MALIBU, Calif. – No. 30 Stanford opened its NCAA Tournament with a 4-2, first-round victory over No. 38 BYU in Malibu, California on Friday.
The win was the program’s 172nd NCAA Tournament win all-time, as the Cardinal now owns a 172-24 postseason mark. Stanford advances to tomorrow’s second round, where it will face the winner of No. 11 Pepperdine and No. 50 UC Santa Barbara at 2 p.m. PT on Saturday.
The Cardinal dropped doubles for the fifth consecutive dual but responded emphatically in singles with straight-set victories at the first four spots, including the first three from its No. 1 freshman class.
Tianmei Wang played at No. 3 for the third time this season, and first since Feb. 9, and was a 6-2, 6-1 winner over Sue Yan Tan. Alyssa Ahn, who was coming off just her second loss since Feb. 1, responded with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Kendall Kovick on court two. On the top court, Monika Ekstrand picked up her ninth ranked victory of the year over No. 111 Gracie Levelston 7-5, 6-2.
Senior captain Caroline Driscoll delivered the clincher on court four, using momentum from a first-set tiebreak to beat Yu-Yun Chen 7-6 (5), 6-3. Driscoll has now won four straight, her longest streak of the season, and is 3-2 in her career in NCAA team competition.
No. 30 Stanford 4 - No. 38 BYU 2
DOUBLES
1) Caroline Driscoll/Monika Ekstrand (STAN) d. Kendall Kovick/Gracie Levelston (BYU) 6-2
2) Sage Bergeson/Yuyun Chen (BYU) d. Alyssa Ahn/Tianmei Wang (STAN) 6-4
3) Bella Lewis/Sue Yan Tan (BYU) d. Sein Myoung/Morgan Shaffer (STAN) 6-2
Order of Finish: 3, 1, 2
SINGLES
1) #32 Monika Ekstrand (STAN) d. #111 Gracie Levelston (BYU) 7-5, 6-2
2) #56 Alyssa Ahn (STAN) d. Kendall Kovick (BYU) 6-2, 6-3
3) Tianmei Wang (STAN) d. Sue Yan Tan (BYU) 6-2, 6-1
4) Caroline Driscoll (STAN) d. Yuyun Chen (BYU) 7-6 (5), 6-3
5) Sein Myoung (STAN) vs. Sage Bergeson (BYU) 6-7 (5), 6-1 unf.
6) Bella Lewis (BYU) d. Emma Sun (STAN) 7-5, 6-2
Order of Finish: 3, 2, 1, 6, 4