It could hardly have been a better weekend for the Stanford women’s tennis team (4-0), as they return to Palo Alto with wins over No. 19 Notre Dame and No. 31 Ohio State (3-1) in South Bend, Indiana. The Cardinal secured a 6-1 victory over Notre Dame in a match that was much closer than the score indicated, before comfortably handling Ohio State 4-1.
Host Notre Dame seemed to be playing with an upset in mind on Friday afternoon. The Cardinal fell into an early hole, losing at No. 3 doubles, and needed to win the next two doubles matches to secure the always-crucial doubles point. The team did just that, with a 6-4 triumph by sophomores Taylor Davidson and Carol Zhao at No. 1 doubles, followed by a clutch 7-6 (4) victory at No. 2 doubles by sophomore Caroline Doyle and senior Ellen Tsay over the Fighting Irish’s Allison Miller and Julie Vrabel.
Notre Dame quickly evened the match at 1-1 after a strong 6-2, 7-5 victory by Mary Closs over junior Krista Hardebeck at No. 4 singles. However, the Cardinal’s deep singles lineup proved too much for the Irish to handle. Tsay and junior Lindsey Kostas comfortably put away their opponents in straight sets at the 5 and 6 spots, with Kostas notching her first duals match win since 2013. Meanwhile, Stanford’s “Big Three” of Carol Zhao, Taylor Davidson, and Caroline Doyle all battled to 3-set wins to take down Notre Dame 6-1. The trio, all of whom are ranked top-15 nationally, remain undefeated on the season.
Stanford rested up before returning to Eck Pavilion Saturday morning to face No. 31 Ohio State at 7:30 a.m. Pacific time. The team earned the doubles point behind strong performances at the No. 2 and 3 doubles despite losing on Court 1.
The Cardinal then marched through singles play, earning dominating straight-set victories by Davidson and Doyle at the No. 2 and 3 spots to go up 3-0 in the match. Ohio State managed a point at the No. 5 singles spot, as the Buckeyes’ Miho Kowase defeated Tsay 6-4, 6-0.
However, Carol Zhao, currently the No. 4 singles player in the nation, clinched the victory for the Cardinal with a 6-4, 7-5 win over No. 86 Anna Sanford. Zhao, who broke into the top-300 in the world this offseason, has only lost twice in her dual match career at Stanford and continues to be a formidable force at the top of the lineup for the Cardinal.
The Cardinal won’t have too much time to enjoy their success as they round out their non-conference schedule. After taking on Harvard and No. 11 Vanderbilt on the weekend, the team will head east again to face No. 4 Duke and archrival No. 2 Florida, all in the span of the week. Things don’t get easier from there, as the Cardinal will enter conference play in a loaded PAC-12 that features two national title contenders in No. 5 Cal and No. 1 UCLA.
Having breezed through their initial competition, look for the Cardinal to be pushed to their limits in the coming weeks. Despite their daunting schedule, the team has been playing with confidence and is brimming with talent.
The Cardinal take on Harvard on Saturday at 12 p.m. and Vanderbilt on Sunday at 10 a.m. this weekend at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium.
Contact Neel Ramachandran at neelr ‘at’ stanford.edu.