Once again, Stanford’s women’s tennis team is headed to NCAA Tournament Round of 16.
In its fourth NCAA Tournament appearance, Stony Brook was crushed by Stanford 4-0 on Friday afternoon in the opening round at Taube Family Tennis Stadium near
Palo Alto, California.
“We had plenty of chances,” coach Gary Glassman said in a press release. “This is the best we’ve competed at NCAAs so far. Liz [Elizabeth Tsvetkov] and Kristina [Vozniak] played great.”
The team received strong doubles play from the duo of senior Polina Movchan, who has now won four America East titles in four tries in her career, and freshman Yana Nikolaeva an accomplished doubles player, who battled before falling 8-5 at No. 2 doubles.
Movchan was named the 2015 Most Outstanding Player of the conference tournament two weekends ago.
Freshmen Elizabeth Tsvetkov, the eighth-ranked player in New York coming out of high school, and Kristina Vozniak were tied with Hardebeck/Wolak, 6-6, before their match ended.
The pair entered the week ranked No. 83 by the ITA.
The Seawolves did not have as much success in their singles endeavors, as neither player could take more than two games in a set from their opponent.
Movchan fell to the No. 2 ranked player in the country, Carol Zhao 6-2, 6-1, while Adey Osabuohien and Tsvetkov fell 6-0, 6-0 and 6-1, 6-1, respectively.
As for Stanford, for the 30th consecutive season, the team has advanced to the NCAA Round of 16. The match against Stony Brook was the team’s 34th consecutive NCAA appearance.
Stanford holds a 134-17 all-time record in the postseason since the NCAA Tournament went to its present format in 1982. Stony Brook visited the Taube Family Tennis Stadium for the first round in 2012, where they also fell 4-0.
However this season’s effort was significantly better than that try. The team suffered its only loss of the regular season on March 6 in a 5-2 setback against No. 36 Harvard. This season is recorded as one of Stony Brook’s best, with a 15-2 record.
The Cardinal will now head to Waco, Texas, which will be the site for the rest of the NCAA tennis championship. No. 19 Pepperdine (18-6, 8-1 WCC), which defeated Auburn 4-2, also fell to No 14 Stanford, 4-1, on Saturday, May 9, in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
The Cardinal advance to the Round of 16, which begins on Friday at Baylor University’s Hurd Tennis Center deep in the heart of Texas. Stanford plays Pac-12, and Bay Area rival, the California Golden Bears, seeded third, in the next round for a bid into the final eight.
