May 20, 2006

Recap |  Results

Notes:
No. 13 seed Stanford improves to 18-3 with win and advances to NCAA QF for 25th time ... Cardinal is now 25-1 all-time in NCAA round of 16 matches ... Stanford last reached NCAA QF in 2004 ... Stanford has won 12 of its last 13 matches and improves to 90-12 all-time in NCAA tournament matches ... This is Stanford's first trip to NCAA QF under third-year coach John Whitlinger ...Stanford has won a record 17 NCAA tennis championships ...No. 4 seed Duke finishes season with 22-7 record ... Blue Devils were looking to reach QF for first time since 2001 and seventh time overall ... Duke falls to 6-5 in round of 16 play.

Quotes
Stanford Head Coach John Whitlinger
Opening Statement: "First off, my condolences to Jay Lapidus for the passing of his mother earlier this week. He made it out here just before the match, and my thoughts and prayers go out to him, first and foremost. That's a lot more important than the tennis match.

"Anytime you play a team like Duke, with their history, I can't remember the last time we played them, but we've always had great battles. I knew we were going to get another one today. They've had a great year, ACC Champions. And we've had a very good year as well. We're 18-3 right now, and I've always had a lot of confidence in our team. Our ranking is very low, we never felt that we were a 13th-ranked team, but you have to go out and prove it. And that was a start today. I'm very proud of our team, up and down the line. Winning the doubles point, which in NCAA competition or in any dual match, is a very important thing. We were pretty solid in middle of our singles lineup and that's where we won today. We're looking forward to playing tomorrow."

Duke Head Coach Jay Lapidus
Opening Statement: "I think they played a good match. They played very well in doubles. They're playing really well right now, and they deserved to win. They beat us pretty soundly. There were really no excuses, they just played a super match. Definitely a force to be reckoned with."

On any keys to the match: "They came out in doubles playing very well. They just stayed solid through every position. I didn't feel there was a position we were getting, except at No. 6 where we were up. They were sound throughout their lineup, they won in doubles, and they have the home court, it all adds up to them being pretty tough."