PALO ALTO, Calif. ( May 11, 2007) -- The second round of the 2007 NCAA Women's Championships will feature No. 28 BYU against No. 1 Stanford after both teams won first round matches Friday.
The Cougars blanked the No. 41 Oregon Ducks, 4-0, and the Cardinal knocked off Sacramento State Hornets to reach the second round. Stanford, the three-time defending NCAA Tournament Champion, is hosting the first two rounds and has a 19-match tournament winning streak.
"It's so much fun to be here and play on Stanford's courts," BYU head coach and Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year Craig Manning said. "Today we just did the things we've been doing all year and things were rolling our way. Oregon was playing very hard and it felt like a dogfight early on, but we were just able to perform at a higher level today."
BYU's Sofia Holden and Kristina Doerr clinched the doubles point with an 8-2 victory on court three after Lauren Jones and Dolly Chang had already finished with an 8-1 win of their own on court two. The No. 34 pair of Anastasia Surkova and Jenny Miccoli were up 4-3 on court one when their match was stopped.
No. 82 Surkova was the first done in the singles competition on court one, extending her streak to 14 matches without a loss and only one loss in her last 22.
Chang was not far behind Surkova with a win on court six, and Holden clinched the team match with a win on court five. Jones and Chie Hayasaka were also up in their singles matches when play was stopped.
Manning's squad will get its crack at taking down the perennial powerhouse on The Farm on Saturday at 12:00 p.m. PDT. Visit www.gostanford.cstv.com and click on the 2007 NCAA Women's Tennis Championships banner to access live scoring for the match.
PALO ALTO -- The NCAA 2007 Division 1 Tennis Championships kick off Friday at Stanford with No. 28 BYU against No. 41 Oregon.
The Mountain West Conference Champion Cougars are led off the court by the MWC Coach of the Year, Craig Manning. On the court they are led by the MWC Co-Player of the year, No. 82 Anastasia Surkova.
Manning's team enters the tournament with a 21-6 record on the year with an 11-6 record against nationally ranked teams. Four of those losses came against teams ranked in the top 20. But despite the success the team has had this year, Manning and his players have kept a level head.
"We're trying to focus on fundamentals, but this time of the year we're not going to get the girls any better," Manning said. "We are just trying to get their minds in the best place we can and get as healthy as we can before the tournament starts."
2007 marks BYU's 18th trip to the NCAA Championships with ninth place as the team's highest finish, which it reached six times. Other teams representing the MWC include San Diego State, TCU and UNLV.
The tournament is single elimination and the winner of Friday's match will likely play No. 1 Stanford on the Cardinal's home courts. Friday's match will begin at 10 a.m. PDT and live stats can be seen at http://gostanford.cstv.com/livestats/tennis/StanfordTennis.html.