Wednesday, 5/21/97 Stanford takes home championship Cardinal
trample Bulldogs, capturing third straight NCAA tennis title
By Mark Shapiro Daily Bruin Staff As the Stanford University
men’s tennis team won its third consecutive NCAA men’s tennis
national championship, and 15th in 21 years, one thing is
definitely certain: the Cardinal have no flair for the dramatic.
With a 2-0 lead in the championship match against Georgia, the
night was shaping up to be one of the most exciting in recent
memory, as five singles matches moved into third sets. But with
Georgia getting ready to make a move at the top three singles
spots, going up a break in two of them, Stanford senior Grant
Elliot clinched the championship with a third set victory at No. 5
singles in his final collegiate match. "It’s euphoria, it’s a
moment I’ll never forget," Elliot said. "I can’t imagine going out
in a better way." It was certainly a nail-biting match, one that is
belied by the final score of 4-0. And as the match wound down,
Stanford head coach Dick Gould began to sweat just a bit. "I wasn’t
doing well on my three courts," Gould, who was monitoring the front
three courts, said. "I must admit I was looking at the scoreboard.
They sure did the job out back today." The Cardinal started the
championship according to Hoyle, clinching the doubles point for
the fourth time in as many matches. With a 1-0 lead, Stanford moved
further out in front when junior Paul Goldstein downed Georgia’s
Hisham Hemeda 6-3, 6-4 at No. 4 singles. It was then that the nail
nibbling began. At No. 1 singles, Georgia’s John Roddick went up
3-1 in the third set over Ryan Wolters, and Stanford’s freshman
powerpack of Bob and Mike Bryan found themselves locked in three
set matches at third and fourth singles. It was another freshman
who set up Elliot’s heroics, as Stanford’s Geoff Abrams took No. 5
singles 6-1, 6-7, 6-4 over Kevin Sessions. With a 3-0 match lead,
it was Elliot’s time to shine. And shine he did, rallying from a
3-0 third-set deficit to down Georgia’s Rafael Jordan 3-6, 6-3,
6-4, touching off a celebratory dogpile on court No. 6. "(Winning)
is so unbelievable, it’s ridiculous," Abrams said. The year was a
dream season for the Cardinal, who opened the year with three
freshmen in their starting lineup, having lost one half of their
starters to graduation. After opening the season at No. 1, the
Cardinal dropped as low as No. 6 in the nation after losing to
Kentucky at the National Indoors. Stanford righted the ship down
the stretch, knocking off top-ranked UCLA at home, and earned the
No. 3 seed in the NCAA tournament. For Georgia, a phenomenal season
ended one step short of a championship that has eluded them for 10
years. Having spent most of the season in the top five in the
country, Georgia garnered the No. 4 seed in the tournament. The
Bulldogs made their first trip to the final in four years, downing
top-seeded UCLA in the tournament semifinals, but were upended by a
team with all of the momentum. "We’ve had a tremendous year,"
Georgia head coach Manuel Diaz said. "I couldn’t be prouder of this
bunch of guys. We fought hard and we’ll look back to this year as a
tremendous accomplishment." JON FERREY/Daily Bruin Freshman
sensation Bob Bryan was one of many Stanford players to contribute
to the team’s success and third consecutive NCAA men’s tennis
championship title. Previous Daily Bruin stories: Bulldogs,
Cardinal set for showdown May 20, 1997 Related Links: Stanford
Daily: Men battle to tough 4-2 win – Two top-10 Mississippi players
swept by Wolters, Bryan