May 14, 2010
Tourney Central | Home Streak Continues | SMU Up Next
STANFORD, Calif.- No. 8 Stanford easily handled unranked Fairfield 4-0 on Friday afternoon in the first round of the 2010 NCAA Tournament at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium.
Making its 29th consecutive postseason appearance, the Cardinal (21-1, 8-0 Pac-10) simply overwhelmed the Stags (19-6, 7-0 MAAC) in a match that was completed in a tidy one hour, 43 minutes.
It was a familiar outcome for Stanford, which has now won 163 dual matches in a row (132 regular season + 31 NCAA Tournament) on its home court- a streak that spans 11 years and is the longest of any sport in Division I athletics. The Cardinal has not suffered a home loss since Feb. 27, 1999, when No. 4 California pulled a 5-4 upset.
Stanford, which has now won 14 straight matches since its only loss of the year back on Feb. 26, also improved to 110-14 all-time in NCAA Tournament play.
For the 21st time in 22 matches this season, Stanford captured the doubles point to take a 1-0 lead. The No. 3 team of Veronica Li and Carolyn McVeigh tallied an 8-2 victory to secure the point.
Stanford did not surrender a single game while grabbing three points in singles. Veronica Li posted a 6-0, 6-0 win over Gretchen Amberg, Hilary Barte followed with a 6-0, 6-0 rout of Dana Postupack and Carolyn McVeigh provided the clincher with a 6-0, 6-0 victory over Alyssa Ruiz.
Stanford will face No. 31 SMU in the second round tomorrow at 3 p.m., with a berth to next weekend's NCAA Championships in Athens, Ga., on the line.
No. 8 Stanford 4, Fairfield 0
DOUBLES
1)No. 2 Barte/L. Burdette (STAN) d. Liu/Rys (FAIR) 8-0
2)No. 56 M. Burdette/Tan (STAN) led Amberg/Postupack (FAIR) 7-1, susp.
3)Li/McVeigh (STAN) d. Michaela Cerrone/Sullivan (FAIR) 8-2
Order of Finish: 1, 3
SINGLES
1)No. 4 Hilary Barte (STAN) d. Dana Postupack (FAIR) 6-0, 6-0
2)No. 83 Lindsay Burdette (STAN) led Paulina Rys (FAIR) 6-1, 2-1, susp.
3)No. 33 Mallory Burdette (STAN) led Kristen Liu (FAIR) 6-1, 5-0, susp.
4)No. 68 Stacey Tan (STAN) led Meghan Sullivan (FAIR) 6-2, 2-1, susp.
5)Carolyn McVeigh (STAN) d. Alyssa Ruiz (FAIR) 6-0, 6-0
6)Veronica Li (STAN) d. Gretchen Amberg (FAIR) 6-0, 6-0
Order of Finish: 6, 1, 5