By Sylvie Ashford on April 16, 2018

No. 4 Stanford men’s tennis (18-2, 5-1 Pac-12) swept No. 31 California (10-7, 2-3) 4-0 Friday at Taube Family Tennis Stadium, completing the Cardinal’s first regular season sweep of the Bears since 2012. Senior Tom Fawcett and freshman Axel Geller’s doubles win and singles victories helped Stanford maintain its undefeated 9-0 home record and increase its all-time record against the Bears to 94-23.

The No. 23 ranked pair of Fawcett and Geller opened the meet with a 6-2 doubles victory, setting the pace for the rest of the afternoon. Followed by doubles victories from the No. 88 ranked pair of juniors Michael Genender and Sameer Kumar, as well as graduate student Eric Fomba and senior David Wilczynski, the team swept the doubles bracket to earn the Cardinal’s first point.

In the singles category, Fawcett and Geller proved themselves just as indispensable. No. 8 Fawcett cleanly defeated No. 56 Billy griffith 6-3, 6-4, the same Golden Bear that had bested him in February, exemplifying the Cardinal’s improvement and momentum over the course of this season. Geller won 10 of his 11 games overall on the day, seizing the second and third set to secure another point for the Cardinal.

Fomba (10-2), also secured the Cardinal a point in the singles category, dominating his match in two crushing sets 6-1, 6-3.

Ranked fourth in the nation and second in the Pac-12 conference, having lost only to No. 4 UCLA and No. 1 Wake Forest since January, the Cardinal is well-poised to sweep its final two meets in the regular season and enter the postseason with national expectations.

Stanford will host unranked Pac-12 competitors No. 41 Oregon and Washington on April 20th and 21st respectively before heading to the conference championships on April 25-28 in Ojai, California.

To watch Stanford face Oregon on the 20th, come out to Taube Family Tennis Stadium at 2 p.m. On the 21st, the Washington match will begin at Taube at 3 p.m.

Contact Sylvie Ashford at sylviash ‘at’ stanford.edu.