Slideshow Sameer Kumar gets congratulated by Jack Barber and Nikita Demir after clinching Stanford's 4-1 victory over Michigan. Photo by Harjanto Sumali. Previous Next

Sameer Kumar recorded his first career clinching point and the No. 16 Stanford men's tennis team downed visiting No. 17 Michigan 4-1 in the second round of the NCAA championships Saturday to send the Cardinal to its second consecutive appearance in the round of 16.

Stanford (18-8) travels to Athens, Ga. and meets top-seeded Wake Forest (28-2) at 4 p.m. Thursday.

The Cardinal prevailed in doubles but only after a fight to the finish with Michigan winning at No. 2 before Brandon Sutter and David Wilczynski answered 6-4 at No. 3. The point came down to a tiebreak at No. 1 that Tom Fawcett and Yale Goldberg battled through to give Stanford the 1-0 lead.

"Today was exciting collegiate tennis," said Stanford coach Paul Goldstein. "TNT might think they know drama, but collegiate tennis is where the real drama is, which today's match showed. Credit to Michigan, they brought excitement throughout the match, but the team today showed poise. They continued to pick each other up - Yale alone saved two match points in a doubles point that could have gone either way and they never batted an eye in a match that involved a lot of nerves and tension."

Sutter and Fawcett stepped up for the Cardinal on singles, with both grabbing straight-set wins at Nos. 5 and 1 to put Stanford on the cusp 3-0. The Wolverines (23-7) never quit, winning two first sets in the tiebreak and forcing Kumar to three sets at No. 2.