May 17, 2000
TOP-RANKED STANFORD TRAVELS TO NCAA TEAM, INDIVIDUAL CHAMPIONSHIPS: The Stanford University men's tennis team shoots for its 17th NCAA team championship and 12th in the last 15 years beginning on Saturday afternoon at the University of Georgia ... The top-ranked Cardinal, which is 24-1 on the season, advanced to the third round of the team championships by posting a pair of 4-0 wins last weekend on The Farm ... Stanford defeated Northwestern on Saturday and Auburn on Sunday at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium to improve its NCAA dual match record since 1977 (when the NCAA adopted the current format) to 73-7 (.913) ... The Cardinal, which is the top seed in the 64-team tournament, will face 18th-ranked and 16th-seeded Minnesota (24-6) in the third round on Saturday at 11:00 a.m. (Pacific Time) ... If Stanford wins, it will meet the winner of the match between seventh-ranked Baylor (23-5) and 11th-seeded Texas Christian (21-4) on Sunday ... The team semifinals are on Monday, and the championship match will be held Tuesday ... The NCAA Individual Singles and Doubles Championships will then be held from May 24-28 at Georgia.
NCAA NOTES: Since the NCAA went to its present championship format in 1977, Stanford has been nothing short of dominant ... In those 22 years alone, the Cardinal has won 14 national titles, including six in the 1990's ('90, '92, '95, '96, '97, '98) ... Over the last six years alone, Stanford has won 20 of its last 21 NCAA dual matches, and 13 of those 20 victories came by 4-0 scores ... Going back even further, Stanford has finished in the top five nationally in 26 of the last 30 years dating back to 1971 ... The Cardinal's 16 all-time team NCAA championships is also tops among Division I schools, just ahead of the 15 recorded by Pac-10 rivals UCLA and USC ... Since 1973, Stanford has won four straight national titles once (1995-98), three straight national titles once (1988-90) and back-to-back crowns on three different occasions (1973-74, '77-78, '80-'81) ... In the individual competition, Stanford has turned out 13 NCAA Doubles champions, including the last two in a row (Bob Bryan & Mike Bryan, 1998, K.J. Hippensteel & Ryan Wolters, 1999), and 12 NCAA Singles champions ... The 12 singles titles ranks second only to Harvard's 16, while the 13 doubles crowns is third to USC's 20 and Harvard's 17.
THE FIELD: Stanford has met four of the other 15 teams competing in Athens (Illinois, Tennessee, UCLA, USC), and has a combined 6-1 record against those schools ... The Cardinal went 2-1 against the Bruins, 2-0 against the Trojans and 1-0 vs. the Fighting Illini and Volunteers ... In fact, en route to the National Team Indoor title in February, Stanford defeated Illinois, Tennessee and UCLA by 4-3 scores ... The Cardinal has not met any of the three teams in its bracket this season (Baylor, Minnesota, TCU), but has met two of those teams in the NCAA Tournament in the last two years ... Stanford blanked Minnesota 4-0 in the opening round of the 1998 Tournament en route to the team title, and did not lose a point in the tournament that season ... Baylor became just the fifth school to defeat Stanford in the NCAA Tournament since 1977 (joining Georgia, Texas, UCLA and USC) when it pulled off a stunning 4-2 upset in the round of 16 last season in Athens.
CARDINAL AIMS FOR SINGLES, DOUBLES TITLES: Stanford has three entrants in the NCAA Individual Singles Championships and one entrant and one alternate in the doubles competition ... The Cardinal's three entrants in the singles competition have all been ranked in the ITA's top five at some point this season ... Senior Geoff Abrams is back at his season-best ranking of #4, while Alex Kim, who has been as high as #2, is at #7, and K.J. Hippensteel, who entered the winter #1, is currently #11 ... The trio also has four singles titles between them this season ... Hippensteel captured the ITA All-American in October, Kim won the ITA Regional in November and National Collegiate Tennis Classic in January and Abrams brought home the Pacific-10 Conference Individual Singles Title in April ... On the doubles side, top-ranked Abrams and Kim are entered in the main draw and 34th-ranked Hippensteel and David Martin are alternates ... Abrams and Kim, who have been ranked No. 1 in the country since December, won tournament titles at the ITA All-American and the National Collegiate Tennis Classic ... Hippensteel and Martin, meanwhile, won the doubles crown at the ITA Regional.
THE RANKINGS: Stanford is enjoying its second run at No. 1 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Team Rankings this season, and has been atop the poll for a total of nine weeks in 2000 ... The Cardinal was ranked No. 1 from Mar. 1-15 after its first place finish at the National Team Indoor Championships, but fell out of the top spot during its three-week break for final exams ... The Cardinal returned to No. 1 on Apr. 12, following a 4-3 home upset over then-No. 1 UCLA on Apr. 7, and have remained at the top over the past six weeks.
PAC-10 REVIEW: Stanford senior Geoff Abrams and junior Alex Kim were named Pacific-10 Conference Men's Tennis Co-Players of the Year on Tuesday, May 9 ... The honor came just a week after Abrams defeated Kim 7-5, 6-7, 7-4 to win the Pac-10 Individual Singles Championship in Ojai ... Abrams (43-6 overall, 21-2 dual), who is currently the fifth-ranked singles player in the nation, comes to Athens with a 22-match winning streak dating all the way back to Feb. 25 ... Abrams and Kim have been the nation's top-ranked doubles team since December, and have won 34 of their 40 matches this season and 19 of 22 in dual competition ... Abrams and Kim have teamed to win doubles titles at the ITA All-American Championships in Austin, Texas and the National Collegiate Tennis Classic in Thousand Oaks, California ... Kim, meanwhile, is ranked #7 in the nation, and enters the NCAA Tournament 40-7 overall and 20-4 in duals ... Kim and Abrams were also named First Team All-Pac-10, and sophomore K.J. Hippensteel was named to the Second Team ... Stanford also clinched its third straight Pac-10 team title and 17th in school history with a 5-2 win at Arizona on Apr. 15 ... The Cardinal finished Pac-10 play a perfect 7-0 to win the conference title by one game over UCLA and two games over USC.