On Friday, No. 4 Stanford men’s tennis defeated New Mexico 4-0 at home to advance to the second round of the NCAA tournament. Below are the results via GoStanford.com.
DOUBLES 1. Noroozian/Samaha (UNM) led No. 70 Godsick/Rivera (STAN), 5-4 uf2. No. 47 Kang/Henry von der Schulenburg (STAN) d. Kakhniuk/Nicolas Recoura (UNM), 6-33. No. 48 Banerjee/Razeghi (STAN) d. Balsekar/Tallakson (UNM), 6-1Order of finish: 3, 2
SINGLES 1. No. 7 Samir Banerjee (STAN) led Aram Noroozian (UNM), 6-3, 3-3 uf2. Kyle Kang (STAN) d. Aditya Balsekar (UNM), 6-1, 6-03. No. 101 Max Basing (STAN) d. Dario Ciobotaru (UNM), 6-2, 6-34. Nico Godsick (STAN) led Georgio Samaha (UNM), 7-5, 1-1 uf5. Alex Razeghi (STAN) d. Daniil Kakhniuk (UNM), 6-2, 6-36. Avery Tallakson (UNM) led Hudson Rivera (STAN), 6-3, 4-3 ufOrder of finish: 2, 3, 5
Stanford took the doubles point as Kyle Kang/Henry von der Schulenberg won their set as did Alex Razeghi/Samir Banerjee. Banerjee, Kang, and Razeghi then won their singles matches to put the Lobos away. All the wins were in straight sets, making it a dominant day for the Cardinal.
“I would say that we are, you know, all year long the goal is to put ourselves in a position where we’re hosting NCAAs,” Stanford head coach Paul Goldstein said after the match. “We put ourselves in that position, so today was the day. And I was pleased with the way guys came out. I will say over the last week or so, I thought there was a little bit more anxiety, tension, just leading up to NCAAs, which I think is natural.
“So, it’s good to get out of the way today and I expect that we play even better tomorrow. And you know, we came off this super high of winning ACCs and at some level I wish we had played the next weekend because we just had so much momentum going. Instead we had time off, got to think about it a little bit, and so I thought there was a little bit more tension today, which is totally understandable, but it’s something we can be aware of and be better at tomorrow.”
Earlier in the day, Pepperdine defeated Alabama 4-3 in a long and intense battle. Stanford got off to a later start than expected, but they didn’t let that throw them off their game. They stayed locked in and found a way to take care of business with little trouble.
“I mean, we figured, we didn’t know it was going to be that long, but we figured it was going to be a really good match,” Razeghi said of Alabama-Pepperdine. “So we were kind of prepared for that a little bit. You know, we were watching the end, you know, in the beginning, but we did dynamic and we got ready way before time, so we were good to go right when that match finished.”
As has been the case all season long, Alex Razeghi did his thing in both the doubles and singles. He was consistent all day long and didn’t falter.
“It was a tough one,” Razeghi said of his singles match. “You know, I played a good player. You know, he was a really aggressive player, so kind of the opposite of how I play, so it was tough to kind of, you know, just gauge how to play in the beginning, because you know, he started off pretty hot. So it was good, you know, I adapted pretty well, he gave me a couple more errors towards the end of the match. So I feel like it went pretty well and I adapted well.
“The first set was good. You know, in the beginning he was kind of, you know, the aggressor more and then I started, you know, getting more depth on my shots towards the end of the second set and I got that 6-2 and then he came back with just more of that aggressive play with new balls in that second set. So, he broke me twice to start the second set and then towards the end, I got my rhythm and then I felt like physically he didn’t give up, but I was probably the better, physical player at the end.”
“He has been a rock for us all year,” Goldstein said of Razeghi. “He’s just been such a gamer all year and he kept it going today. Him and Samir dubs, like really set the tone for us. For those guys to get out 5-0 in doubles to kick it off was pretty awesome. So, really appreciate the way those guys set the tone.”
What really helped Razeghi push through was having friends and family in attendance. His sister, who also goes to Stanford, was there to cheer him on. Having that kind of support means a lot to him.
“Yes sir, no it’s great,” Razeghi said of having that support. “My dad came to a few matches. My mom comes to mostly every one, so it’s been great. You know, them coming to watch me play and then my sister goes here as well. So she comes to every match. So, it’s great seeing my whole family here. It’s kind of a full circle moment. So it’s great.”
Up next for Stanford is their second round match against Pepperdine. That will begin on Saturday, May 3rd at Noon.
“This is fun, this is great,” Goldstein said. “We’re home playing quality tennis, like what more do you want? They [Pepperdine] are going to compete. They’re gonna compete really well up and down the line up one through six. I don’t know that there’s any one guy on that team that you look at and say, you know, explodes. But every single one of them compete and so it’s going to be tough.”
“Pepperdine is a great team,” Razeghi added. “They have multiple top ten wins this season, I think, so it’s going to be tough. But we got to start strong. You know, maybe they might be a little tired from yesterday. So we gotta start strong and not give them a chance. So that’s the goal. They’re going to come firing.”
Note: Stanford women’s tennis won their opening NCAA tournament match on Friday as well, defeating FIU 4-1. They’ll face Texas Tech on the road on Saturday in the second round.
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