On Saturday, No. 4 Stanford men’s tennis defeated Pepperdine 4-0 to win their second round match in the NCAA tournament, advancing to the Super Regional round. Below is a breakdown of the scores via GoStanford.com.
DOUBLES 1. No. 70 Godsick/Hudson Rivera (STAN) led No. 80 E. Winter/Hugh Winter (PEPP), 5-3 uf2. No. 47 Kang/Henry von der Schulenburg (STAN) d. Homberg/Halldin (PEPP), 6-33. No. 48 Banerjee/Razeghi (STAN) d. Poertner/Pisaric (PEPP), 6-3Order of finish: 3, 2
SINGLES1. 21 Edward Winter (PEPP) led No. 7 Samir Banerjee (STAN), 4-6, 6-2, 2-1 uf2. No. 86 Maxi Homberg (PEPP) led Kyle Kang (STAN), 6-3, 4-6, 2-1 uf3. No. 101 Max Basing (STAN) led Lasse Poertner (PEPP), 6-2, 5-6 uf4. No. 73 Henry von der Schulenburg (STAN) d. Linus Carlsson Halldin (PEPP), 6-0, 6-35. Nico Godsick (STAN) d. Aleksa Pasaric (PEPP), 7-5, 6-46. Alex Razeghi (STAN) d. David Fix (PEPP), 2-6, 6-0, 6-1Order of finish: 4, 6, 5
Stanford did a good job of setting the tone early by taking the doubles point as Kyle Kang/Henry von der Schulenburg and Samir Banerjee/Alex Razeghi won their doubles sets convincingly.
In the singles, Henry von der Schulenburg won his match with ease 6-0, 6-3 to get the second point. And then after that, both Alex Razeghi (2-6, 6-0, 6-1) and Nico Godsick (7-5, 6-4) did a nice job of battling hard to shut the door on the Waves. It was Godsick’s victory that clinched it.
“Well, I’m really pleased,” Stanford head coach Paul Goldstein said after the match. “I was really, I thought yesterday in dubs, we didn’t, with the exception of Samir and Alex, we didn’t start the match great and across the board today, doubles set a tone. We were up a break on all three courts to start, which is fantastic. I told the guys, I’ve been coaching for 11 years and twice, I yelled at my team in 11 years. One time was just sort of poor behavior while we were traveling. And the other time was after we lost the doubles point to Pepperdine last year.
“So I’ve been waiting 16 months to play a doubles point against Pepperdine. So these guys came out and took it to them, didn’t play passive, played strike-first tennis, so I was pleased with that. Probably some of the best dubs we’ve played all year. But we play a really good doubles team on Friday: South Carolina. They got some guys who can play some dubs, so it’ll be tough.
“And then, you know, Henry just doesn’t get noticed because he wins. He’s so solid he gets off the court before everybody and it’s not dramatic because he’s not the one clinching but had to give him the game ball today because for him to sort of win the dubs point, he gets out 6-0 and it gets us out in front. It gets us out in front.
“I was really pleased across the board how everyone. Nico hung in there, got himself the first set after going down. Raz loses the first set and what’s going on? And all of a sudden, he reels off 11 straight games. He’s just been the gamer all year for us and he couldn’t’ have demonstrated any better today. I was pleased with the way that Kyle battled. I thought he put himself in a position to win a lot of games and didn’t finish in games and so that’s something we’ll focus on this week, but he really carried us yesterday. So, I just feel good about the team top to bottom because you know, if it’s Kyle yesterday, it’s Henry today, it’s Nico today. It’s just, it’s been a good group effort.”
The match I was able to watch was Godsick vs. Pasaric. Godsick got down 4-1 in the first set and found a way to battle back to win 7-5. He then was locked in a tight one in the second set, pulling that out 6-4 to avoid a third set and clinch the team victory in the process.
VIDEO: Nico Godsick clinches 2nd round NCAA tournament win for Stanford vs. Pepperdine
“Yeah, I had played him a few times in the past, hadn’t beaten him before, so I went out there with a different game plan, didn’t execute early on,” Godsick said of his victory. “He was playing well, but I started to find my forehand and I really dictated points. The crowd, unbelievable once again. They really got me through it and yeah, it’s a team effort. There’s a lot of momentum swings in our favor and everyone was able to keep me in it, keep me fighting, and then second set I played well and no, it’s definitely a team effort.
“He [Pasaric] served really well, so it’s tough to get in return games early. And then he was just a grinder. You know, our two game styles they contrast quite a bit. And so it was pretty much who is going to execute better. He liked to retrieve, make me move, make me play an extra ball, and I’m trying to take it to him, come to the net finish points quick. And so yeah, I mean, it was not an easy matchup, but I think I definitely stepped up my level midway through the first set and then just kept rolling.”
For Stanford, this is obviously a huge win. They advance to the Super Regional round against No. 13 South Carolina (Round of 16) and get a chance to play one more match in their beautiful facility. They’re hoping to get a large crowd out and have an electric atmosphere. That will be on Friday, May 9th at Noon for those that want to attend.
“It’s all about recovery from now until, well day off tomorrow, but everyone’s got to be focused on active recovery with their bodies, and getting ourselves ready. Zach here is going to be promoting the heck out of this match on Friday and we’re going to fill this pavilion, Arrillaga Tennis Center, Taube Pavilion, we’re going to fill it next Friday at 12:00…Well make sure everyone is here Friday, 12:00. We can get some extra seating, and we want this place pumping next Friday, 12:00.
“And so beginning part of the week, we’ll push a little bit off court and a little bit on conditioning, endurance, and then we’ll taper towards the end of the week and start playing more points at the end of the week. Monday, Tuesday, we’ll work on individual skill sets, and then end of Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, there’ll be some points to get ourselves ready for Friday.
“But South Carolina, they’re going to be coming. They’re coming. They’ll be ready…We watched a little bit [of film] today because they played before we did and then we’ll get in touch with folks this week who’ve played South Carolina and get some reports. We played them a couple years ago and some of those guys are still on the team. So we got relied on some of that. So, we’ll get some of those things, but, you know, honestly like our guys need to do what they do best, impose their strengths in their opponents, no matter who it is, and that gives us the best chance to be successful…Biggest home match in 11 years, so come on out.”
To touch quickly on Stanford women’s tennis, they too won their second round match to advance to the Super Regional round. They defeated No. 12 Texas Tech on the road 4-1. Below are the scores courtesy of GoStanford.com. They’ll face Oklahoma State in Stillwater on Saturday, May 10th at 11:00 AM PT.
#25 Stanford 4, #12 Texas Tech 1DOUBLES 1) #27 Valerie Glozman/Connie Ma (STAN) d. #8 Mariia Hlahola/Avelina Sayfetdinova (TTU) 6-42) Caroline Driscoll/Valencia Xu (STAN) tied with Kate Smitrichenko/Hailey Murphy (TTU) 5-5 unf.3) Chidimma Okpara/Morgan Shaffer (STAN) d. Andreea Lila/Jermine Sherif (TTU) 6-3Order of finish: 3, 1
SINGLES 1) #12 Connie Ma (STAN) d. Avelina Sayfetdinova (TTU) 6-1, 6-12) #8 Valerie Glozman (STAN) d. Kate Dmitrichenko (TTU) 7-6 (2), 6-13) #88 Caroline Driscoll (STAN) d. Mariia Hlahola (TTU) 6-2, 6-04) Andreea Lila (TTU) led Valencia Xu (STAN) 6-4, 4-3 unf.5) Alexandra Yepifanova (STAN) led Hailey Murphy (TTU) 6-4, 5-5 unf.6) Jermien Sherif (TTU) d. Chidimma Okpara (STAN) 6-2, 6-2Order of finish: 3, 1, 6, 2
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