STANFORD, Calif. – No. 3 Stanford men's tennis begins a busy week of matches with a trip to the Grand Canyon. The Cardinal will open the Pac-12 Conference portion of its schedule Thursday against No. 20 Arizona State in Tempe and face Arizona Friday in Tucson, before returning home to host Air Force (11 a.m. PT) and Army (3 p.m. PT).
Stanford is 10-1 in dual action this season, most recently defeating UC Davis (4-0) at home on Feb. 23 and No. 36 California (4-1) in Berkeley Feb. 24.
Among its 10 dual victories, the Cardinal has already defeated four top-10 opponents in No. 4 Georgia, No. 5 USC, No. 6 UCLA and No. 10 Illinois. Stanford advanced to the semifinals of the ITA Indoor National Championships last month, taking No. 1 Wake Forest all the way to the end in a 4-3 semifinal loss to the Demon Deacons.
Senior Tom Fawcett, ranked No. 11, has five dual victories playing at the top singles spot. Freshman Axel Geller, ranked No. 36, has a team-best nine dual victories at the No. 2 spot. Junior Sameer Kumar, ranked No. 76, owns six wins, playing mostly at the No. 3 spot.
The Cardinal has won the doubles point in almost all of its dual matches this season. The team of Fawcett and Geller, ranked No. 27, lead the way with eight wins at No. 2 doubles.
Stanford and Arizona State meet for the first time in 10 seasons. The Sun Devils, ranked No. 13 in the latest ITA poll, are 8-3 on the season.
Arizona is 12-5 on the season, coming off wins over Fresno State and UC Santa Barbara. The Cardinal defeated the Wildcats, 4-0, last season on The Farm.
Army, which last faced Stanford in 2011, is 11-4 on the season. Air Force comes into the week 9-5 on the year.
Stanford took a break from dual action this past week fielding four teams in the Pacific Coast Doubles Championship in La Jolla, California. The Cardinal team of Fawcett and William Genesen earned four wins and advanced to the semifinals of the weekend tournament.
Following this week's matches, Stanford will be back in action at Taube Family Tennis Stadium on March 27 against Pacific.
