Enlarge
#gallery http://daily.stanford.edu/image/full/6748
Alvin Chow

Senior Teresa Logar at a game last Senior Teresa Logar, from Rochester Hills, Mich, is one of three returning All Americans this season. The three-time national defending champions, Stanford women’s tennis face UC-Davis and Fresno State today and tomorrow at home.

Stanford women’s tennis begins this year’s national title defense with two opening matches against UC-Davis and Fresno State today and tomorrow. The matches will kick off the dual match team season for the Cardinal, who come into the season tentatively ranked as the No. 1 team in the nation.

Although the matches serve as a slight warm-up to the season, Stanford is still wary of its first opponents. Head coach Lele Forood said Stanford does not know much about UC-Davis expect that they will be a solid team. She did go on to talk about the team’s Friday opponent, No. 21 Fresno State.

“Fresno State is a going to be a more challenging situation,” she said. “They were in the round of 16 [of the NCAA Championships] last year as a team, and I think they’re even better than they were last year. They’re a top team, so that’ll be a very good test for us on Friday.”

In terms of the individual match-ups, the Cardinal expect to see stiff competition from Fresno State sophomore Melanie Gloria. Gloria has already faced the Cardinal in some of the fall season tournaments.

“She’s a very solid player,” said Forood of Fresno’s top player. “You have to beat her; she doesn’t beat herself.”

Freshman Lindsey Burdette also chimed in about the Fresno state opponent.

“She’s the one that I lost to in regionals,” Burdette said. “She’s a very good player and did well at tour events. I had a match point against her at regionals but I lost. Each of the teams has a couple good players so we’re definitely going to have to be on our toes.”

There’s a little more on the line, aside from winning the year’s opening games, when the Cardinal play host at the Taube Tennis Center. The team currently has a home winning streak of close to 200 games, so there is always suspense in each home match, no matter the opponent. Stanford also has an overall match win streak of 86 — a number which dates back to the 2003 National Championship final against Florida.

A testament to the Cardinal’s depth, Forood has yet to determine her lineup of six singles players. The team has been playing intra-squad matches to determine the lineup but nothing has been set in stone.

Forood said that the situation would be “fluid” for a bit longer. She expects the current scenario to last through February until the lineup is finalized.

Stanford’s two opening matches will also serve as preparation for the National Team Indoors, which take place next week in Madison, Wis. The National Indoors will be the only team tournament of the regular season for the Cardinal, and it will have a strong bearing on the teams’ ranking in the national pools.

Stanford is currently ranked No. 1, but that was largely established by the results of last season. The National Indoors will play a large role in determining the team’s future ranking as it plows into the substance of the regular season schedule.

“We’re definitely a top-five team in the country,” Burdette said. “It’s just a question of whether we’re one or two. Even though we lost two unbelievable players last year, we have all the ability we need to be number one. There are only eight of us this year, though. It’s going to be a lot tougher.”

Regardless of the team’s ranking, the Cardinal are looking forward to starting off the 2007 dual season strongly. Stanford’s two upcoming matches will go a long way in setting the tone for the rest of the season.

Today’s and tomorrow’s matches are both scheduled for 1:30 p.m.