The No. 4 Stanford women’s tennis team officially finished its season yesterday, bowing out of the NCAA Championships much earlier than expected.

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Freshman Hilary Barte and the rest of the women’s tennis team will be heading home early from the NCAA Championships after losing to Baylor in team play. Barte, Stanford’s top player, was defeated in both individual and doubles play. Despite going undefeated at home, the Cardinal was unable to produce results, which led to its NCAA loss. #gallery http://daily.stanford.edu/image/full/9251
Jaclyn Tandler

Freshman Hilary Barte and the rest of the women’s tennis team will be heading home early from the NCAA Championships after losing to Baylor in team play. Barte, Stanford’s top player, was defeated in both individual and doubles play. Despite going undefeated at home, the Cardinal was unable to produce results, which led to its NCAA loss.

But after a long week in Tulsa, the Cardinal women must be glad to return to the Farm.

The 2008 Championships did not treat Stanford very well. After a loss to No. 5 Baylor in the quarterfinals of the team tournament, the Cardinal women fell individually yesterday.

On Thursday, freshman Hilary Barte lost 6-3, 6-2 to Baylor’s Lenka Broosova in the round of 32, ending her eye-catching rookie season.

Hours later, the doubles team of Barte and sophomore Lindsay Burdette fell 7-6 (3), 6-2 to William & Mary’s Megan Moulton-Levy and Katarina Zoricic.

Broosova defeated Barte in early February at the National Indoors 6-2, 2-6, 6-3. However, Stanford was able to come back for the 4-2 win.

Now, Broosova is on fire. She has won 19 consecutive matches and now boasts a 50-4 record on the season.

Barte, who has had a fine season herself, could do little to stop Broosova. With the loss, Barte finishes 30-8 overall and 21-6 against nationally ranked opponents.

However, she was a mortal 7-6 on neutral courts, which may explain the upset.

Similarly, Barte and Burdette had faced Moulton-Levy and Zoricic earlier this season, dropping an 8-3 decision back in early March.

Despite being ranked ninth in the country, Barte and Burdette quickly lost in the opening round, finishing the season 17-12 overall entirely at the No. 1 spot.

Though winning six of their last nine matches overall, the duo suffered a key loss against Baylor in the quarterfinals.

Simply put, the Cardinal now has the summer to recuperate and learn from a tumultuous season. Forced to learn to play the road, Stanford appeared to have hit its stride entering the NCAA Championships.

But unfortunate injuries and bad timing continued to plague the Cardinal, as Pac-10 rival UCLA took home the national title.

Despite the losses and a less than happy ending, Stanford persevered when the team could have collapsed under the pressure. With strong wins against UCLA, Cal and Southern California, the Cardinal preserved the Pac-10 title and showed a strong fighting spirit.

But, ultimately, the 2008 season just wasn’t meant to be for Stanford.