From the final score, the match seemed like a blowout.

Instead, the No. 3 Stanford women’s tennis team was challenged by No. 44 Sacramento State, though it eventually prevailed 7-0 for its second shutout on the season.

Fresh off a two-game sweep of Pacific-10 Conference rivals Southern California and UCLA, the Cardinal women showed signs of fatigue from the huge weekend.

“It was a very emotionally taxing weekend and we’re all just physically recovering from it,” junior Jessica Nguyen said. “We had a great match against UCLA getting revenge against them. Usually we take a week to recover and gear up for the next weekend, but we wanted to throw in another match.”

Moreover, the match, which was rescheduled from the beginning of the season, began late in the afternoon.

“It’s really hard to go with a match in the middle of the week in the middle of school and while we’re still recovering,” Nguyen said. “Everybody was worn down with classes in the morning. It was definitely weird with the lighting being dark by the end of the match.”

Indeed, Stanford’s play was out of character from the get-go, as the team almost lost in doubles at the No. 1 and 3 positions.

However, all three teams would prevail in a sweep for the doubles point.

In singles, senior Celia Durkin and sophomore Lindsay Burdette both dropped their first sets. Similarly, freshman Carolyn McVeigh dropped her second set.

All three matches would go into super tiebreakers, with the Cardinal women prevailing.

“We did a great job and it was like another day of practice, having a match in practice and getting another win in our record,” Nguyen said.

At No. 2, Nguyen defeated Melissa Valenzuela 6-2, 6-1 in dominating fashion.

“As we play more matches, I’ve been feeling better about my game more than before,” Nguyen said. “With the NCAA tournament in sight, it helps everybody focus more and up their games in a month. The more matches we play, the better we get and that’s been showing in the results.”

At No. 1, freshman Hilary Barte continued her victory streak as Katrina Zheltova retired after dropping the first set, 6-1.

Ever since being put in the top spot, Barte has won 14 straight matches, reaching a national ranking of No. 7.

Moreover, her play and the team’s success recently earned her Pac-10 Player of the Week honors.

“Hilary has done such an amazing job at the number one position,” Nguyen said. “She has just performed on a regular basis and has been such a great leader on the team as a freshman. It goes to show that age doesn’t really matter on this team, and it has given hope and inspiration to the younger girls.”

With the match out of the way, Stanford now awaits its final road trip to No. 46 Oregon, before coming home for matches against UC-Davis and California.

In the meantime, the Cardinal women will see whether they will be awarded one of the 16 host sites in the NCAA tournament.

“The season’s winding down and it’s exciting as we go on with the next few weeks,” Nguyen said. “Hopefully we’ll be able to host the NCAA tournament and that’ll be exciting for everyone.”

Certainly, home court advantage will be huge for the Cardinal squad. With the win, they have yet to drop a regular season match in 104 attempts. Including postseason play, their record stands at 130-0.

But, with an impressive homestand, the Cardinal won’t need such an advantage over their opponents.

“It was more of a mental exercise for us today,” Nguyen said. “This weekend was huge for our confidence as a team.”