Go to bed early, try to sleep despite the noise and bike to classes in the morning.

Compete and win against the top players in the nation by afternoon.

Such are the dual lives of the members of the No. 2 Stanford women’s tennis team as they prepare to open the dual-match season at home today against UC-Davis. The match is scheduled for a 1:30 p.m start.

After a rain-soaked weekend, the Cardinal find themselves facing a tough four-day stretch of three matches at the Taube Family Tennis Center. However, according to head coach Lele Forood, there was a silver lining to all of the clouds and rain.

“We’re just so excited to finally get on the courts, especially after all of the rain we’ve had for the last couple weeks,” Forood said. “We’ve had so many good performances in the tournaments and we can’t wait to get into our dual-match season finally.”

Although the match against Davis was already rescheduled from Friday, it seemed as if the highly anticipated season opener would have to wait another week after the weekend rain. But after a clear Monday, the Cardinal should be ready to go.

“Unfortunately, we had to change the time so much,” Forood said. “Hopefully the fans can find us here at 1:30.”

Certainly, fan support will be key to a strong 2008 performance.

Over the last seven years, the Cardinal have gone 121-0 at home — their last home loss was at the hands of California in 1999. During the streak, the Card has amassed 95 straight regular-season wins and 26 consecutive NCAA tournament match victories at Taube.

However, playing at home isn’t as easy as advertised, as Forood explained.

“It’s actually very interesting to have so many years of defending our home court because it’s more difficult to play at home than away,” Forood said. “You have people coming straight out of classes and trying to get ready for competition and that’s different than when you’re on the road and you don’t have anything you have to do before playing a tennis match.

“There [are] a lot of complications playing at home so it’s really nice that we’ve been this successful for so long here.”

Last January, Stanford began its 2007 campaign with a dominant 7-0 victory over the Aggies.

This year, despite graduating their top two players from last year’s squad, the team doesn’t expect anything less.

“We’ve played them most years,” Forood said. “They’re a good confident team and they’re a good opener for us every year.”

The Aggies are coached by a Stanford alumnus, Bill Maze ‘78. Maze graduated the same year as Forood.

“Bill...played very successfully on the [Stanford] men’s team and tour way back when,” Forood said. “It’s always very fun to play against their team and it just works out that it’s a good early season match for us every year.”

After Davis, Stanford is slated to face No. 14 Fresno State and No. 43 UNLV in a week made rougher by the rain.

But, perhaps the tough schedule will work to the Cardinal’s advantage at the National Team Indoors next week.

“As long as we can get them in, the biggest problem will be the weather,” Forood said. “We’re obviously not used to playing this many dual matches in a row, but it’s going to get us ready because next week is Indoors and hopefully we’ll have to play four days in a row to get to the finals.”

With a successful fall season, Stanford is looking for an equally strong start to its 2008 team season. The women will look to capture the fourth national title in five years.

“Right now, our goal is to get our lineup and doubles solidified and get everybody playing up to speed,” Forood said. “When we accomplish that we’re going to be as good as anybody in the country.”