Using home-court advantage to the fullest, the No. 8 Stanford women’s tennis team breezed through the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament by posting consecutive shutout victories over Fairfield and No. 31 SMU at Taube Family Tennis Stadium.
The two wins mean Stanford must now hit the road to travel to Athens, Ga. for the round of 16. On top of that, the win keeps Stanford’s home winning streak intact until 2011, as it will not host another home match until then. Stanford has won 164 consecutive home matches – 32 in the NCAA Tournament – dating back to Feb. 27, 1999. The streak spans three separate decades and is recognized as the longest home winning streak of any Division-I sport.
“This being my fourth year, I’ve never felt this good about our matches and our team,” said senior Lindsay Burdette. “Not just excited about us hitting the ball, but us emotionally, physically, as a team. It’s not a guarantee statement, but I have all the confidence in the world going forward, and it feels great.”
Going into this tournament healthy has played a big part in how the team is facing up to the pressure of post-season play.
“In years past, the biggest difference has been that our bodies started to break down,” Lindsay Burdette said. “We had a few injuries at the end of the seasons that made it all a little tougher to do, but thus far, everyone seems to be healthy and happy.”
In the first round, Fairfield could muster no defense to Stanford’s blistering offense. The Cardinal captured the doubles point for the 21st time in 22 matches this season. The nation’s second-ranked duo of Stanford’s Hilary Barte and Lindsay Burdette won 8-0 to put the Cardinal on top in doubles. Stanford’s No. 3 doubles team of Veronica Li and Carolyn McVeigh followed up with an 8-2 victory to secure the doubles point.
In singles, Fairfield couldn’t win a single game before the match was over. Li finished first at the six spot with a 6-0, 6-0 victory over Fairfield’s Gretchen Amberg. Next, No. 4 national seed Barte defeated Dana Postupack 6-0, 6-0 in the No. 1 spot to put Stanford up 3-0. Finally, McVeigh finished off the sweep with an identical 6-0, 6-0 score against Alyssa Ruiz to put Stanford into the second round.
“They were definitely one of the better first round teams we’ve faced in a while, despite the score,” Lindsay Burdette said. “I remember the first round being almost frustrating because it’s so ugly, but [Fairfield] made us put the ball away. They weren’t really giving us anything.”
The second round provided another clean sweep, but with a little more fight courtesy of SMU. Capturing the doubles point for the 22nd time this season, Stanford started off right with an 8-2 victory by No. 58 Mallory Burdette and Stacey Tan. Then, the Cardinal’s top team of Barte and Lindsay Burdette closed it out with an 8-4 win.
In singles, Stanford received points from two of the same players as last time. Li finished first again with a quick 6-2, 6-1 victory over SMU’s Sophie Quist. Barte was next with a 6-0, 6-4 polishing of No. 28 Marta Lesniak. Finally, No. 33 Mallory Burdette defeated Katerina Vankova 6-4, 7-5 for a second sweep in as many days.
“We were expecting a tough match here, and they were good for sure,” Lindsay Burdette said. “It was great that we won the doubles point pretty soundly. In singles, each person had at least one tough set, but we did what our mantra told us this whole season, which was to stay calm and just do what you can.”
Up next is a Clemson team that struggled a bit in its portion of the bracket. After recording a 4-0 shutout of the College of Charleston in the first round, Clemson ran headfirst into a determined Georgia team. Georgia started the day off well by squeezing out the doubles point with a 9-7 victory at the No. 1 spot. Clemson finally put the pressure on in singles, as it came back from being down 2-1 to win three in a row and clinch its spot opposite the Cardinal. The match against the Tigers will take place on Thursday.