Stanford women’s tennis looks to get back to its winning tradition this weekend when it plays host to the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Northwest Championship. The tournament runs today through Sunday and will take place on campus at the Taube Family Tennis Center.

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Junior Jessica Nguyen and the Cardinal got off to a rough start at the ITA All-American Championships, where the Cardinal failed to advance one player out of the main draw’s first round. But Stanford will have a shot at redemption at the ITA Northwest Championships this weekend at the Taube Family Tennis Center. #gallery http://daily.stanford.edu/image/full/8035
Stanford Daily File Photo

Junior Jessica Nguyen and the Cardinal got off to a rough start at the ITA All-American Championships, where the Cardinal failed to advance one player out of the main draw’s first round. But Stanford will have a shot at redemption at the ITA Northwest Championships this weekend at the Taube Family Tennis Center.

Coming off of the ITA All-American Championships, where all of the players in the main draw lost in their first round matches, the Cardinal women will be looking to duplicate the results of their male counterparts — the men, led by sophomore Richard Wire and the doubles duo of freshman Ted Kelly and junior Blake Muller, captured the singles and doubles titles at the men’s ITA Northwest Championship earlier this week.

Joining the Cardinal in the Northwest Championship will be players from Cal, Cal Poly, Fresno State, Gonzaga, Nevada, Oregon, Sacramento State, Saint Mary’s, San Francisco, San Jose State, Santa Clara, UC-Davis, Washington and Washington State.

“Everybody in the tournament is good,” sophomore Lindsay Burdette said of the tournament field. “It’s a big draw because it’s an open draw . . . Fresno State — they’re really good. They’re solid. I expect to see a lot of competition.”

Stanford will be entering eight of its players into the main draw of the singles bracket: seniors Celia Durkin and Whitney Deason, juniors Jessica Nguyen and Isamarie Perez, sophomore Lindsay Burdette, and freshmen Hilary Barte, Caroline McVeigh and Jennifer Yen.

The tournament’s No. 1 and No. 2 seeds are Susie Babos of Cal and Melanie Gloria of Fresno State. Of Stanford’s singles players, three are seeded coming into today’s first round action. Durkin is No. 3, Nguyen is No. 4 and Burdette stands at No. 5.

In doubles, Stanford will have four entrants: the duos of Burdette and Durkin, Barte and Nguyen, Yen and senior Lejla Hodzic, and Deason and McVeigh will do their best to represent the Cardinal this weekend. Burdette and Durkin are seeded third; Barte and Nguyen come in as the sixth seed.

The tournament will be the second major competition of the season for the Cardinal and will give them a chance to get back into game shape. The team’s meager results in its first tournament, as Burdette explained, were hampered by the fact that they only had a week of practice time while most colleges had over a month.

“We’re just working our way up,” the sophomore said. “We’re working our way into the season — we had a week while everyone’s been practicing a month. The team is so much better right now.

“It was really disappointing at All-American — it always is when you lose. This will be one more stepping stone on our way to getting match-tough for the winter.”