STANFORD, Calif. - Focused on closing strong down the stretch, No. 19 Stanford travels to the Pacific Northwest this weekend for a two-match road swing.
Only three matches remain in the regular season for Stanford (10-5, 5-1 Pac-12), which still has an outside shot at the Pac-12 title thanks to how the schedule shapes up. Even with Sunday’s 4-3 loss at No. 1 California – only the Cardinal’s fourth loss to the Golden Bears in the last 15 meetings – Stanford will host its Bay Area rival on April 16 in the match that counts in the Pac-12 standings.
This weekend’s matches against No. 47 Washington (11-7, 3-4 Pac-12) and No. 57 Washington State (17-6, 2-5 Pac-12) present two more opportunities for Stanford to strengthen its conference mark.
More importantly, the Cardinal just needs to pile up as many wins as possible. Stanford dropped one spot in the latest poll and hasn’t been ranked higher than No. 16 since late February. Host bids for the NCAA Championships first and second rounds are awarded to the nation’s top 16 programs as determined by the selection committee. Stanford owns key wins over Florida, TCU and UCLA and competes in one of the best conferences in the country, factors that should help its cause.
The Cardinal has also suffered hard-fought 4-3 losses to Mississippi, Arizona State and Pepperdine – teams all ranked among the top-40 at the time of the match. However, Stanford was without the services of 2015 NCAA Singles runner-up and three-time All-American Carol Zhao for each of those contests, and the Cardinal obviously looks a lot different when she is in the lineup.
But Zhao has only been just one piece to the puzzle. Krista Hardebeck is Stanford’s hottest player as of late, riding a 12-match winning streak to claim the team lead in overall victories (18) and dual wins (14). Three other Cardinal netters are ranked in singles: Taylor Davidson (28), Zhao (55) and Caroline Doyle (78).
In doubles, the tandem of Davidson and Doyle is ranked No. 4 while Hardebeck and Caroline Lampl check in at No. 49.