May 15, 2008
Cardinal Overwhelms No. 13 Clemson 4-0
THURSDAY'S NOTEBOOK...
No. 2 vs. No. 3. California vs. Croatia. A 5-4 lefty vs. a 5-10 serving powerhouse. So much for what appeared to be the biggest matchup of the entire NCAA Championships. In a result as quick as it was convincing, freshman Hilary Barte breezed by Clemson sophomore Ani Mijacika 6-3, 6-1 in a battle of players ranked in the nation's top-3. Both players carried an overall record of 28-6 into Thursday's match, along with a laundry list of gaudy statistics.When it was all said and done, it was Barte inching closer to the 30-win plateau and improving to 19-0 at the No. 1 spot of the lineup since taking over back on Feb. 22. Not bad, considering it was just her second match back since retiring due to a strain pectoral muscle at the Pac-10 Championships three weeks ago. Mijacika was the highest-ranked player that Barte had beaten this year.
"I felt good but don't think I played my best today," Barte said matter-of-factly following the match. "I thought what I did really well was accept that I wasn't going to play my best but just found a way to get it done and keep fighting."
Added head coach Lele Forood: "She has been an inspiration to our team and I'm not surprised anymore with what she does. She had to get into a little bit of a rhythm and Mijacika is not easy to do that against because she serves big, plays a different kind of game and her pace is not constant. A key moment for Hilary was when she tried to finish the set and go up 5-3 in the first. She needed to start serving a little bigger and she did, pulling out two quick points to convert a service game."
Back in California, folks might have just been waking up or driving to work by the time Stanford had clinched its 21st doubles point of the year to go up 1-0. The local 9 a.m. start time figured to be a challenge, as the Cardinal had not played a match that started before 11 a.m. all season long.Aside from a sparse crowd, chilly weather and a brief rain delay during doubles play, everything worked out just fine.
"We just tried to go to bed really early," said Lindsay Burdette, who provided the match-clinching victory with a 7-5, 6-1 decision on court four. "We were up three hours before the match this morning (6 a.m. local time). So we got up early and went to breakfast. We are trying to keep the same routine as we do back at home. We start running around the court about an hour and a half before the actual match time."
"We've done a good job of preparing for the early start time," said Forood. "We have been up very early three days in a row now. Everyone has done an excellent job of being on time, we practice really early and had to do so to acclimate to the change. We were up today at 6, here at 7:15 and we were ready."
Stanford faces Baylor on Saturday in an 11 a.m. local time start.
Freshman Carolyn McVeigh is digging this whole postseason thing.McVeigh entered the postseason on a slide, having dropped four of her previous seven matches leading up to the NCAA Tournament.
However, she's the only Cardinal player to finish and win all three matches so far in the NCAA Tournament. McVeigh won again at the No. 6 spot today against Clemson 6-3, 6-4, and provided the clincher in Stanford's 4-0 first round win over Boston University.
"I feel like I'm playing well lately and my game is coming together," said McVeigh. "I have a lot more confidence, especially after winning the first two at home last weekend. I'm trying to get on and off the court as efficiently as possible. It is great being on the court and seeing people walk off who have just won their match."
Stanford now owns a 107-12 record in the postseason since the NCAA Tournament went to its present format in 1982. During that time, Stanford has won 15 of 26 possible NCAA team titles, including five of the last seven seasons.