STANFORD, Calif. - No. 4 Stanford returns to Taube Family Tennis Stadium for a three-match homestand, beginning with a pair of conference matches this weekend.
Coming off a road sweep of the Southern California schools, Stanford (9-1, 2-0 Pac-12) welcomes No. 45 Arizona State (7-3, 2-0 Pac-12) to The Farm on Friday for a 1:30 p.m. contest that will be televised on Pac-12 Networks. Arizona (9-4, 1-1 Pac-12) visits Saturday at noon.
The Cardinal has won five in a row and its overall resume continues to receive a considerable bump in the ITA's computerized national rankings. Stanford jumped 10 spots from last week and has climbed 21 spots overall since checking in at No. 25 just three weeks ago.
Stanford's only loss came at the hands of unbeaten Florida, which has occupied the top spot in the poll all season.
Early deficits have done little to slow Stanford, which has won nine of its last 11 matches when losing the doubles point. That was the case last Friday at UCLA, when the Cardinal fell behind 1-0 but capitalized on its lower-lineup singles depth to pull out a 4-3 win over the Bruins.
Emma Higuchi (20-3 overall, 9-0 overall) leads the team in victories and is riding a nine-match win streak. Melissa Lord (16-2 overall, 7-1 duals) is Stanford's highest-ranked player at No. 13 while Emily Arbuthnott (13-2 overall, 7-0 duals) leads the team with four clinchers and has won 10 in row since her last loss two months ago.
Two doubles teams have reached seven overall victories: Caroline Doyle/Lord and Arbuthnott/Taylor Davidson.
Head coach Lele Forood, who has guided Stanford to eight NCAA titles, is three victories away from 400 in her career.