May 23, 2000
STANFORD, Calif. - The top-ranked and top-seeded Stanford men's tennis team (27-1) plays for the 17th NCAA team title in program history and fifth in the last six years when it takes on 19th-ranked and No. 17-32 seed Virginia Commonwealth (27-4) on Tuesday at 1:00 p.m. (Pacific Time) at the University of Georgia ... The Cardinal is in the midst of one of the most impressive postseason runs in school history ... Stanford has dropped just one point in its five NCAA Tournament victories, which is second only to the record-setting 1998 squad that did not lose a point in four postseason wins and dropped just three points all season en route to a 28-0 record ... Two other Cardinal teams - 1996 and 1997 - lost just two points in four NCAA matches en route to team titles.
TEAM DOMINANCE: Stanford has been nothing short of dominant since the NCAA Championships went to its present dual format in 1977 ... Since that time, Stanford has won 14 of a possible 23 national titles, qualified for the tournament on 22 occasions (including this season) and racked up an impressive 76-7 (.916) record in NCAA dual competition, including 23 wins in its last 24 tries dating back to 1995 ... Stanford has won at least on match in all 22 of its postseason appearances during that span, and has never lost two in a row ... The Cardinal's longest dry spell between NCAA titles since 1977 has been just three years (1983 to '86 & 1992 to '95), and has won two or more titles in a row on four different occasions ... Stanford won four straight from 1995-98, three straight from 1988-90 and two in a row in both 1977-78 and 1980-81.
MORE NCAA NOTES: The Cardinal's 16 all-time team NCAA championships (1973, '74, '77, '78, '80, '81, '83, '86, '88, '89, '90, '92, '95, '96, '97, '98), all coming under 34th year head coach Dick Gould, is tops among all Division I schools ... Stanford enters today's championship match just one title ahead of the 15 recorded by Pac-10 rivals UCLA and USC ... In NCAA 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.
ANOTHER NEW FACE: Today's match against Virginia Commonwealth marks the fifth time in the 2000 NCAA Tournament that Stanford is meeting a team in the postseason for the first time in school history ... The Cardinal, which had played 78 postseason duals entering the 2000 tournament, had never met Northwestern, Auburn, Florida, Texas Christian or Virginia Commonwealth in the NCAA Tournament prior to this season ... The only one of the six teams Stanford had faced is Minnesota, which fell to the Cardinal 4-0 in the opening round of the 1998 tournament ... In addition, Stanford had met these opponents a combined total of just nine times entering this season (Northwestern 2-0, Auburn 0-0, Minnesota 2-0, Texas Christian 2-1, Florida 0-1, Virginia Commonwealth 1-0) ... In the only previous meeting between the Cardinal and the Rams, Stanford recorded a 5-2 win in the first round of the USTA/ITA National Team Indoor Championships on February 24, 1994 in Louisville, Kentucky.
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 currently a team-high #5 (season-best was #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 (44-6 overall, 22-2 dual), who is currently the fifth-ranked singles player in the nation, enters the day with a 23-match winning streak dating back to Feb. 25 ... Abrams and Kim have been the nation's top-ranked doubles team since December, and have won 36 of their 42 matches this season and 21 of 24 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 Tuesday's final 41-7 overall and 21-4 in duals ... Kim and Abrams were also named First Team All-Pac-10, and sophomore K.J. Hippensteel was named to the Second Team ... In addition, Abrams was named the ITA/Farnsworth District 8 Senior Player of the Year and Kim was named the District 8 ITA Player to Watch.