No. 3 Stanford (15-1, 2-0 Pac-12) at No. 4 UCLA (17-2, 2-0 Pac-12) | Friday • 3 p.m.
Live Statistics • UCLABruins.com
No. 3 Stanford (15-1, 2-0 Pac-12) at No. 14 USC (11-5, 2-0 Pac-12) | Saturday • 1 p.m.
Live Stream • USCTrojans.com
STANFORD, Calif. – Matching its best start in 16 seasons, No. 3 Stanford men's tennis ventures to Los Angeles for two big matches this Friday and Saturday. The Cardinal will face No. 4 UCLA on Friday at 3 p.m. PT at the Los Angeles Tennis Center and No. 14 USC on Saturday at 1 p.m. PT at Marks Stadium.
Stanford is 15-1 on the season, matching the start of the 2002 team that won 21 matches and reached the second round of the NCAA Championships. This year's Cardinal team already owns seven victories over top-25 teams, including four wins over top-10 opponents. Stanford's lone defeat so far this season was a 4-3 decision to top-ranked Wake Forest in the semifinals of the ITA National Indoor Championships in Seattle.
Head coach Paul Goldstein recaps No. 3 Stanford's win over Pacific and discusses the showdown with No. 4 UCLA and No. 14 USC in LA. pic.twitter.com/xn0BICtiC8
— Stanford Men's Tennis (@StanfordTennis) March 29, 2018
The Cardinal boasts three top-75 singles players in the latest Oracle/ITA rankings in No. 10 Tom Fawcett, No. 50 Axel Geller and No. 71 Sameer Kumar. Fawcett ranks 28th on Stanford's career dual match victories list with a 50-22 record. He owns a 17-4 overall record this season, with an 8-3 dual mark playing all 11 of his dual matches the No. 1 spot. Freshman Axel Geller is 12-2 in dual play, primarily serving at the No. 2 spot. Kumar owns eight dual wins, primarily playing at the No. 3 spot.
Stanford's No. 2 doubles team of Fawcett and Geller is ranked No. 25 in the latest poll. The duo is 11-3 in dual competition. Kumar and Michael Genender, ranked No. 75, are 6-3 at the No. 1 spot for the Cardinal this season.
Stanford has already faced UCLA and USC in nonconferences matches this season, defeating both teams in the Dick Gould Stanford/SoCal Challenge in February at Taube Family Tennis Stadium. The Cardinal defeated then-No. 5 USC, 6-1, and posted a 4-3 victory over then-No. 6 UCLA.
Kumar with the clincher to beat No. 6 UCLA! #GoStanford
A post shared by StanfordMensTennis (@stanfordmenstennis) on Feb 4, 2018 at 3:04pm PST
UCLA comes into the week No. 4 in the latest Oracle/ITA rankings. The Bruins are 17-2 overall with a 2-0 mark in the Pac-12. Besides the loss to Stanford, UCLA's lone other defeat was to No. 1 Wake Forest in the championship match of the ITA National Indoor tournament. The Bruins own wins over Oregon (4-1) and Washington (4-1) in conference play. Martin Redlicki is the nation's top-ranked singles player. Keegan Smith is No. 45 and Logan Staggs is No. 66 in the ITA's top-100 rankings. The Bruins doubles team of Smith and Austin Rapp is ranked No. 33.
USC, ranked 14th in the latest poll, enters the weekend 11-5 overall with a 2-0 mark in Pac-12 that includes conference road wins against Washington (4-0) and Oregon (4-3). The Trojans last played on March 18, dropping a 4-1 decision at No. 1 Wake Forest. USC will face No. 30 California on Friday prior to Saturday's match against the Cardinal. Brandon Holt (No. 9) and Daniel Cukierman (No. 67) enter the week with top-100 rankings in singles. The team of Holt and Riley Smith is No. 16 nationally in doubles, while the team of Jack Jaede and Laurens Verboven is ranked No. 23.
This weekend marks Stanford's final regular-season road matches. The Cardinal will host its final four matches of the regular season, beginning Saturday, April 7 against Utah at Taube Family Tennis Stadium.