No. 4 Stanford Cardinal (21-3, 7-1 Pac-12)
vs.
Nex Mexico State (16-8, 4-1 WAC)
NCAA Championships First Round • Saturday, May 12 • 1 p.m. PT
Taube Family Tennis Stadium • Stanford, Calif.
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STANFORD, Calif. – Stanford (21-3, 7-1 Pac-12), the No. 4 overall seed, is set to face New Mexico State (16-8, 4-1 WAC) Saturday at 1 p.m. PT in the first round of the NCAA Men's Tennis Championships at Taube Family Tennis Stadium.
The Cardinal, making its 11th consecutive NCAA appearance, will host one of the 16 NCAA regionals for the second year in a row. Duke (16-13, 6-6 ACC) and Mississippi (14-12, 3-9 SEC) will meet in Saturday's other first-round match, scheduled for 10 a.m. PT. The winners of the Stanford-New Mexico State and Duke-Mississippi contests will face each other in the second round on Sunday at 2 p.m. PT on The Farm.
All seats for the NCAA regional at Stanford are general admission. Single-day tickets are priced at $8 (adult) and $5 (student/youth/senior). All three matches will be streamed live by Stanford at streamingtennis.com/Cardinal with Kevin Danna and Tim Swartz calling the action.
Sunday's regional winner will advance to the Round of 16 next Friday (May 18) in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The quarterfinals will be held May 20, followed by the semifinals May 21 and the NCAA Championship match May 22, with Wake Forest serving as the venue.
Under the direction of fourth-year head coach Paul Goldstein, Stanford recorded its best regular season in 17 years with a 20-2 mark to match the 2001 team. The Cardinal advanced to the semifinals of the Pac-12 Championship at the end of April in Ojai, California. Stanford will enter the NCAA's 21-3 overall, with all three of its defeats to teams ranked in the top-10 in the latest ITA poll (No. 1 Wake Forest, No. 2 UCLA and No. 10 USC). It's the 30th 20-win season in program history and first since 2012.
Stanford earns the No. 4 overall seed and will host @NMStateMTEN in the first round of the @NCAATennis Championships. @DukeMTEN and @OleMissMTennis also coming to The Farm for first/second round matches May 12-13. #GoStanford pic.twitter.com/2zqGN5K7fK
— Stanford Men's Tennis (@StanfordTennis) May 1, 2018
The Cardinal has boasted a top-five ranking in the ITA poll the past three months and enters the NCAA Championships No. 4 in the rankings. Three members of the Cardinal appear in the latest ITA poll, highlighted by senior Tom Fawcett's No. 9 ranking. Freshman Axel Geller is No. 83 and junior Sameer Kumar checks in at No. 102.
Stanford is making its 11th consecutive and 39th all-time appearance in the NCAA Championships. The Cardinal owns a 108-23 all-time record in the NCAA Championships. Stanford has won 17 NCAA titles, the second most all-time. Its most recent NCAA crown came in 2000.
Stanford's No. 4 seed in this year's NCAA Championships is its highest since earning the No. 1 overall seed in 2001. The 2018 NCAA Championships marks the Cardinal's third all-time appearance as the No. 4 overall seed, since the team tournament format began in 1977. Stanford advanced to the semifinals in 1979 and the quarterfinals in 1993 as the No. 4 seed. The Cardinal has earned a top-four seed in the NCAA's in 22 of its 39 appearances since the team tournament format was initiated in 1977.
Last season, Stanford advanced to the Round of 16, falling to Wake Forest in Athens, Georgia. The Cardinal has reached the Round of 16 each of the last two seasons.
Saturday's match against New Mexico State will be the first ever meeting between the Cardinal and Aggies. New Mexico State, the conference's No. 2 seed, knocked off top-seeded Missouri-Kansas City to win the Western Athletic Conference Championships and secure an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships. The Aggies are making their third NCAA appearance in four seasons and fifth in program history.