STANFORD, Calif. - Stanford continued its strong start to 2024, knocking off No. 4 Texas at Taube Family Tennis Center on Friday afternoon, 4-3. Now 9-1 on the season, the No. 3 Cardinal has four wins over top-12 opponents.
Down early after dropping the doubles points and the first singles match on court three, Stanford's significant singles depth paid dividends. After winning a first-set tiebreaker, Katherine Hui made quick work of Taisiya Pachkaleva at five in the second set to get the Cardinal on the board, 7-6 (3), 6-3. Connie Ma was close behind with a 7-5, 6-1 victory over No. 33 Tanya Sasnouskaya on court two.
On one, Angelica Blake cruised in the first set, lost the second 6-0, and rallied to win the third 6-4 over No. 22 Sabina Zeynalova and put the Cardinal one point away. Valencia Xu dropped a three-set battle on six, which set the stage for Alexis Blokhina on court four.
Blokhina had a 4-1 lead in the deciding third set, which was ultimately erased. Tied 5-5 in the third, the sophomore closed it out over No. 125 Charlotte Chavatipon, 7-5, to clinch her team-high fourth match of the season.
It's a quick turnaround for the Cardinal, which faces No. 57 UC Santa Barbara tomorrow at noon.
No. 4 Stanford 4 – No. 3 Texas 3
DOUBLES
1) #11 Sabina Zeynalova/Taisiya Pachkaleva (TEX) d. #46 Angelica Blake/Alexis Blokhina (STAN) 6-1
2) #41 Connie Ma/Alexandra Yepifanova (STAN) d. Malaika Rapolu/Tanya Sasnouskaya (TEX) 6-2
3) Vivian Ovrootsky/Charlotte Chavatipon (TEX) d. Katherine Hui/Valencia Xu (STAN) 6-2
Order of Finish: 1, 2, 3
SINGLES
1) #45 Angelica Blake (STAN) d. #22 Sabina Zeynalova (TEX) 6-3, 0-6, 6-4
2) #12 Connie Ma (STAN) d. #33 Tanya Sasnouskaya (TEX) 7-5, 6-1
3) #36 Malaika Rapolu (TEX) d. #21 Alexandra Yepifanova (STAN) 6-1, 6-2
4) #70 Alexis Blokhina (STAN) d. #125 Charlotte Chavatipon (TEX) 6-4, 6-7 (5), 7-5
5) Katherine Hui (STAN) d. Taisiya Pachkaleva (TEX) 7-6 (3), 6-3
6) #103 Vivian Ovrootsky (TEX) d. #82 Valencia Xu (STAN) 6-4, 4-6, 6-4
Order of Finish: 3, 5, 2, 1, 6, 4