BRIEF: Women’s tennis advances to NCAA quarterfinals

May 21, 2010, 12:41 a.m.

In the NCAA Tournament’s round of 16 last night in Athens, Ga., the Stanford women’s tennis team punched its ticket to the quarterfinals with a sweep of No. 9 Clemson (24-6, 9-2 ACC). The Cardinal (23-1, 8-0 Pac-10) won the doubles point and sealed the 4-0 win with three straight-sets victories in the singles lineup.

The three doubles matches went first and saw Stanford junior Hilary Barte and senior Lindsay Burdette locked in a close battle with Clemson’s top doubles team of Josipa Bek and Ina Hadziselimovic. Barte and Burdette are ranked as the No. 2 doubles team in the country.

However, their match ended locked in an 8-8 draw, as Stanford’s other two doubles teams both delivered victories to notch the doubles point. Both matches were also closely contested, with freshmen Mallory Burdette and Stacey Tan pulling out a 9-7 win and junior Carolyn McVeigh and sophomore Veronica Li getting an 8-6 win in the third match.

While the doubles draw delivered some close matches, the Cardinal dominated the singles matches. Once again, the lower tiers of Stanford’s lineup proved key. Playing in the second spot, Lindsay Burdette swept her opponent 6-1, 6-3, while Mallory Burdette won 6-1, 6-4 at third singles. McVeigh rounded out the victory with a 6-1, 6-2 win from the fifth singles position.

Stanford’s next opponent is a familiar one—Baylor. The Lady Bears have bounced the Cardinal from the postseason the last two seasons.

Baylor (30-2, 11-0 Big 12) also enters the match as the top-seeded team in the tournament and the No. 1 team in the country. The Lady Bears, like the Cardinal, have swept all three of their opponents so far.

Stanford and Baylor will play on Saturday at 2 p.m. PST.

Kabir Sawhney is currently a desk editor for the News section. He served as the Managing Editor of Sports last volume.

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