Riviera ITA All-American Championships
Pacific Palisades, Calif.
Oct. 3 (qualifying), Oct. 5 (main draw)
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Stanford opens its fall season Tuesday with an appearance at the Riviera ITA All-American Championships in Pacific Palisades, California.
Qualifying begins on Oct. 3, with sophomore Emily Arbuthnott, sophomore Emma Higuchi and junior Caroline Lampl featured in the singles draw.
Ranked No. 44 in the country, Higuchi is coming off an impressive rookie season in which she won a team-best 33 matches while grinding out 22 straight victories, representing Stanford's longest in-season winning streak since 2012. Ranked No. 51 in the nation, Lampl posted a 25-7 overall record and was 18-5 in duals, playing most of her matches at the No. 4 spot. Meanwhile, Arbuthnott enters the season ranked No. 69 and was Stanford's most clutch performer last year, clinching a team-best 10 matches.
Main draw competition gets underway on Oct. 5, with junior Melissa Lord earning a spot among the 24 selections. Ranked No. 7 in the nation, Lord accelerated her development in 2016 by becoming the 60th All-American in school history. Lord finished 29-6 overall and 19-4 in duals, anchored the No. 2 spot for most of the season and captured her first career singles title in January.
The Cardinal will be represented in the doubles qualifying draw with the pairing of Arbuthnott and freshman Janice Shin.
Later in the week, Stanford will send a split squad contingent to the Saint Mary's Fall Invitational, which runs Oct. 6-8 in Moraga, Calif.
Stanford produced a successful 2016-17 campaign, highlighted by both team and individual accomplishments. The most decorated program in women's college tennis with 19 national championships (18 NCAA, 1 AIAW), Stanford produced a runner-up finish, falling 4-1 to Florida and coming up one step short in its bid to repeat as NCAA champions. The Gators were responsible for two of the Cardinal's three losses. The Cardinal, which improved to 147-19 all-time in the NCAA Tournament, reached the national final despite being seeded No. 7, strung together a pair of 11-match winning streaks and maintained a spot among the nation's top-15 for the majority of the season.