By Shan Reddy on January 29, 2019

The Stanford men’s and women’s tennis teams captured two season dual match wins each during ITA Kick-Off Weekend at Taube Tennis Stadium on Saturday and Sunday. Both teams will move on to the ITA National Team Indoor Championships in Chicago next month.

Ranked No. 10 going into the weekend, the men’s team kicked it off with a dual match against the University of Central Florida Knights on Saturday morning. In doubles, Geller/Rotsaert broke a 4-4 tie to take the win over Hilderbrand/Pavel (7-5), and Kumar/Sah won three straight games to close out their match against Decamps/Mazzuchi (6-3). Though Stanford left with a 4-1 win, they took their first individual match loss of the season as as freshman Jack Barber fell to UCF sophomore Mikhail Sokolovskiy early in the afternoon.

The men’s team returned to Taube on Sunday to take on the Oregon Ducks. Freshman Alexandre Rotsaert and sophomore Timothy Sah lost a combined five games in their single crushing takedowns of Emmanuel Coste and Charles Roberts, respectively. Senior captain Sameer Kumar snatched tiebreak victories in singles and in doubles, taking down Joshua Charlton (7-6[9]) before joining Sah to battle Charlton/Gentry (7-6[4]). The 4-0 team win earned the Cardinal a spot in the 16-team ITA National Team Indoor Championships.

The women’s team had an even more dominant weekend, blanking the Saint Mary’s Gaels on Saturday and the Washington State Cougars on Sunday. The Cardinal didn’t lose a single singles or doubles match in either, finishing 4-0 overall in each.

Senior Caroline Lampl was the first to finish on Saturday, defeating Hind Abdelouahid (6-2, 6-0). Senior Kimberly Yee joined her to take down Clement/Goyette (6-4) in doubles. Junior Emily Arbuthnott delivered her nineteenth career clincher with a victory over Chloe Goyette (6-2, 6-4) to push the match out of the Gaels’ reach.

Arbuthnott was first off the court Sunday, defeating Savanna Ly-Nguyen (6-1, 6-3). Senior Melissa Lord crushed Hikaru Sato (6-1, 6-2) before joining forces with freshman Nikula Maduraewe in a dominating doubles demolition of Bayerlova/Miksovska (6-0). Sophomore Janice Shin delivered the clinching win over Yang Lee (6-1, 6-4).

The Cardinal is returning its entire starting singles and doubles lineup from last season’s national championship team. With plenty of experience along with the addition of strong contributors in freshmen Nikula Madurawe and Sara Choy, the Cardinal look poised to hoist the NCAA title trophy for the 21st time in school history this April.

Contact Shan Reddy at rsreddy ‘at’ stanford.edu