April 3, 2010
STANFORD, Calif.- No. 12 Stanford blazed past No. 7 UCLA 5-2 on Saturday afternoon, continuing its season-best winning streak while avenging its only loss of the year in convincing fashion.
In perhaps its sharpest and most efficient performance of the year, Stanford (14-1, 3-0 Pac-10) wasted little time in jumping on UCLA thanks to a doubles sweep and strong singles play at the bottom of the lineup.
Saturday's result was an exact opposite of the 6-1 defeat suffered to UCLA back on Feb. 26 in Los Angeles. However, that match did not count in the conference standings.
UCLA (16-3, 3-1 Pac-10) entered the week as the favorite to claim the Pac-10 regular season title. But now Stanford has emerged as a serious threat, and a victory tomorrow over No. 18 USC in a resumption of Friday's suspended match will bring the Cardinal one step closer to winning the conference.
With the victory over the Bruins, Stanford extended its NCAA-record home winning streak to 159 matches in a row (129 in the regular season). The Cardinal has not lost a home match since Feb. 27, 1999, when No. 4 California pulled a 5-4 upset.
The Cardinal has also now won seven straight matches.
Stanford bolted out to a 1-0 lead, sweeping all three doubles matches. The tone was set when the nation's second-ranked duo of Hilary Barte and Lindsay Burdette topped the country's fourth-ranked tandem of Andrea Remynse and Yasmin Schnack 8-4.
Then the singles onslaught began.
Mallory Burdette picked up her team-leading 25th win of the year, defeating Pamela Montez 6-1, 6-3 at the No. 4 spot.
Veronica Li followed by putting Stanford in front 3-0 with a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Maya Johansson on court six.
UCLA finally got on the board when Noelle Hickey slipped past Lindsay Burdette 6-3, 6-3 at the No. 2 position, giving the Bruins a glimmer of hope with a 3-1 deficit.
But Carolyn McVeigh locked up a 6-4, 6-3 win over Stephanie Hoffpauir at the No. 5 spot to clinch the match.
That left the remaining two matches in tiebreakers, with Hilary Barte prevailing at No.1 and Stacey Tan falling at No. 3.
No. 12 Stanford 5, No. 7 UCLA 2
DOUBLES
1)No. 2 Barte/L. Burdette (STAN) d. No. 4 Remynse/Schnack (UCLA) 8-4
2)No. 34 M. Burdette/Tan (STAN) d. Hickey/Pantic (UCLA) 9-7
3)Li/McVeigh (STAN) d. Montez/Carling Seguso (UCLA) 8-6
Order of Finish: 1, 2, 3
SINGLES
1)No. 8 Hilary Barte (STAN) d. No. 5 Yasmin Schnack (UCLA) 6-3, 5-7, 1-0 (10-8)
2)No. 43 Noelle Hickey (UCLA) d. No. 61 Lindsay Burdette (STAN) 6-3, 6-3
3)No. 31 Andrea Remynse (UCLA) d. No. 69 Stacey Tan (STAN) 6-2, 4-6, 1-0 (10-7)
4)No. 36 Mallory Burdette (STAN) d. Pamela Montez (UCLA) 6-1, 6-3
5)No. 109 Carolyn McVeigh (STAN) d. Stephanie Hoffpauir (UCLA) 6-4, 6-3
6)Veronica Li (STAN) d. Maya Johansson (UCLA) 6-4, 6-1
Order of Finish: 4, 6, 2, 5, 1, 3