By Jack Seaton on February 22, 2015

No. 39 Stanford men’s tennis (5-2) pulled off its biggest win of the season on the road against a strong No. 14 Cal (7-3) team over the weekend. This upset reflected a strong weekend for Stanford’s athletic teams against Berkeley, and is a good omen for what is to come for this young Stanford team.

California managed to steal the doubles point as both the Morrissey/Stineman and Paige/Wilczynski pairings lost 6-3 and 7-5, respectively. Freshman Tom Fawcett and junior Maciek Romanowicz cruised 6-2 in the No. 2 doubles spot as consolation, but it was not enough for the Card to head into singles play with the advantage.

Junior Nolan Paige made quick work of Oskar Wikberg at the No. 6 spot with a smooth 6-2, 6-3 win, which built into three straight singles victories for Stanford. Senior John Morrissey and freshman Tom Fawcett, the No. 28 player in the country, finished quickly after Paige with Morrissey winning 6-4, 6-1 and Fawcett pulling away 6-2, 6-4.

Cal heaped on the pressure, though, to make sure it was not a comfortable evening for the Cardinal. Freshmen David Wilczynski and David Hsu lost their matches in three sets, which allowed Berkeley to even the score at 3-3. Wilczynski losing 2-6, 6-2, 6-1 and Hsu losing 6-2, 6-7 (6), 6-2 left all the attention on the last remaining match of the evening.

Junior Maciek Romanowicz finished on top in a three-set thriller at the No. 4 spot against Cal’s J.T. Nishimura. After losing the first set 5-7, Romanowicz rallied to win the next two sets 7-5 to claim the victory for Stanford on a memorable day in Berkeley.

Next up, Stanford comes home to face Hawaii on Tuesday in the hopes of making it five straight victories for the Cardinal. As the Cardinal’s momentum starts to build and they continue to integrate their highly-touted freshman class, they will look to move from strength to strength. A victory against their bitter enemies will do nothing to dim their confidence.

Contact Jack Seaton at jrseaton ‘at’ stanford.edu.