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Fomba clinches win for Stanford

BT Media Group

Press Release | Courtesy: Stanford Athletics

LOS ANGELES – Graduate student Eric Fomba provided his second clincher in Stanford’s four Pac-12 matches, as the Cardinal rebounded from a doubles defeat with four wins in singles to down No. 14 USC, 4-2, Saturday afternoon at Marks Stadium.

Stanford erased a 2-0 deficit with four consecutive wins and was on the doorstep of a fifth as David Wilczynski had match point when Fomba clinched it.

Fomba, who also clinched a 4-3 victory at No. 20 Arizona State earlier this month, recorded his third clincher of the season All three have come against top-20 opponents as the graduate student also lifted the Cardinal to the win over No. 12 Baylor in the ITA National Indoor Championships.

The win improved the Cardinal to 16-2 overall, matching its best start in 16 seasons. It’s Stanford’s first win in Los Angeles against either USC or UCLA since 2010 and the Cardinal’s first win against the Trojans in Los Angeles since 2009. Stanford is now 3-1 in Pac-12. USC moves to 12-6 overall and 3-1 in the conference.

The Trojans struck first, securing the doubles point in a battle that went to a tiebreaker. Stanford and USC traded wins at No. 1 and No. 2, with Tom Fawcett and Axel Geller getting the win for the Cardinal. USC’s Daniel Cukierman and Tanner Smith sealed the point at No. 3, with a 10-8 win in the tiebreaker.

A win at No. 6 singles put the Trojans up, 2-0, before Stanford seized momentum in the match.

Geller got it started with a straight-set win at No. 2 and Sameer Kumar followed moments later with a straight-set victory at No. 3.

In a top-10 matchup, Fawcett, ranked No. 10, and No. 9 Brandon Holt of USC staged a three-set battle. The Cardinal senior rebounded from an opening-set defeat with a pair of 6-3 frames to win it and push Stanford ahead for the first time in the match.

All eyes went to the No. 4 and No. 5 matches. Fomba (No. 4) and Wilczynski (No. 5) both dropped the first set of their matches, but each stormed back with second-set wins. They continued their momentum with multiple-game leads in the third set. Fomba sealed it first with the 6-2 victory in the third set. Wilczynski was up 5-1 in the third set with match point coming up when Fomba clinched it.

The win for the Cardinal was its second over USC this season. Stanford defeated the Trojans, 6-1, in February on The Farm.

Stanford returns to action next Saturday (April 7), hosting No. 39 Utah at 1 p.m. PT at Taube Tennis Stadium.

No. 3 Stanford 4, No. 14 USC 2

Doubles
1. No. 23 Jack Jaede/Laurens Verboven (USC) d. No. 75 Sameer Kumar/Michael Genender(STAN) 6-1
2. No. 25 Tom Fawcett/Axel Geller (STAN) d. Riley Smith/Mateusz Smolicki (USC) 6-1
3. Daniel Cukierman/Tanner Smith (USC) d. Timothy Sah/David Wilczynski (STAN) 7-6 (8)
Order of Finish: 2,1,3

Singles
1. No. 10 Tom Fawcett (STAN) d. No. 9 Brandon Holt (USC) 3-6, 6-3, 6-3
2. No. 50 Axel Geller (STAN) d. No. 67 Daniel Cukierman (USC) 6-2, 6-4
3. No. 71 Sameer Kumar (STAN) d. Jack Jaede (USC) 7-5, 6-3
4. Eric Fomba (STAN) d. Laurens Verboven (USC) 3-6, 6-2, 6-2
5. David Wilczynski (STAN) led Jake DeVine (USC) 2-6, 6-4, 5-1 unfinished
6. Thibault Forget (USC) d. William Genesen (STAN) 6-2, 6-1
Order of Finish: 6,2,3,1,4

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Broomfield, Andrews win NCAA Doubles Championship

uclabruins.com

Press Release:

Orlando, Fla. – May 25, 2019. Broomfield and Andrews registered the program’s first NCAA doubles title since 2008, outlasting Kate Fahey-Brienne Minor of Michigan 5-7, 7-6(6), 1-0(9) in the final round. The three-set win marked the pair’s third of the week, posting a pair of 10-7 decisions before Saturday’s 11-9 thriller.

The duo posted tiebreaking wins in three other sets, as well. In order to reach the final, the Bruins dealt No. 1-seeded Angela Kulikov-Rianna Valdes of crosstown rival USC a 6-4, 6-4 loss in Friday’s semifinal round. The third-seeded tandem handed losses to the first-, 10th-, 12th-, 25th- and 37th-ranked teams in the nation en route to the program’s seventh doubles championship.

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Jubb delivers first tennis national championship

GamecocksOnline.com

Press Release:

ORLANDO, Fla. – South Carolina junior Paul Jubb capped off his brilliant run through the NCAA Singles Championship with a 6-3, 7-6 (2) win over the top player in the country to deliver the Gamecocks’ first national championship in men’s tennis. The Hull, England, native dropped just one set in his six victories en route to the title.

Facing a familiar foe on Mississippi State’s Nuno Borges, the No. 1 ranked player in the nation, Jubb knew he would have a battle on his hands in the championship match. He also knew he had pushed Borges to the limit twice before this season.

“I was so relentless with my feet,” Jubb said. “That was the main thing we were saying with my coach, just going into every single ball. I’m one of the toughest players from the back and my tempo is so high, so I was just trying to keep that up the whole match.”

Both players shook off early nerves as each dropped his first service game. Jubb turned the momentum after a tough hold at 3-3. After clipping the net twice to see a 40-Love lead erased, Jubb worked a long rally until Borges sailed his final shot long to decide the game.

Jubb immediately pounced in Borges’ service game, bursting to a 40-15 lead. The Bulldogs’ senior again forced the game to deuce with a big serve, but again saw Jubb take the deciding point when his great return led to a Borges error and a 4-3 Jubb lead.

The two SEC heavy-weights went toe-to-toe as the next game also went to deuce. Again Jubb delivered, this time with a clean forehand winner up the line to surge ahead 5-3. He went on to take a 40-15 lead in the next game and closed out the set with a great return for a 6-3 victory.

Jubb kept the pressure on in the second set, winning the first two games before Borges got back on serve with a break in the third. After both players held at Love in the eighth and ninth games of the set, both were pressed but held in their next service games, including Borges holding off Jubb’s first championship point with a huge second serve to even the set at 5-5.

Two games later, Jubb served first to open the tiebreak, winning that point and two more on Borges’ serve as the Gamecock senior’s forehand continued to paint lines. The two split the next four points for a 4-2 Jubb advantage.

After switching sides, Jubb’s great return immediately put Borges behind the point. As he tried to work his way back in, Jubb came to net and knocked off a high backhand volley into the open court to go up 5-2. A Borges mishit set up another championship point.

Jubb hit a strong serve up the T that had Borges reaching, and the Gamecock junior buried a forehand up the line for the clean winner and the national title.

“Unbelievable,” Jubb said after the match. “I had to overcome so much mental toughness after losing to him twice this season. Overcoming that fear and regaining believe that I could win was so big for me today, and I did it.”

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Stanford three-peats as Pac-12 Women’s Tennis Champions with win over UCLA

Pac-12 Conference

By Holly Roberts of Pac-12 Conference

OJAI, Calif. – Top-seeded and No. 5 nationally ranked Stanford (22-1) captured its third consecutive Pac-12 Women’s Tennis Championship tournament title and its fourth straight NCAA Tournament automatic bid with a 4-2 comeback victory over No. 2 seed and No. 9 ranked UCLA (18-7) at Libbey Park on Saturday.

The title match beared striking resemblance to last year’s tourney finale in which the Bruins took the doubles point and evened the match 2-2, but the Cardinal surged late with key victories once again highlighted by the clincher from junior Emily Arbuthnott at No. 4 singles.

“It’s obviously amazing to clinch a final like this,” said Arbuthnott, who not only clinched the 2018 Pac-12 team title for the Cardinal but has also secured the winning point in five consecutive meetings against the Bruins.

“We have this joke on our team that I end up clinching all the time. I think it might be the way I play – I don’t play too fast or too slowly, but it means a lot,” added Arbuthnnott. “Obviously I would have preferred to have won the match point that I had in the second set and get done faster, but I think getting through those three-set matches, especially in situations where you know if you win you’ve won the match, that it’s great character building. I’ve been in that situation so many times now that I feel quite comfortable.”

“She’s really solid and her matches go a little longer which is one of the reasons that she clinches a lot,” said Stanford head coach Lele Forood. “We have people like [Caroline] Lampl who bangs the ball through the court and gets off the court sooner – it takes a little bit of both.”

The Bruins have secured the doubles point in their last seven meetings against the Cardinal, but Stanford has rebounded to win the last five of those contests.

“We’ve got great singles players,” said Forood of her team’s resiliency. “That doesn’t faze us exactly. We’d like to win it and they [UCLA] were very good in the doubles, so we just know that we’ve gotta win a bunch of singles matches.”

Now with a Pac-12 tourney three-peat in the record book, Stanford will turn its attention to defending its 2018 NCAA National Championship, which it claimed as the No. 15 seed and four top-10 upsets.

“Probably better doubles from us,” joked Farood on what it will take to repeat as NCAA champions. “Just a lot of belief like we came through in singles today.”

“We’re really excited, especially with the new setup this year with teams hosting third rounds as well,” said Arbuthnott of the Cardinal’s upcoming NCAA Tournament play. “We’re really looking forward to getting back and trying to defend that title. It was really close last year, but we have the same team and we know we’re capable of it.”

The NCAA Women’s Tennis Championship Selection Show will stream live on NCAA.com on Monday, April 29 at 3:30 p.m. PT.

2019 PAC-12 WOMEN’S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIP

No. 1 Stanford 4, No. 2 UCLA 2


DOUBLES:
1. Gabby Andrews/Ayan Broomfield, UCLA def. Caroline Lampl/Kimi Yee, STAN – 6-4
2. Elysia Bolton/Jada Hart, UCLA v. Emily Arbuthnott/Michaela Gordon, STAN – 6-5 unf.
3. Abi Altick/Taylor Johnson, UCLA def. Melissa Lord/Niluka Madurawe, STAN – 6-3
Order of finish: 3, 1

SINGLES:
1. Michaela Gordon, STAN def. Jada Hart, UCLA – 6-4, 6-4
2. Melissa Lord, STAN def. Elysia Bolton, UCLA – 7-5, 6-3
3. Caroline Lampl, STAN def. Ayan Broomfield, UCLA – 6-2, 6-1
4. Emily Arbuthnott, STAN def. Alaina Miller, UCLA – 6-1, 6-7 (3), 6-0
5. Janice Shin, STAN v. Abi Altick, UCLA – 2-6, 6-4, 2-1 unf.
6. Gabby Andrews, UCLA def. Emma Higuchi, STAN – 6-3, 6-2
Order of finish: 3, 6, 2, 1, 4

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