2, and last won a NCAA Championship in 2000- the 17th in the history of the program. Stanford is currently on a four-match win streak and touts three nationally-ranked singles players in No. 7 Alex Clayton, No. 80 Matt Bruch, and No. 124 Richard Wire.

Women
Stanford, ranked No. 4 nationally and tabbed as the No. 4 overall seed in this year's draw, enters the postseason with a 19-4 overall record. Taube Family Tennis Stadium has been tabbed as one of 16 host sites for first and second round competition, scheduled for May 9-10. Stanford tangles with America East champion Boston University (11-7) in the opening round and will play the winner of Texas A&M (16-8) and Washington (12-9). The Cardinal finished 7-1 in Pac-10 play, earning a share of the regular season championship with UCLA and extending the program's streak of 21 consecutive league titles. Stanford, which has claimed five of the last seven NCAA team titles, has also won 13 of its last 14 matches. All six players in the Cardinal's singles lineup are nationally-ranked: No. 3 Hilary Barte, No. 13 Jessica Nguyen, No. 65 Celia Durkin, No. 66 Lindsay Burdette, No. 68 Whitney Deason and No. 95 Carolyn McVeigh.