May 11, 2008

Stanford's title hopes dashed

Women's water polo team falls in national semifinal

FROM DAILY NEWS DISPATCHES

A four-goal surge by USC over the third and fourth periods spelled the end of the title hopes of the second-ranked Stanford women's water polo team. The Cardinal (26-5) fell 10-6 in the semifinals of the national championships Saturday at Avery Aquatic Center.

The Cardinal will battle UC Davis in the tournament's third-place game today at 4 p.m.

Six Stanford players accounted for all six goals in the contest, while Amber Oland made seven saves in the cage. Kelly Eaton, Jacquelyn Gauthier, Kira Hillman, Megan May, Lauren Silver and Heather West provided the goals for the Cardinal.

Each team converted three 6-on-5 opportunities, but the Women of Troy's conversion came on three consecutive tries in the fourth period, which turned a 6-4 lead after three periods into a five-goal cushion at 9-4 with just 5:32 remaining.



Women's tennis

After surviving a scare in nearly two hours of doubles competition, No. 4 Stanford stormed back in singles play to defeat No. 31 Texas A&M 4-1 on Saturday at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium.

With the win, the Cardinal (21-4, 7-1 Pac-10) punched its ticket to Tulsa, Okla., site of next weekend's NCAA Championships round of 16. Stanford will square off against No. 13 Clemson on Thursday.

Playing in its 27th consecutive NCAA Tournament, Stanford has now won 24 of its last 25 NCAA Tournament matches and is riding a season-best nine-match win streak. Stanford extended its home winning streak to 134 matches.



The Cardinal captured the doubles point for the 20th time in 25 matches this year, but it wasn't easy. Stanford's top team of Hilary Barte and Lindsay Burdette cruised to an 8-1 win. Trailing 3-0, Stanford's No. 2 team of Whitney Deason and Jessica Nguyen bounced back to take a 6-5 lead before falling 8-6 to Texas A&M's Christi Liles and Elze Potgieter. That left the doubles point up to court three, where Stanford's Celia Durkin and Carolyn McVeigh battled Texas A&M's Stephanie Davidson and Morgan Frank.

Stanford held leads of 5-3, 6-5 and 7-6 before Texas A&M knotted the match at 7-7. Durkin and McVeigh then survived six deuces to take an 8-7 edge on the seventh ad point. However, the Aggies tied the match 8-8 to force a tiebreaker. The Cardinal went up 3-0 quickly in the tiebreaker and led 4-2 at the changeover. The next three points were won by Stanford, which captured the tiebreaker 7-2 in a match that lasted 1:40.

Barte wrapped up a spotless 6-0, 6-2 victory at No. 1 singles for a 2-0 lead. Making her first dual match appearance in three weeks after nursing an injury, Barte backed up her No. 3 national ranking and looked every bit as dominating as she has all season long.

Texas A&M crept within 2-1 when Anna Blagodarova defeated Durkin 6-2, 6-1 at the No. 3 position.

Despite entering the postseason with just three wins in her last seven matches, McVeigh came up big again in singles. McVeigh, who provided the clincher in Stanford's win on Friday against Boston University, rolled to a 6-3, 6-0 triumph over Stephanie Davidson at the No. 6 spot to put Stanford up 3-1.

Deason eventually iced the match with a 6-3, 6-3 victory on court five, as she improved to 16-13 on the year.



Softball

In a showdown for third place in the Pac-10, the eighth-ranked Cardinal was unable to conquer the defending national champion and ninth-ranked Arizona Wildcats, who triumphed 6-1 on their home field.

After jumping to an early lead, the Cardinal allowed two home runs and three unearned runs.

The Wildcats scored six runs on seven hits, while the Cardinal could only plate one on eight hits. Stanford left seven runners on base, five of which were in scoring position. Sophomore center fielder Alissa Haber went 3-for-4 with a triple to pace the Cardinal.

After fanning a school-record 17 against second-ranked Arizona State on Friday, Stanford ace Missy Penna (34-10) struck out a season-low two batters in Saturday's loss.

On the first at-bat of the game, Haber drilled a ball to the gap in left-center field and the Cardinal seemed to be on track. The sophomore came in with a stand-up triple, her first three-base knock of the season. Fellow sophomore Shannon Koplitz brought her in, launching a sacrifice fly deep to right field. Haber's run was her team-leading 44th of the year, earning her a place on the school's single-season top-10 list.

The Wildcats belted two home runs to take a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the first.

Stanford will learn its postseason fate tomorrow night, when the NCAA Selection Show airs on ESPNU at 7 p.m. NCAA Regional action begins Friday at campus sites to be determined.

Stanford lost 8-0 Friday night at Arizona. The Cardinal matched its lowest hit total of year with just two and allowed the Wildcats 11 hits, matching the highest opponent total against Stanford this season. Stanford allowed the most runs it has given up all season was run-ruled for the first time since April 22 of last season.



Wrestling

The Stanford wrestling team was listed among the nation's best academic programs when the National Wrestling Coaches Association announced its annual Div. I All-Academic Top 30 and Individual All-Academic wrestling teams for the 2007-08 season. Stanford came in fourth among Div. I programs with a 3.269 GPA.

Seniors Tanner Gardner and Josh Zupancic, along with sophomore Jake Johnson, all received individual NWCA Academic All-America honors.