On a day of recognition for standout seniors Tom Fawcett and David Wilczynski, the No. 4 Stanford men’s tennis team punctuated its best regular-season in 17 years and its first undefeated regular-season at home in 12 years with a 4-0 victory over Washington Saturday at Taube Family Tennis Stadium.
Stanford completed the regular season 20-2 overall for its best regular season since 2001, when the Cardinal finished 21-1. At 11-0, Stanford posted its first undefeated regular season at home since 2006. The Cardinal finished second in the Pac-12 standings and will enter next week’s conference tournament as the No. 2 seed.
Saturday’s match began with a Senior Day ceremony as both Fawcett and Wilczynski were honored for their tremendous accomplishments in their Stanford careers.
“Tom and David are two young men who I am very fond of how they carry themselves on and off the court,” said Stanford coach Paul Goldstein. “They are very kind, thoughtful, caring people, who I envision having lifelong friendships with. Their freshman year was my first year. To see where we are as a program now compared to where we were as a program when we both started here; I think so much of that credit goes to Tom and David. I want to thank them for their service not only to the Stanford tennis program, but also to the Stanford community.”
The Cardinal fed off the emotion of its Senior Day ceremony as Fawcett and teammate Axel Geller cruised to a 6-0 win at No. 2 doubles Moments later, Sameer Kumar and Michael Genender clinched the doubles point for the Cardinal for the second day in a row with a 7-5 win at No. 1.
Genender put Stanford up, 2-0, with a 6-2, 6-2 win at No. 6 for his fifth dual victory in seven decisions.
A day after surrendering just two games in a victory over Oregon, Wilczynski continued to look sharp on Saturday with a 6-3, 6-2 win against Washington’s Alexis Alvarez at No. 5. The senior has won his last five decisions, surrendering more than two games in a set just once during that span.
Serving from the same spot he did the day before, Eric Fomba recorded the same result as he did the day prior. The graduate student clinched it for the Cardinal with a 6-3, 6-4 win at No. 4. He extended his winning streak to six matches with his fifth clinching point of the season.
Fawcett, playing his 15th match against a ranked opponent this season, rebounded from an opening-set loss with a 5-4 advantage in the second set, when his match was abandoned.
Both Geller and Kumar had won a set and were leading the decisive third set in their matches when they were abandoned.
Saturday marked Stanford’s 10th victory of the season without surrendering a point to its opponent.
Stanford will compete as the No. 2 seed in the Pac-12 Championships this coming week in Ojai, California. The full bracket along with match schedules will be announced on Monday.
Beach volleyball
No. 12 Stanford closed out the regular season with a 3-2 loss to rival No. 13 Cal on Saturday in the Big Spike.
“I’m happy about our team’s response to being down 0-2, with Cat and Kate getting us back in the hunt for the dual with a hard fought win at the three,” said Stanford coach Andrew Fuller.
The Cardinal moves to 16-11 on the season with today’s result. The team’s 16 wins are the most in program history, surpassing the 2017 mark in which Stanford won 13 matches.
Stanford faced Cal for the second time in less than a week when the teams locked horns on Saturday.
The Golden Bears took the first two points of the duals behind wins at the four and five flights. Stanford retaliated at the three, where Catherine Raquel and Kate Formico forced a third set after dropping their first set, 21-19. The duo earned Stanford’s first dual point with a 15-9 third set win.
Cal went on to clinch the match at the No. 1 flight, taking the match over Morgan Hentz and Amelia Smith in straight sets.
Stanford’s No. 2 pairing of Courtney Bowen and Sunny Villapando continued its form, winning its match for Stanford’s second point. The pairing turned in another straight-sets performance, winning 21-18, 21-11. The duo’s match win marked its sixth straight as a pair.
“This will make us hungry in training this week in preparation for Pac-12s, and the whole team is looking forward to hosting a great event,” Fuller added.
Women’s crew
The Cardinal returned home Saturday morning for a dual with Western Washington, in which Stanford won all three races.
Stanford’s top-ranked varsity eight boat impressed, defeating the Vikings’ boat by over eight seconds. The Cardinal crew registered a time of 6:32.9 on the Redwood Shores course, outpacing Western Washington’s time of 6:41.9.
The Cardinal and Vikings next faced off in the A4+ boat, in which Stanford recorded a 9.4-second victory. Stanford clocked a 7:34.4, and the Vikings registered a time of 7:43.8
The B4+ race also went to the Cardinal. Stanford won by a wide margin, recording a 7:31.6, while Western Washington finished with a time of 8:06.1.
Stanford returns to action next weekend when it travels to Gold River to compete in the Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association (WIRA) Championships at Lake Natoma next Saturday.
Softball
A strong defensive effort was not enough for Stanford to overcome No. 4 Oregon in a 4-1 loss at Jane Sanders Stadium on Saturday.
Sophomore Alyssa Horeczko made several great defensive plays in left, junior Lauren Frost made an inning-ending diving catch in center in the fourth, and the Cardinal defense combined with sophomore starter Nikki Bauer to keep the game close throughout.
Stanford (22-22, 2-12 Pac-12) scored in the opening frame on back-to-back singles and an error. Sophomore Hannah Howell rocketed one up the middle for the first hit of the game, and then scored on a wild play.
Whitney Burks hit one just a few feet in front of home plate and three Ducks emerged on it, but nobody covered first. Unaware of that, Oregon catcher Gwen Svekis threw to first and the ball went to the right field wall. Howell scored easily.
Oregon (37-7, 11-3) didn’t trail long, a solo shot in the first tied the game, and an RBI single in the third gave the hosts a 2-1 edge. The Ducks added one in the fourth and one in the fifth.
Stanford got the first two runners on in the third and senior Arden Pettit led off with a single in the fourth, but double plays ended both threats. Pettit and Lauren Wegner singled to bring the tying run to the plate in the seventh, but a line drive to short ended the game.
Bauer allowed just two earned runs in six innings. Pettit was 2-for-3 with two singles, while Howell was 1-for-3 with a run. Howell has a hit in five straight games and seven of the last eight. She has 11 hits in that eight-game span.
Stanford and Oregon conclude the series on Sunday at noon.
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