Tennis falls to No. 4 Baylor

The No. 40 Stanford men’s tennis team dropped a 5-2 decision to No. 4 Baylor yesterday in the second annual HP Cup.

Stanford started out strong, capturing two out of the three doubles matches to secure the doubles point. Freshman Alex Clayton and junior Blake Muller beat previously undefeated Jordan Rux and David Galic of Baylor, 8-5, while freshman Greg Hirshman and sophomore Richard Wire defeated Atilla Bucko and Denes Lukcas, 8-6.

But Stanford would struggle in singles, only winning one of the six matches. The one win was remarkable, however, as junior Matt Bruch upset Lukcas, ranked 10th in the nation, by a score of 3-6, 6-4, 1-0 (10-7). Stanford fell to 2-5 on the season, while Baylor improved to 7-0. The Cardinal has a week off before it takes on Boise State at home on Feb. 22.

Card concludes So Cal competition

The Stanford women’s golf team concluded a season-best performance yesterday when it finished fifth at the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge. The Cardinal played its best golf in the final round to record a 10-over-par 294. The team finished the tournament at 48-over-par (900) and moved from eighth to fifth on the final day. UCLA was the winner at 24-over-par (876).

Sophomore Angela King recorded her first career top-10 finish to lead the Cardinal. She shot eight-over-par over the three days and earned a tie for 10th place.

Junior Mari Chun turned in Stanford’s lowest round of the tournament on the final day, shooting a one-under yesterday to finish in a tie for 26th.

This was Stanford’s highest tournament finish of the year, beating a previous best of seventh earned back in October. Stanford will return to the links Feb. 25 when it travels to Tucson, Ariz. for the Arizona Wildcat Invitational.

Stanford set for Saint Mary’s

Coming off of a nail-biting loss to Georgia Tech in the semifinals at the National Team Indoors, the No. 3 Stanford women’s tennis team looks to rebound tomorrow when it takes on undefeated Saint Mary’s.

The Cardinal was ranked No. 1 coming into last weekend’s Indoors; however, the team’s loss to the Yellow Jackets — a 4-3 loss after Stanford went up 3-0 to start the match — dropped the team back to third in the nation.

The No. 40 Gaels, hailing from the West Coast Conference, are currently 4-0. Saint Mary’s was dominant in its last match, beating Gonzaga by the score of 7-0. The team also earned a victory over Pac-10 Oregon, edging the Ducks out on Feb. 8, 4-3.

Today’s match begins at 1:30 p.m. at the Taube Tennis Center.