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Monika Ekstrand clinched the win for the Cardinal. Credit: Maddie Hinkley\/ISI Photos <\/p>\nMonika Ekstrand clinched the win for the Cardinal. Credit: Maddie Hinkley\/ISI Photos <\/p>\n
On Monday, No. 11 Stanford women\u2019s tennis defeated Sacramento State at a home by a final score of 4-3. Stanford took the doubles point before taking three singles matches to clinch victory. Stanford improves to 3-3 on the season while Sacramento State falls to 3-3.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, I think we\u2019ve been trying to work on some things, try to get some things more scripted in our attack of the doubles and having more plays,\u201d Stanford head coach Frankie Brennan said of the doubles. \u201cSo, in doubles, it looks like it\u2019s free flowing, but actually, because it\u2019s so short and quick, there\u2019s a lot of scripted things as to when you poach, where you hit targets, things like that. So I thought we did a really good job of that today.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, Alyssa Ahn, who has a pulled ab and could not play in the singles for us, had to serve underhand and played great and helped us win that doubles match and then she just couldn\u2019t go in singles. Which obviously made it more of an uphill battle. This ends up being a 4-3 because of that. So, it\u2019s, we\u2019re working hard at the doubles. Still a long way to go.\u201d<\/p>\n
BOX SCORE: Sacramento State at Stanford-Monday, February 9th<\/a><\/p>\n Stanford took the doubles point to go up 1-0 as Caroline Driscoll\/Monika Ekstrand (6-4), Alyssa Ahn\/Tianmei Wang (6-2), and Sein Myoung\/Morgan Shaffer (6-2) each won their set for the Cardinal.<\/p>\n In the singles, things looked good early for Stanford as Caroline Driscoll defeated Irene Riva 6-0, 6-1, giving the Cardinal a 2-0 lead. However, Palina Saulevich got on the board for the Hornets by defeating Morgan Shaffer 6-2, 6-2. That made it a 2-1 lead for Stanford. Then, Sein Myoung struck back to give Stanford a 3-1 lead as she defeated Emilija Pranyte 6-1, 6-3.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, just awesome,\u201d Brennan said of Driscoll. \u201cShe\u2019s just, she\u2019s working so hard on her game and I think she really got herself into a good mode the way she was playing today. And we needed that, right? Like, you need that leader. You need someone off the court quick to get us to 2 love and I thought that might send a message to everybody else. You know that, even scare them a little bit, but they were tough. Hats off to them. They stuck in there. But Driscoll was a huge team leader, great captain, and really just working hard on her game to play this style of tennis.\u201d<\/p>\n Up 3-1, it looked likely that Stanford would win. However, Sacramento State made it far more interesting than Stanford wanted. Cami Maldonado Gutierrez defeated Emma Sun 6-3, 6-4 to make it 3-2 and then Lou Baudouin defeated Tianmei Wang 6-4, 0-6, 6-2 to tie it up for the Hornets 3-3.<\/p>\n The final match to decide it was between Monika Ekstrand of Stanford and Reese Walker of Sacramento State. Ekstrand found herself down a break 2-4 in the third set and seeing that Wang had lost knew that it was now all on her to pull out the victory for the Cardinal. Ekstrand dug deep to break Walker to tie it up 4-4 before then holding serve and breaking her one more time to get the 6-4 third set victory to clinch the match. It was a gritty victory for the freshman. She could have easily caved to the pressure, but she instead rose to the occasion and secure the team victory for the Cardinal.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s like watching an F1 driver,\u201d Brennan said. \u201cIt\u2019s like 110 miles an hour, 200 miles an hour. When is she gonna hit the wall and how is she gonna recover? You know? And that\u2019s sort of her game is on the edge and we\u2019re trying to change that a little bit, but I\u2019ll you what\u2019s cool about her is she seems to be the same person in every moment, whether that\u2019s at like a pro tournament that she\u2019s playing or a college event. She\u2019s not really caught up in this is on my shoulders. She just wants to play the best tennis she can play and that\u2019s what she did today. She\u2019s a great competitor, great competitor.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI think just really focusing on my returns,\u201d Ekstrand said of the key to getting the break. \u201cI just really try to focus on getting the first ball back in the court, like, and on continuing to pressure her and move her around. And I think also like staying with my patterns, especially the cross. Like, I went line a couple of times, I shouldn\u2019t have done that, and just, like continuing to push her and push her until I really found my opportunities. So, just kind of staying solid and like, believing in yourself that you can do it, yeah.<\/p>\n \u201cI think this match today, usually on court, I\u2019m always, like trying to be aggressive and stuff, but today it was tough because her balls were just so low. Low and short where it\u2019s not necessarily, like, that easy to finish those balls. So, kind of waiting for, like an easier approach shot. So I think today was kind of like to grind her down and to move the ball around that way. Yeah. That\u2019s kind of what I was trying to do.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, I think just continuing to do what I was doing and just keeping up the energy. Like, focusing on my serves and just focusing on definitely like, continuing to move up on the court and not giving her any free points because she was breaking down.\u201d<\/p>\n While tennis is primarily an individual sport, the team aspect at the college level adds a whole other dimension. A lot of players enjoy that aspect and added weight of playing for a team. Getting the opportunity to clinch for your team is a moment that you simply don\u2019t get in a normal tournament setting.<\/p>\n \u201cI think moments like this for sure,\u201d Ekstrand said of what she most likes about team tennis. \u201cAnd I think also like the pressure that comes from these moments, it\u2019s not something that necessarily I would get if I was just playing for myself. Like, I just came from a pro event and you\u2019re just out there by yourself, you know? And here like you\u2019re playing for something bigger than yourself and I think that definitely adds pressure. So, it\u2019s just, but in a good way. Like, a good pressure because you want to win for your team and you want to show up for them. So, it\u2019s fun, yeah.\u201d<\/p>\n To touch quickly on Sacramento State, this loss really stings for them. This might be the only chance they\u2019ll ever get to upset Stanford. They were one match away and were up a break. Just heartbreaking for them. Saulevich was cheering her teammates on to get across the finish line and was doing all she could to motivate them after she did her part. A win over Stanford would have meant a ton to them, but it wasn\u2019t to be.<\/p>\n As for Stanford, this is a match where they have to heave a huge sigh of relief. A win, even a 4-3 win, is much better than a loss. They\u2019ve been dealing with a lot of injuries lately and had to really scramble to pull this one out as Alyssa Ahn was only healthy enough to play doubles, having to serve underhand. While it wasn\u2019t pretty, they took a page out Brad Gilbert\u2019s Winning Ugly and just found a way to get the win.<\/p>\n \u201cNo, I was enjoying it,\u201d Ekstrand said. \u201cI mean, that was like the first match for me to clinch like that with everyone watching and the deciding match and like when I was down 2-4 and they\u2019re like screaming and everyone\u2019s screaming, I like wow, this is like you have to step up here. So, it was definitely really fun. Like, I think I really enjoy that, yeah.<\/p>\n \u201cI kind of realized, not, I mean, when T [Tianmei] was down 2-5, I was like okay, this is, it could totally be down to your match. So, yeah. But I mean, that was really fun. Like, having everyone cheer and everything, that\u2019s not really something that you get in the pro event, so it\u2019s nice.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWell, it\u2019s kind of that old adage, like what doesn\u2019t kill you makes you stronger,\u201d Brennan said of his message to the team. \u201cLike, we hope as a young team we grow from this and I think you also have to understand, like Tianmei wins a lot of those situations individually, but you can see how the pressure affects her in a team environment. Her first time in that position watching her teammate next to her, another freshman, not doing great either. That builds a lot of pressure and tension and she didn\u2019t quite hold up to it this time, but I can guarantee you that girl is going to be on the court a lot during her career winning matches for us because I think she is really tough and steely.<\/p>\n \u201cShe lost a little something of herself, lost her way, lost her emotion, and that was the key thing is when she gets quiet and isn\u2019t celebrating the winning points, that\u2019s when you know there is some tension there. And we did everything we could to relax her, but it\u2019s tennis. It\u2019s hard to do. You can\u2019t call a timeout.\u201d<\/p>\n Up next for Stanford is a road match at UC Santa Barbara on Saturday, February 14th at noon. That will be their last non-conference match before ACC play begins at home on February 20th against Georgia Tech at 1:30 PM PT.<\/p>\n CardinalSportsReport.com<\/a> on Facebook, IG, Threads, X (Twitter), & Bluesky: @StanfordRivals<\/p>\n Ben Parker on Facebook, IG, Threads, X (Twitter), YouTube, & Bluesky: @slamdunk406<\/p>\n