No. 5 Stanford Cardinal (19-1, 10-0 Pac-12)
at
Pac-12 Championships
Thu.-Sat., April 25-27
Libbey Park/Weil Tennis Academy • Ojai, Calif.
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STANFORD, Calif. - No. 5 Stanford begins postseason play on Thursday afternoon, bidding for a fourth consecutive Pac-12 championship.
Riding a 14-match winning streak as one of the hottest teams in the nation, Stanford (19-1, 10-0 Pac-12) has locked up the No. 1 seed for this weekend's Pac-12 Championships and will square off against the winner of No. 8 seed Colorado or No. 9 seed Washington State. The winner of the tournament is recognized as the Pac-12 champion and earns the conference's automatic NCAA bid.
Stanford is seeking a fourth straight conference title, which would be its longest stretch since a 21-year stranglehold on the Pac-10 from 1988-2008, with the final season resulting in a share of the crown with UCLA.
In 2018, Stanford defeated UCLA 4-2 in the Pac-12 final after blanking Washington and Washington State in its first two matches. The Cardinal's 4-0 shutout of Washington State represented win No. 1,000 in school history.
The Cardinal should feel confident entering this weekend, having won 37 consecutive regular-season conference matches dating back to March 5, 2016, when it lost 4-3 at Arizona State.
Not that the opponent has mattered much this season. Of Stanford's 19 victories, 12 have been shutouts. The Cardinal's only defeat was a 4-3 setback against Georgia on Feb. 11 in the semifinals of the ITA National Team Indoor Championships. The Bulldogs had won their first 23 matches before falling to South Carolina last weekend.
Looking ahead, Stanford remains in solid position to host the first three rounds of NCAA competition when selections are announced next Monday. The Cardinal is expected to host first and second rounds from May 3-5 and will also be awarded a Super Regional home match on May 10 if it earns a top-8 seed.
For the 12th straight week, Stanford leads the country with seven players ranked in singles. Every member of the Cardinal's singles lineup has totaled at least 20 wins, led by Emily Arbuthnott (28-5 overall, 15-2 duals). Caroline Lampl (24-6 overall, 15-0 duals) has won 17 in a row since her last loss on Jan. 18, including her 100th career victory last week. Fellow senior Melissa Lord (22-8 overall, 15-3 duals) has won nine in a row and is five wins shy of 100 for her career.
In doubles, four teams appear in the rankings, led by Lampl and Kimberly Yee (16-7 overall, 10-3 duals) checking in at No. 14.