CARY, N.C. – Freshman Alyssa Ahn delivered the clincher for the first time in her career and No. 9 seed Stanford beat No. 8 seed SMU 4-3 in the third round of the ACC Championship on Thursday afternoon.
With the victory, the Cardinal advances to Friday’s quarterfinals where it will face top-seeded Virginia at 12:30 p.m. PT/3:30 p.m. ET.
Stanford, which lost at SMU 4-1 just five days ago, displayed tremendous resolve after dropping the doubles point. Caroline Driscoll was a winner on court three 6-4, 6-1, but the Cardinal was down 3-1 and needed victories from Tianmei Wang, Emma Sun and Ahn to advance.
Wang was a 7-5, 6-3 victor on court four and has been brilliant since the calendar flipped to March. The freshman is 8-1 in her last nine matches.
Emma Sun’s win on court six provided an immense boost to her squad. She bageled Natalie Stasny in the first set and was up big in the second before holding on in a tiebreak 7-2. Coming into Thursday, Stanford had been 2-12 at the No. 6 spot all season and hadn’t won since February 14. Sun’s victory snapped her five-match losing streak and was the Cardinal’s first win at No. 6 against an ACC opponent all season.
Then it was Ahn’s turn to deliver on court two with a 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 win over No. 85 Sophie Llewellyn. The freshman moved to 6-3 in three setters, 11-1 against ACC opponents and 7-4 against nationally ranked opponents. She’s 21-6 overall this season, 11-3 in duals and has lost just once since February 1, going 9-1 in her last 10.
It’s the second consecutive April that Stanford has used a 4-3 thriller to advance to the ACC quarterfinals. Last season it was another freshman, Valerie Glozman, delivering the clincher in a 4-3 win over Miami.
The Cavaliers swept Stanford in the teams’ other meeting this season on April 5.
No. 33 Stanford 4 – No. 25 SMU 3
DOUBLES
1) Caroline Driscoll/Monika Ekstrand (STAN) led #22 Caroline McGinley/Amelie Van Impe (SMU) 4-3 unf.
2) Sophie Llewellyn/Natalie Stasny (SMU) d. Alyssa Ahn/Tianmei Wang (STAN) 6-1
3) Elena Mireles/Addison Comiskey (SMU) d. Sein Myoung/Morgan Shaffer (STAN) 6-1
Order of finish: 2, 3
SINGLES
1) #27 Amelie Van Impe (SMU) d. #25 Monika Ekstrand (STAN) 6-2, 6-3
2) #56 Alyssa Ahn (STAN) d. #85 Sophie Llewellyn (SMU) 6-2, 2-6, 6-3
3) Caroline Driscoll (STAN) d. Caroline McGinley (SMU) 6-4, 6-1
4) Tianmei Wang (STAN) d. Addison Comiskey (SMU) 7-5, 6-3
5) Elena Mireles (SMU) d. Sein Myoung (STAN) 6-2, 6-2
6) Emma Sun (STAN) d. Natalie Stasny (SMU) 6-0, 7-6 (2)
Order of finish: 3, 5, 1, 4, 6, 2