STANFORD, Calif. – The 18th-ranked Stanford Cardinal will kick-off its 2017 dual season this week as it sets to host Eastern Washington and BYU this Friday and Saturday. Friday's match is set to be played at 8:30 a.m. (PT) at the Taube Family Tennis Center indoor court and Saturday's match is set for 1 p.m. (PT) at the Broadway Tennis Center in Burlingame, Calif.
Scouting the Competition
Eager Eagles:
The Eastern Washington Eagles travel to Stanford Friday to face the Cardinal for the first time in program history. EWU closed out the 2015-16 season with an 8-18 record and 4-7 in the Big Sky Conference. The Eagles return a solid group after losing only one senior with four seniors and five juniors ready to lead. EWU opened their dual season on Sunday, January 15 with a 6-1 rout of the Seattle Redhawks to enter into Friday's contest with the Cardinal 1-0.
Crafty Cougars:
BYU will join the Cardinal Saturday for a 1 p.m. indoor match at the Broadway Tennis Center in Burlingame, Calif. The last time the Cardinal played at the Broadway Tennis Center, it clinched a 7-0 sweep of the San Diego State Aztecs last season on January 30.
All-time against the Cougars, the Cardinal holds a 34-1 record dating back to 1976. Under Paul Goldstein, the Cardinal is 1-0 from its last meeting with BYU in 2015. Ironically, that match was also played indoors at 10 p.m. in the Bay Club San Francisco Tennis facility with Stanford taking a 6-1 win to snap a five match BYU win streak.
Current Cardinals proved to be lynchpins in the win, with David Wilczynski winning in straight sets at the No. 3 spot before Tom Fawcett clinched it at the No. 1 spot – the first clinching point of his career as he enters his junior season with eight.
Fall Recap
The Cardinal came off another successful fall campaign that saw Tom Fawcett help lead the U.S. team to victory for the second straight year at the 2016 Master'U BNP Paribus International Team competition in France in November.
Fawcett also reached the quarterfinals of the ITA All-American Championships and was the consolation runner-up in the National Individual Indoor Championships. He enters the season ranked No. 8 by the ITA.
In addition, Yale Goldberg and Sameer Kumar captured the ITA Northwest Regional doubles title. The duo fought off multiple match points in the championship en route to the title. The team enters the dual season ranked No. 15 by the ITA.
In the final tune-up of the season before dual play, the Cardinal traveled to the Sherwood Collegiate Cup in Thousand Oaks, Calif. Jack Barber, in his first match in 22 months after recovering from surgery, topped the 11th-ranked Gage Brymer of UCLA before finishing as a semifinalist in the singles main draw.