April 25, 2012
OJAI, Calif.- No. 5 Stanford blanked No. 31 Washington State 7-0 on Wednesday afternoon in a make-up match, claiming a share of the Pac-12 regular season championship in the process.
Registering its eighth shutout of the year, Stanford (18-1, 9-1 Pac-12) joined USC (20-3, 9-1 Pac-12) as conference co-champions with the victory. The Cardinal defeated USC 4-2 two weeks ago, so the Cardinal owns the head-to-head tiebreaker used to determine the Pac-12's automatic bid for the NCAA Tournament.
The Cardinal has now won the conference title outright or claimed at least a share of the hardware in every season since 1987, with the exception of 2009.
The originally scheduled match between Stanford and Washington State (18-6, 6-4 Pac-12) on March 25 at Taube Family Tennis Stadium was postponed due to rain.
On Wednesday, Stanford won the doubles point, sweeping all three courts to take a 1-0 lead.
After identical 6-0, 6-0 victories from Stacey Tan at No. 3 and Mallory Burdette at No. 4, Ellen Tsay clinched the match with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Andjela Kankaras on court four.
The Pac-12 Championships continue Thursday, with a 32-player singles draw and 16-team doubles field.
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No. 5 Stanford 7, No. 31 Washington State 0
DOUBLES
1) No. 2 Burdette/Gibbs (STAN) d. Googe/Kankaras (WSU) 8-6
2) No. 25 Tan/Tsay (STAN) d. Luzina/Vasilieva (WSU) 8-3
3) Dillon/Li (STAN) d. Fournier/Koning (WSU) 8-4
Order of Finish: 2, 3, 1
SINGLES
1) No. 3 Nicole Gibbs (STAN) d. No. 50 Liudmila Vasilieva (WSU) 6-2, 6-3
2) No. 5 Mallory Burdette (STAN) d. No. 108 Elisabeth Fournier (WSU) 6-0, 6-0
3) No. 57 Stacey Tan (STAN) d. Ksenia Googe (WSU) 6-0, 6-0
4) No. 65 Ellen Tsay (STAN) d. Andjela Kankaras (WSU) 6-3, 6-1
5) Veronica Li (STAN) d. Elizaveta Luzina (WSU) 7-5, 6-4
6) Natalie Dillon (STAN) d. Charlotte Koning (WSU) 1-6, 6-1, 1-0 (8)
Order of Finish: 3, 2, 4, 1, 6, 5