LOS ANGELES - Riding the longest winning streak of her career, Caroline Lampl has racked up 15 straight wins. Perhaps none more important than Saturday.
Despite trailing 5-4 and 6-5 in third set, then later knotted up 3-3 in the final tiebreaker, Lampl outlasted Rianna Valdes 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4) at the No. 3 spot to rally No. 7 Stanford past No. 16 USC 4-3 to maintain control of the conference lead.
Playing with a shuffled lower lineup after team win leader Emily Arbuthnott was unavailable, Stanford (14-1, 5-0 Pac-12) fought off a late USC charge and completed a sweep of its SoCal road swing after outlasting No. 11 UCLA 4-3 on Friday.
Three-time defending Pac-12 champion Stanford has also now won 32 straight regular-season conference matches dating back to March 5, 2016, when it lost 4-3 at Arizona State.
The difference on Saturday was Lampl, Stanford's hottest player who has not lost a match since Jan. 18. Clinching her third match of the season, Lampl improved to 18-17 over her career in three-setters and now stands two victories shy of 100 during her time on The Farm.
After capturing the doubles point, Melissa Lord delivered a 6-2, 6-2 win at the No. 2 spot to extend Stanford's lead to 2-0.
USC (13-3, 3-1 Pac-12) collected its first point with a victory on court six before Michaela Gordon's 6-3, 6-4 triumph at the top spot of the lineup put the Cardinal on the verge of clinching.
The Trojans continued to capitalize at the bottom of the lineup, evening the match at 3-3.
That left everything riding on Lampl, who erased a pair of late deficits while displaying the exact type of clutch performance she has produced throughout her career.
Stanford returns to Taube Family Tennis Stadium next weekend, hosting Washington State and Washington in its final home matches of the regular season. The Cardinal has won 57 of its last 60 home matches.
No. 7 Stanford 4, No. 16 USC 3
DOUBLES
1) No. 20 Kulikov/Valdes (USC) led No. 12 Lampl/Kimberly Yee (STAN) 5-3, unfinished
2) No. 18 Arbuthnott/Gordon (STAN) d. Becca Weissmann/Danielle Willson (USC) 6-1
3) No. 41 Lord/Niluka Madurawe (STAN) d. Branstine/Ewing (USC) 6-2
Order of Finish: 2, 3
SINGLES
1) No. 28 Michaela Gordon (STAN) d. No. 49 Salma Ewing (USC) 6-3, 6-4
2) No. 47 Melissa Lord (STAN) d. No. 75 Angela Kulikov (USC) 6-2, 6-2
3) No. 58 Caroline Lampl (STAN) d. Rianna Valdes (USC) 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4)
4) Anna Neffa (USC) d. No. 57 Janice Shin (STAN) 6-3, 6-4
5) No. 124 Danielle Wilson (USC) d. No. 81 Emma Higuchi (STAN) 6-3, 6-4
6) Constance Branstine (USC) d. No. 83 Sara Choy (STAN) 6-4, 6-3
Order of Finish: 2, 6, 1, 5, 4, 3