May 12, 2008

Stanford tennis Pepperdine in NCAA tourney

All-Americans Gardner and Zupancic named Most Valuable Wrestlers

FROM DAILY NEWS DISPATCHES

Stanford's season came to a close Sunday afternoon in Malibu as 13th-ranked Pepperdine came back in singles to win 4-2 over the 22nd-ranked Cardinal in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Stanford took a 1-0 lead by winning the doubles point but dropped three straight singles matches after the break.

Just like on Saturday, the Cardinal captured the doubles point thanks to the No. 1 and No. 3 duos. Freshman Greg Hirshman and sophomore Richard Wire struck first, dispatching Pepperdine's James Lemke and Mahmoud Kamel 8-5 in the third position. Following that win, juniors Blake Muller and Matt Bruch upset the No. 24-ranked pair of Andre Begemann and Omar Altmann 8-4 in the top spot. Stanford's freshman combo of Alex Clayton and Ted Kelly remained knotted 6-6 with the Waves' Bassam Beidas and Rikus de Villiers and did not finish their match at the No. 2 doubles.

In singles action, Pepperdine tallied the first point as Begemann, ranked No. 11, handled seventh-ranked Clayton 6-0, 6-3. The Waves then won two more matches to take a 3-1 lead as senior Phil Kao fell to Kamel 7-5, 6-0 and No. 80 Bruch lost to Beidas 6-0, 6-4.

With the threat of elimination looming, Stanford found itself needing to win three straight matches to avoid ending the season. Muller made a dent in the deficit first as he trounced Lemke, 6-4, 6-0 at No. 4 singles. Hirshman then rose to the occasion and bested de Villiers 6-3 in the second set after falling 7-6 (4) in the first set, forcing a third stanza. Pepperdine's Altmann then tied up his match with Wire, also forcing the extra set. De Villiers proved to be the spoiler, though, as he was too much for Hirshman in the third set, defeating him 6-2 and capturing the winning point for the Waves.
Stanford finished 13-9 overall, 5-2 in the Pac-10 (third place).

Clayton will participate in the NCAA Singles Championships that begin Wednesday, May 21 in Tulsa, Okla.



Women's golf

Stanford ended its season with a difficult day at the NCAA West Regional in Lincoln, Calif. The Cardinal shot 11-over 299 Saturday to finish in a tie for eighth place. The top eight teams advanced to the NCAA Championships, an opportunity the Cardinal lost in a three-team playoff with UC-Davis and Ohio State.

In the one-hole playoff, Stanford was 1 over par, however, UC-Davis was 1 under. The Cardinal will miss the NCAAs for the first time since 1988.

Angela King led the Cardinal with a 1-under 71 on the day. It was the only round under par for Stanford the entire weekend. King finished with a three-day total of 1-over 217, tied for 11th. It was the third top-25 finish for King this season.

Freshman Rebecca Durham also played well on Saturday, shooting a 3-over 75. Her three-day total of 5-over 221 was good for a tie for 25th place. It was also Durham's third top-25 finish of the season.

Catherina Wang closed her tournament with a final round of 5-over 77. She finished her season with a tournament of 9-over 225 that left her in a tie for 48th place.

Stanford's returning All-American, Mari Chun, struggled throughout the weekend, closing with a 4-over 76. She finished with a three-day total of 13-over 229 in a tie for 71st place.

The final Stanford golfer was Piper Miller, who completed the tournament with a score of 32-over 248. She fired a round of 13-over 85 Saturday to finish the tournament in 106th place.


Wrestling

Tanner Gardner and Joosh Zupancic were named Most Valuable Wrestlers at the Cardinal's annual awards banquet Saturday night. Both were All-Americans, giving Stanford a pair of All-Americans in the same season for second year in a row and only the third time in program history.

Gardner and Zupancic also earned the Outstanding Scholar-Athlete Award given to the wrestler who best combines academic and athletic excellence.

The Coaches Award, given to the individual who made the most significant contributions to the well-being of the team in terms of attitude, improvement or special leadership, went to senior Phillip Doerner and junior Kyle Pubols.

True freshman Kyle Barrett and redshirt freshman Lucas Espericueta were named Most Outstanding Newcomers.

Jake Johnson was deemed Most Improved.

The Tod Surmon Award was given to the following wrestlers for the most outstanding performance in a home dual meet: Gardner, Johnson and Zack Giesen for Cal State Bakersfield on Jan. 24; Johnson for Portland State on Jan. 25, Porfirio Madrigal for Menlo College on Jan. 25 and Gardner, Zupancic and Luke Feist for Cal State Fullerton on Feb. 10.



Softball

Stanford, which was ranked as high as No. 2 in the country this season before finishing fourth in the Pac-10, received the No. 12 seed in the NCAA Tournament on Sunday. The Cardinal (46-12) will face unseeded Lehigh (38-15-1) on Friday in the second half of a doubleheader at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.