Stanford's defending NCAA champion Stanford's defending NCAA champion (January 25, 2002)women's tennis team in home debut

by Rick Eymer

With the NCAA Championships set for Stanford in May, it will be most fitting if the Cardinal women's tennis team captures the national title at home.

The journey to that eventual goal begins Saturday when nationally No. 1-ranked Stanford opens its 2002 season against No. 11 Fresno State at noon.

The Cardinal (1-0), who won their 12th national title under first-year coach Lele Forood last year, have won 78 of their past 79 matches dating to 1999 and are once again highly regarded despite the loss of two-time NCAA singles champion Laura Granville, who joined the pro circuit.

The Cardinal are back atop the national rankings because three players are ranked among top 11 in the nation, and Stanford has two doubles teams among the top six.

Senior Lauren Kalvaria, who lost to Granville in last year's NCAA singles championship match, is currently ranked No. 4, followed by freshman Erin Burdette at No. 10 and senior Gabriela Lastra at No. 11.

Kalvaria and Lastra are the top-rated doubles team, while Burdette and sophomore Lauren Barnikow are ranked sixth.
Football

New head coach Buddy Teevens continues to fill out his staff with the addition of three coaches, including David Kelly, Peter McCarty and Mike Sanford.

Kelly, the wide receivers coach at Georgia Tech the past two seasons, was named Associate head coach and will continue working with wide receivers at Stanford. He's also coached at Louisiana Tech and Georgia. He began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Furman University in 1979.

McCarty, also at Georgia Tech last year, will coach the defensive ends. He was an assistant coach along with Teevens at Illinois, and has also coached at Maryland, Syracuse, American International College and Holy Cross in addition to spending a year with the New England Patriots as an intern.

Sanford, who committed earlier in the week, will be the offensive coordinator and coach the quarterbacks. He has extensive experience in the Pac-10, having played and coached at USC. He's also been at Notre Dame, Purdue, Long Beach State, VMI and Army. Sanford spent the last three years coaching wide receivers for the San Diego Chargers.

While Chris Lewis enters the season as the starter, Teevens and Sanford can also look forward to working with Los Gatos High quarterback Trent Edwards, who gave a verbal commitment to Stanford.

Edwards is rated in the top five among high school quarterbacks by most recruiting services.

The Cardinal also received a commitment from defensive end Julian Jenkins of Georgia, considered among the best at his position in the nation.
Men's volleyball

Stanford opens a four-match homestand today with an MPSF contest against Cal State Northridge at 7 p.m.

The second-ranked Cardinal (2-1, 3-1) also host No. 6 Santa Barbara (2-0, 5-0) on Sunday at 1 p.m. Both matches are in Maples Pavilion.

Junior opposite hitter Curt Toppel has led Stanford in kills in all four matches to date. He has 81 on the season and is hitting at a .460 pace.
Softball

Coming off its best season ever, Stanford enters this year as the nation's No. 3 team.

When it comes to the Pac-10 though, it's still a tough proposition. Arizona and UCLA are the top two ranked teams, and Stanford is followed by Cal at No. 5, Arizona State at No. 8 and Washington at No. 9.

The Cardinal were 54-16-1 overall and reached the College World Series for the first time.

Stanford opens its season with a doubleheader against Santa Clara on Saturday, Feb. 2 at noon.
Women's gymnastics

Stanford looks to continue its success in the Pac-10 this weekend as the 14th-ranked Cardinal travel to Arizona State for a meet on Friday at 7:30 p.m.

Stanford (1-0 Pac-10, 1-1 overall) is led by sophomore Caroline Fluhrer, who has the team's high marks in floor, bars (shared with senior Becky Meldrum), vault and all-around.

Sophomores Lise Leveille, Kendall Beck and Lindsay Wing all share top honors on the beam.

First-year coach Kristen Smith spent the last five years as associate coach at Arizona State.

Stanford returns home next weekend with a meet against No. 6 Arizona on Saturday, Feb. 2 at 7:30 p.m.
Women's diving

McKenze Murphy finished third in the one-meter event on the final day of the Bruin Diving Invitational.

She finished with a score of 507.75.

On the platform, Kim Powers finished fourth with 417.70 points.