As the Stanford women’s tennis team heads into its 30th straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament this weekend, the 2010 NCAA title isn’t the only thing it will be defending. The No. 2 Cardinal will look to extend its NCAA-record home winning streak to an eye-popping 180 consecutive matches when the first and second rounds of the NCAAs commence this weekend at the Taube Family Tennis Center.
The undefeated Cardinal (23-0, 8-0 Pac-10) has not participated in a regular-season match since its victory over No. 9 Cal on April 16. Other than an exhibition against the USTA Junior National Team and the Pac-10 individual tournament, the Cardinal has focused solely on what’s been dubbed by some as May Madness.
Senior Carolyn McVeigh, who will be starting in her fourth and final NCAA championship, talked about the type of preparation required to repeat as national champions.
“We’ve been trying to strike the right balance between practicing hard and staying fresh,” she said. “It’s almost two straight weeks of intense matches, so we’ve been saving up our energy while honing in on our individual games.”
McVeigh said that the girls have been battling each other to augment their practices.
“We’ve been playing a lot of practice sets to keep match mentality alive,” she said. “Live points always contribute to slight pressure situations, helping us stay focused.”
The top-seeded Cardinal steps out to face Illinois-Chicago (18-4, 8-0 Horizon League) on Saturday in the first round. The Flames, who just won their 15th straight conference championship, will be making their 13th straight NCAA Tournament appearance.
McVeigh admitted that she has little knowledge of Illinois-Chicago’s players, but that she will stick to her normal on-court warm-up routine.
“It’s all about adjusting. I tend to move my ball around and try to decipher [my opponent’s] strengths and weaknesses,” she said. “It’s hard because girls’ rally balls might be different from their live balls. Mostly, we try to focus on our own games.”
On match day, McVeigh said that she and her teammates are always focusing on maximizing performance.
“We are in constant preparation, but on match day we wake up at least four hours before we play, have breakfast together, get a light hit in, decompress, organize equipment, get hydrated,” she said. “It’s eating, sleeping, hitting, eating, hitting and even some tennis dreaming.”
The other teams that will be playing at Stanford’s site will be No. 27 Pepperdine (14-7, 6-0 WCC) and No. 36 Long Beach State (20-5, 10-1 Big West), who will meet before the Cardinal’s match on Saturday morning—the winners of the two Saturday matches will meet at noon on Sunday in the second round.
Match play will run as usual, with three doubles matches played for the first point followed by six simultaneous singles matches worth one point each. As the NCAA Tournament is a single-elimination format, it’s win or go home for the 64 competing teams. Sixteen are seeded, meaning there are 16 different locations for the first and second rounds with four teams playing at each.
Stanford’s home advantage could prove tremendous, as the Cardinal women have won 179 consecutive home matches as well as 42 straight matches overall.
The streak has certainly been on the minds of McVeigh and her teammates.
“It’s definitely inspiring,” she said. “We’ll have our family and friends in the stands, but we can’t take any team lightly. Some of the country’s best have their bull’s-eye on us and will try to take us down.”
Freshman Nicole Gibbs, who anchors the middle of the lineup, added to McVeigh’s sentiments.
“Playing in front of all of my classmates will give me that much more fire on court,” she said. “It’s a special experience to play NCAAs as a freshman and competing on our home courts.”
Gibbs was confident that the team’s supporters would respond and come out in force for the NCAAs.
“I have them rallied,” she said.
Long Beach State and Pepperdine will kick off the first round at 9 a.m. at Taube Family Tennis Center on Saturday morning. Stanford faces Illinois-Chicago at noon.