What could be worse than a first-round exit in the NCAA Tournament? Try two first-round exits.

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While they were both eliminated from the singles bracket of the NCAA Individual Tournament, junior KC Corkery (pictured) and senior Sam Warburg advanced in the doubles bracket. #gallery http://daily.stanford.edu/image/full/5100
Peter Krutzik

While they were both eliminated from the singles bracket of the NCAA Individual Tournament, junior KC Corkery (pictured) and senior Sam Warburg advanced in the doubles bracket.

Only two players from the No. 22 Stanford men’s tennis team (14-11, 4-3 Pacific-10 Conference) traveled to compete in the Individual Tournament in College Station, Texas, and both bowed out in the first round of the singles bracket on Wednesday. Senior Sam Warburg and junior KC Corkery returned yesterday after their respective first round upsets to collect a doubles win in three sets against No. 17 Oklahoma State’s Daniel Byrnes and Mark Van Elden.

Yesterday, after a slight rain delay, doubles play commenced at Mitchell Tennis Center, and the defending NCAA champions got down a set to Oklahoma State’s top team. However, the Cardinal bounced back and snagged an early break in the second set and quickly gained a 2-0 lead. Stanford increased its lead to 5-1, where it managed to close out the second set. The Cardinal duo then won the third set with an identical score of 6-1.

The top seed of Georgia’s John Isner and Antonio Ruiz narrowly escaped defeat as they gave up the first set in a tiebreaker, won the second set in another tiebreaker and finally closed out the third set 6-4.

Other notable doubles results include the upset of Pepperdine’s No. 7 tandem of Scott Doerner and Pedro Rico. The Waves pair was defeated in three sets by a pair from Tulane. Arizona’s No. 20 Roger Matalonga and Colin O’Grady upset Florida’s No. 8 Hamid Mirzadeh and Greg Ouellette.

In singles on Wednesday, Warburg won the first set 7-5, but Old Dominion’s Izak van der Merwe collected the second set, 6-3. Van der Merwe completed the upset by closing Warburg out 6-1 in the final set as the temperatures grew to a blistering 115 degrees on the court. Van der Merwe won his match yesterday in straight sets and will now face defending NCAA singles champion Benjamin Becker of Baylor in the Round of 16. Becker won his first two rounds in three-set matches that both ended with a third set score of 6-4.

Corkery gave up his first-round match to Auburn’s Gabor Zoltan Pelva, 7-6, 6-3. Zoltan Pelva has plagued the Cardinal as the Tiger dealt Warburg a defeat last year in the quarterfinals. However, on Thursday, Zoltan Pelva made a straight set exit to Illinois’ Kevin Anderson.

UCLA’s sixth-seed Luben Pampoulov made a first-round exit in straight sets as well with a score identical to Corkery’s, and No. 9 Sven Swinnen of Oregon was defeated yesterday in three sets. Harvard’s No. 32 Jonathan Chu upset Pepperdine’s Rico in the first round and then proceeded to upset California’s No. 13 Conor Niland.

Corkery and Warburg will face Washington’s No. 18 Daniel Chu and Alex Slovic today. The Huskies defeated a team from Mississippi State in a three-setter yesterday. Corkery and Warburg have faced the Washington pair twice this season, losing in March but scoring a victory at the Pac-10 Doubles Championship in April. Play begins today at noon.