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For the second time in a 12-day span William Genesen won a three-set thriller to deliver No. 14 Stanford a 4-3 victory. This time, the junior clinched the dual for the third-seeded Cardinal over sixth-seeded Arizona in the quarterfinals of the Pac-12 Men’s Tennis Championship Thursday evening at Libbey Park.
Stanford advances to the semifinals of the conference tournament. The Cardinal will face second-seeded USC Friday at 4 p.m. in a dual carried live on Pac-12 Network and Pac-12 Bay Area.
For the third time in the last four matches the Cardinal played a marathon dual, surpassing the three-hour mark. Stanford (17-5) won all three by a 4-3 score, defeating California, Oregon and now Arizona.
Like he did against Cal less than two weeks ago, Genesen delivered the clutch clincher. After dropping the first set (2-6), the junior stormed back for a 6-4 victory to force a decisive third set.
He fell behind, 2-1, in that third set before seizing momentum. Genesen won the next three games, highlighted by an acrobatic play at the net in the fourth game to spark the run.
The Cardinal junior captured four of the next five games, en route to the 6-4 victory. He was mobbed by his teammates after delivering his second clincher in the last four dual matches.
Nearly three hours before Genesen’s heroics, Stanford captured the doubles point to move out to a 1-0 lead. The Cardinal and Wildcats traded points over the first two singles matches, with Alexandre Rotsaert continuing his strong play of late to capture the win at No. 2 and Sangeet Sridhar picking up the victory at No. 6.
Needing wins in the final two matches. Arizona tied it at 3-3 with a 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-4 win from Carlos Haasey over Timothy Sah at No. 5.
That put all eyes on court three, where Genesen slammed the door on the Wildcats’ comeback bid.
Women’s tennis
Fifth-ranked Stanford beat No. 34 Washington State 4-0 on Thursday afternoon at the Pac-12 Women’s Tennis Championships in Ojai, the first step to a possible fourth straight conference crown.
Winners of 15 in a row, Stanford (20-1) produced its 13th shutout while defeating Washington State (19-10) for the third time this season, having won the regular-season matchup in addition to a victory during ITA Kick-Off Weekend.
The Cardinal secured a hard-fought doubles point, with Emily Arbuthnott and Michaela Gordon rallying for a 7-6 (7) victory on court two as the difference.
Janice Shin (6-1, 6-2) and Caroline Lampl (7-5, 6-3) put Stanford on the brink of clinching before Emma Higuchi made it official with a 7-6 (5), 6-3 triumph at the No. 6 spot.
Stanford faces No. 15 USC on Friday in the semifinals at 12 p.m.
Lacrosse
Senior Genesis Lucero and sophomore Katherine Gjertsen led No. 19 Stanford women’s lacrosse as the third-seeded Cardinal knocked off sixth-seeded Oregon, 17-6, in the first round of the Pac-12 Tournament on Thursday night at Pape Field.
Stanford (13-4) won its fifth straight and advances to take on second-seeded Colorado, which had a bye into the semifinals, on Friday at 7:30 p.m. on Pac-12 Network.
Lucero’s 10 draw controls were the third-most in school history and she also added two goals and two assists. Meanwhile, Gjertsen matched a career-high with six points on four goals and two assists.
Oregon (3-15) scored first, but Stanford scored eight of the next nine and never looked back.
Lucero capped that run when she gave the Cardinal an 8-2 lead with 2:10 to go left in the first half.
Senior Monika Sivilli and Gjertsen scored in the final 90 seconds of the half to give Stanford a 10-3 advantage at the break.
Gjertsen finished off a natural hat trick with the first two goals of the second half for a 12-3 lead, and assisted on junior Jacie Lemos’ goal that started a running clock with 20:24 remaining.
Junior Hannah Dudley scored to make it 15-4 with 18:48 to go, and sophomore Emma Knaus finished the scoring with 51 seconds to play.
Beach volleyball
Stanford dropped its first dual of the Pac-12 Championship 3-0 to Arizona on Thursday.
The Cardinal dropped its first two games at the four and five positions, but rallied to push all remaining games to three sets.
Arizona clinched the match by winning the third flight, 21-17, 16-21, 15-7.
Stanford bounced back in its second match, blanking Oregon 3-0.
The clincher came from the No. 2 pairing of Morgan Hentz and Sunny Villapando, which produced a 21-16, 21-12 victory.
Stanford plays its next match at 1:30 p.m. on Friday, facing the loser of USC vs. Arizona State ina match to be played in the morning.
Track and fields
Stanford opened competition in the second National Relay Championships at the University of Arkansas’ John McDonnell Field on Thursday.
Action began with the hammer throws. Stanford freshman Jordan Fong was second for the women at 187-2 (57.05 meters).
For the Stanford men, freshman Max McKhann was fifth in 195-7 (59.62m) and Landon Ellingson was seventh in 168-7 (51.39m).
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