April 14, 2004

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Palo Alto Online

Stanford facing big weekend

by Keith Peters

The Stanford men's tennis team is like a boxer who gets knocked to the canvas, then bounces up with a flurry of retaliatory punches.

The Cardinal was down last week, reeling from three straight losses. A weekend trip to Arizona, coupled with back-to-back victories, has the Cardinal back on their feet for a very important week.

Nationally No. 10 Stanford (4-1, 14-6), which played host to No. 20 Pepperdine on Tuesday, will close out its regular-season home schedule against No. 5 UCLA on Friday (1:30 p.m.) and No. 4 USC on Saturday (1 p.m.).

"We're not a great team, but we're competitive and we're going to be great near the end of the year," Stanford coach Dick Gould said last week. "These guys will rebound."

Sure enough, Stanford did. Then again, that's the history of this team.

In 1982, for example, Stanford suffered through a 15-10 season and finished 14th in the nation. The following season, the Cardinal came back with a 24-1 mark and won the NCAA title. In 1987, Stanford trudged through a 13-10 season, but rebounded with a 25-1 mark in '88 and again won the NCAA title.

Gould recalled those two seasons, noting that a number of players turned pro before the '82 and '87 seasons, leaving no time to fill available scholarships. While Stanford has six losses already heading into this week, Gould expects his team to qualify for the NCAA team tournament - unlike in '82 and '87.

"If we can win two of the next three matches, we can host some NCAA matches," Gould said. "Otherwise we hit the road."

Despite the six defeats, Gould likes where his team is now.

"This is about as many losses as any team I've had," Gould said. "But, this team is not very far away from being good."

Stanford struggled early in the season when KC Corkery, Sam Warburg and Carter Morris all suffererd from injury or illness. Then, sophomore James Pade fell off his bike the week of finals and injured his wrist.

Two weekends ago, everything caught up to Stanford and the Cardinal were whipped by UCLA (4-3) and USC (5-2) on the road. To make matters worse, Stanford then traveled to Cal and was upset by the Bears.

"We've had some really bad problems," Gould explained. "And then we kind of went to sleep against Cal."

But last weekend's sweep of Arizona and Arizona State has Stanford back on its feet and swinging away.

"It's just a real big week for us," Gould said. "If we're going to make a move, this is the week to do it."

With the NCAA tournament still a month away, there's plenty of time for everyone to get healthy.

"The next five weeks I see tons of improvement," Gould said.

The only possible stumbling block could be the weather this weekend. If either match is rained out, it will be replayed Sunday, likely beginning at noon. If both the UCLA and USC matches are rained out, they'll have to be made up before the Pac-10 Individual Championships are played in Ojai.

"These matches have to be played," Gould said.

Obviously, much is riding on their outcome. Being able to host the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament is important. Stanford did that last season and posted 4-0 wins over Tulane and Cal. Unfortunately for the Cardinal, their next match was against No. 1 Illinois, a 4-2 Stanford loss.

The Cardinal players are a year older and have some young talent to fill in. Warburg has been solid at No. 1 singles, with a 16-2 dual-match record, and freshman James Wan has played matches at No. 3-6 singles and produced a sparking 20-0 record.

While Corkery and Pade have struggled with their injuries, both sophomores have a very bright future - as does the entire team

"We have just about everyone back next season," said Gould, who only loses Morris and reserve Joe Kao.

Right now, however, the focus is on this week.

"I really like how this team is coming together," Gould said.

He'll like it even better with three more victories in the bank come Saturday night.

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