STANFORD, Calif. - No. 7 Stanford completed a perfect Pac-12 season on Friday afternoon, downing rival and 27th-ranked California 6-1 at Taube Family Tennis Center. With its 15th win in a row, the Cardinal improves to 18-2 overall and 10-0 in conference play, its first perfect conference record since 2019.
The doubles match lived up to the hype in front of the largest crowd of the season, featuring back and forth drama on all three courts. Sara Choy and Alexandra Yepifanova were the first to win, jumping ahead early and holding on for a 6-4 win on court two. Both courts one and three were in danger for the Cardinal, but Stanford came up in big moments to jump ahead in both. Connie Ma and Valencia Xu clinched the opening point, winning a tiebreaker on three to finish just ahead of Angelica Blake and Alexis Blokhina who led 6-5 on one. Ma and Valencia improved to 11-2 on the year as a duo.
Singles featured more of the same in level of competition, with three first sets being pushed to a seven-game winner. Cal would win its first and only point of the day as No. 16 Ma fell to Haley Giavara on court two, but Stanford would quickly reclaim its overall lead with a 7-5, 6-1 victory from Choy on court six. After saving three set points in the first set en route to a tiebreak win, No. 24 Yepifanova cruised in the second to defeat No. 48 Jessica Alsola on court one, putting Stanford one win away.
No. 43 Blake ran away with the first set on court three, but faced a stiffer test to close out the match, coming from behind to defeat Katja Wiersholm 7-5 in the second, clinching the win for the Card.
All eyes went to the back courts of No. 4 and No. 5, where No. 82 Blokhina rallied from a set down to win 3-6, 6-4, 6-0, followed by a 7-5, 7-6(2) win from Xu to solidify the 6-1 decision for Stanford. The win over the Golden Bears breaks a two-game streak for Cal in the series, as the Cardinal has not fallen to its rival at home since the 2015 season.
Stanford opens postseason play next Thursday, April 27 as the No. 1 seed in the Pac-12 Tournament, facing the winner of the eight and nine seed match from Wednesday.#7 Stanford 6, #27 California 1
DOUBLES
1. #20 Angelica Blake/Alexis Blokhina (STAN) vs. #9 Jessica Alsola/Katja Wiersholm (CAL) 6-5 (DNF)
2. Sara Choy/Alexandra Yepifanova (STAN) d. Haley Giavara/Valentina Ivanov (CAL) 6-4
3. Connie Ma/Valencia Xu (STAN) d. Erin Richardson/Hannah Viller Moeller (CAL) 7-6(3)
Order of Finish: 2, 3
SINGLES
1. #24 Alexandra Yepifanova (STAN) d. #48 Jessica Alsola (CAL) 7-6(3), 6-2
2. Haley Giavara (CAL) d. #16 Connie Ma (STAN) 6-4, 6-1
3. #43 Angelica Blake (STAN) d. Katja Wiersholm (CAL) 6-1, 7-5
4. #82 Alexis Blokhina (STAN) d. Valentina Ivanov (CAL) 3-6, 6-4, 6-0
5. Valencia Xu (STAN) vs. Hannah Viller Moeller (CAL) 7-5, 7-6(2)
6. Sara Choy (STAN) d. Berta Folch (CAL) 7-5, 6-1
Order of Finish: 2, 6, 1, 3, 4, 5