April 16, 2011
STANFORD, Calif.- No. 2 Stanford put the finishing touches on a perfect regular season while claiming its second straight Pac-10 championship on Saturday afternoon, defeating No. 9 California 5-2 in Berkeley.
Stanford (23-0, 8-0 Pac-10) remained the only unbeaten team in Division I this season and has now won 42 consecutive contests overall dating back to its last loss: a 6-1 setback at UCLA in late February of last year.
The Cardinal also successfully defended last year's Pac-10 regular season title. Throw in a share of the 2008 league crown with UCLA, and Stanford has now won three of the last four Pac-10 championships. Stanford is in contention for the No. 1 overall seed in next month's NCAA Tournament while the round of 16 will be contested at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium, where the Cardinal has won an NCAA-record 179 consecutive matches.
Saturday's match against California (16-6, 6-2 Pac-10) carried added significance for both squads. At 7-0, Stanford had already earned at least a share of the regular season championship while California entered the day at 6-1 and required a win to share the crown while also avoid falling into third place.
The Cardinal locked up the doubles point, taking a 1-0 lead when the nation's No. 2-ranked duo of Hilary Barte and Mallory Burdette bested the No. 1-ranked team of Mari Andersson and Jana Juricova 8-6 at the top of the lineup.
Straight-set wins by Stacey Tan (6-2, 6-2 at No. 5) and Kristie Ahn (6-3, 6-0 at No. 4) put Stanford on the brink of clinching the match with a 3-0 lead.
Andersson managed to outlast Burdette on court two by a 6-4, 6-4 margin, keeping Cal briefly in the match at 3-1.
But it was only a matter of time for Stanford, which had sizeable leads at the Nos. 4 and 6 spots. The clincher came from court four, where Nicole Gibbs downed Anett Schutting 6-2, 6-4 to secure the match.
After hosting the USTA Junior All-Star Team in an exhibition match next Friday at 1:30 p.m., Stanford is idle until an appearance at the Pac-10 Championships later this month.
No. 2 Stanford 5, No. 9 California 2
DOUBLES
1) No. 2 Barte/Burdette (STAN) d. No. 1 Andersson/Juricova (CAL) 8-6
2) No. 34 Goransson/Schutting (CAL) d. No. 37 Ahn/Gibbs (STAN) 8-2
3) Carolyn McVeigh/Tan (STAN) d. Cossou/Davis (CAL) 8-3
Order of Finish: 2, 3, 1
SINGLES
1) No. 1 Jana Juricova (CAL) d. No. 4 Hilary Barte (STAN) 1-6, 6-3, 6-4
2) No. 25 Mari Andersson (CAL) d. No. 19 Mallory Burdette (STAN) 6-4, 6-4
3) No. 12 Nicole Gibbs (STAN) d. Anett Schutting (CAL) 6-2, 6-4
4) No. 22 Kristie Ahn (STAN) d. No. 71 Annie Goransson (CAL) 6-3, 6-0
5) No. 55 Stacey Tan (STAN) d. Marina Cossou (CAL) 6-2, 6-2
6) Veronica Li (STAN) d. No. 48 Tayler Davis (CAL) 6-3, 6-4
Order of Finish: 5, 4, 2, 3, 6, 1