The depth of the No. 12 Stanford women’s tennis team (14-1, 3-0 Pac-10) was put on full display this past weekend as the Cardinal’s bottom three all won to push the team past No. 7 UCLA (16-3, 3-1) and maintain a tie with No. 18 USC (11-7, 3-1) before rain stopped the match.
Scheduling was difficult as Stanford was meant to face USC first on Friday before play was suspended due to rain. No player won more than one game before play was halted until Sunday. The last time these two teams faced off in Los Angeles, rain also forced the players to cancel the match.
“It was really frustrating, especially Friday,” said freshman Mallory Burdette. “Once you get on the court you kind of loosen up, but when you’re waiting on the rain, you never get a chance to loosen up.”
The Cardinal was also forced to contend with the only team to defeat it this season, UCLA. They performed in convincing fashion to win, with the players at the bottom of the lineup taking the day. In a reversal of last match, Stanford swept the doubles, including a close victory at the No. 2 spot when freshmen Mallory Burdette and Stacey Tan defeated their opponents, 9-7. Stanford’s No. 2 nationally ranked doubles team, comprised of junior Hilary Barte and senior Lindsay Burdette, also defeated No. 4 Yasmin Schnack and Andrea Remynse, 8-4. This was the first time UCLA lost all three doubles matches this season.
“UCLA was a lot of fun,” Mallory Burdette said. “Stacey and I had a tough doubles match to begin with, but we handled it really well. We played super well.”
Singles proved to be more difficult for the players at the top. Lindsay Burdette continued her recent struggles as she dropped her fourth match in five games to No. 43 Noelle Hickey 6-3, 6-3. Tan and Barte both went the full length, but with different results. Tan reeled off five straight games to take her match to a third set before falling 6-2, 4-6, 1-0 (10-7). Barte was broken at the end of the second set before toughing out a close third set to win 6-3, 5-7, 1-0 (10-8) and continue her 18-match winning streak.
Spots four through six are where Stanford really came through. Mallory Burdette blew through her opponent to finish first, posting a 6-1, 6-3 victory for her team-leading 25th victory of the year. Sophomore Veronica Li had an equally convincing victory 6-4, 6-1 at the six spot to put Stanford one win away from defeating the Bruins. Minutes after Lindsay Burdette lost to give UCLA its first point, junior Carolyn McVeigh clinched the match at the five spot, winning 6-4, 6-3.
“In retrospect, it went excellent,” McVeigh said. “I think we accomplished everything we wanted aside from finishing the USC match. Beating UCLA was a huge step for us since we lost to them earlier in the year. It’s awesome to turn the tables on them on our own home court and keep the streak going.”
With the home-court winning streak protected for one more match, Stanford now eagerly anticipated its matchup with USC again. Unfortunately, the rain came back. The teams agreed to play singles first so that the match stood a chance of being decided early. Stanford’s depth showed up again as Li and Mallory Burdette raced to 6-1, 6-1 and 6-1, 6-3 decisions, respectively, to put Stanford up, 2-0. The higher seeds fell next. Lindsay Burdette dropped her third in a row to No. 26 Alison Ramos 6-3, 6-3 and Tan fell in three sets to No. 30 Danielle Lao 4-6, 6-1, 6-4.
The match came down to two three-setters. Barte and McVeigh were again thrust into the limelight as both finished with incredibly tight scores. McVeigh finished first, winning 2-6, 6-1, 7-5 to put Stanford within one win of clinching the day. It came down to Barte as play went to a tiebreaker in the third set. Barte was barely edged to lose 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (8-6) in the eagerly anticipated matchup of the No. 2 and No. 8 players in the country in USC’s Maria Sanchez and Barte, respectively. Rain forced the ends of McVeigh’s and Barte’s match to be played indoors one at a time. With the match tied at 3-3, doubles will be played at the Pac-10 Championships later this month, but only if it is needed to decide the conference champion.
“I didn’t have a great start,” McVeigh said. “I lost the first set 6-2, but in the second set, I refocused. At that point, I could tell that it was pretty close. My match would either tie it or get us the win, but I knew it was crucial. I fought hard and played pretty well, handled the pressure a bit better than she did.”
“I feel like we’ve all come to realize how important [spots] four, five and six are,” Mallory Burdette said. “We’re a damn good team and we’ve come to terms with the fact that every spot is important. On any given day, we have a good shot at winning matches.”