Stanford women’s tennis (14-1, 6-0 Pac-12) will look to continue this season’s strong performances and win its 11th straight match on Friday against the Oregon Ducks (11-7, 4-2 Pac-12). After their previous match versus Colorado, the women’s tennis team has now won 10 straight matches, remaining undefeated in the Pac-12.
This record marks the sixth time since 2010 the women have made such a streak, and highlights the consistent strength of the program. Yet despite their strong performance, the women are only ranked No. 10 nationally.
The team’s only loss has come at the hands of Florida, the current No. 1 ranked team, and three weeks ago, the Stanford team comfortably sat at the No. 4 spot. Since that time, the women have won five straight matches and fallen six spots on the ladder. Even more perplexing is the fact that No. 7 Vanderbilt and No. 9 Oklahoma are teams which Stanford defeated this year, yet are ranked higher.
However, what the Cardinal can do is to continue winning matches. The entire roster has played to their potential, with all six singles players ranking nationally. This includes No. 19 nationally ranked sophomore Melissa Lord, who has an overall season record of 21-2.
No. 55 ranked freshman Emma Higuchi is the player on the team with the most wins on the season, sitting at 24-3. And no player is more representative of the hot streak of the Cardinal than No. 103 ranked freshman Emily Arbuthnott, who hasn’t lost a match since January 13th, and is riding a 13 game winning streak.
The Cardinal have also had a great deal of success with their doubles teams. Lord and senior Caroline Doyle have joined up, producing a 9-5 record, and are the No. 32 ranked doubles pair in the country.
All of these matchups will be important against the Ducks on Friday, as the Cardinal look to continue their Pac-12 dominance. The match will begin at 1:30 p.m. in Eugene, Oregon.
Contact Bobby Pragada at bpragada ‘at’ stanford.edu.