March 26, 2011
LOS ANGELES- No. 2 Stanford overwhelmed No. 13 USC 6-1 on Saturday afternoon, completing an impressive sweep of its three-game SoCal road swing while maintaining its lead atop the Pac-10 standings.
Coming off convincing wins at No. 30 Pepperdine (7-0) and No. 8 UCLA (6-1) over the last three days, Stanford (17-0, 4-0 Pac-10) remained unbeaten on the season. The Cardinal has now won 36 consecutive contests dating back to a 6-1 loss at UCLA in late February of last year.
Earlier on Saturday afternoon, UCLA edged California 4-3, handing the Golden Bears their first loss in league play and elevating Stanford into sole possession of first place in the Pac-10.
USC (11-5, 1-2 Pac-10) has now lost three in a row following a four-match winning streak.
Stanford grabbed the doubles point to take a 1-0 lead. The Cardinal collected wins from its No. 2 duo of Kristie Ahn and Nicole Gibbs and No. 3 tandem of Carolyn McVeigh and Stacey Tan. Both doubles teams have now won seven straight matches.
Tan won her 10th consecutive match to give Stanford a 2-0 advantage, skipping past Alison Ramos 6-1, 6-3 at the No. 5 spot.
Mallory Burdette followed with a 6-3, 6-3 triumph over Danielle Lao at the No. 2 position, putting the Cardinal on the brink of clinching the match at 3-0.
In a potential preview of the NCAA Championships singles championship match, top-ranked Maria Sanchez bested second-ranked Hilary Barte 6-3, 6-3 at the top spot of the lineup. Sanchez and Barte split their two meetings last year.
Leading 3-1, Stanford clinched the match when Kristie Ahn prevailed against Valeria Pulido on court four.
Nicole Gibbs and Carolyn McVeigh also contributed victories for Stanford, which improved to 8-0 against opponents ranked among the top-20.
Gibbs (29-4 overall, 17-0 duals) has now won 17 straight matches while Ahn (27-3 overall, 14-0 duals) is unbeaten in 15 consecutive contests.
Stanford is back in action next weekend, hosting Arizona State (Friday, Apr. 1 at 1:30 p.m.) and Arizona (Saturday, Apr. 2 at 12 p.m.).
No. 2 Stanford 6, No. 13 USC 1
DOUBLES
1) No. 7 Christian/Sanchez (USC) d. No. 2 Barte/Burdette (STAN) 8-5
2) Ahn/Gibbs (STAN) d. No. 11 Pulido/Ramos (USC) 8-3
3) McVeigh/Tan (STAN) d. Kinstler/Lao (USC) 8-5
Order of Finish: 1, 2, 3
SINGLES
1) No. 1 Maria Sanchez (USC) d. No. 2 Hilary Barte (STAN) 6-3, 6-3
2) No. 29 Mallory Burdette (STAN) d. No. 25 Danielle Lao (USC) 6-3, 6-3
3) No. 11 Nicole Gibbs (STAN) d. Kaitlyn Christian (USC) 6-3, 7-6 (3)
4) No. 21 Kristie Ahn (STAN) d. Valeria Pulido (USC) 4-6, 6-0, ret., injury
5) No. 51 Stacey Tan (STAN) d. Alison Ramos (USC) 6-1, 6-3
6) Carolyn McVeigh (STAN) d. Cristala Andrews (USC) 4-6, 7-5, 1-0 (6)
Order of Finish: 5, 2, 1, 4, 3, 6