WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - It was meant to be anyone other than Stanford this year. Until, of course, the Cardinal decided otherwise.
Closing the year on a dominating 20-match win streak, the Cardinal righted the ship in March, breezed through conference play in April and blitzed through the postseason in May, punctuating another incredible run by capturing its 19th NCAA championship with a 4-3 victory over Vanderbilt on Tuesday afternoon.
It might feel a little odd for 20-time national champion Stanford (19 NCAA, 1 AIAW), long regarded as the sport's gold standard having now won 19 of the possible 37 NCAA crowns, to be celebrating such success as an underdog.
But, really, how can it not? Matching its improbable 2016 NCAA title run as the lowest-seeded team at No. 15 to win it all, Stanford just ripped through a gauntlet of higher seeds in No. 2 North Carolina, No. 7 Georgia, No. 3 Duke and No. 1 Vanderbilt. The Cardinal has now won 20 of its last 23 NCAA Tournament matches when seeded lower than its opponent.
So, you'll have to forgive Stanford if this year's postseason ambush has a "been there, done that" feel. Five years ago, Stanford won it all as a No. 12 seed. Eight years ago, the Cardinal took home the hardware as a No. 8 seed. Stanford improved to 153-19 all-time in the NCAA Tournament and 44-5 during the month of May over the last eight seasons.
It would have been difficult to envision this type of reversal during the first week of March, when Stanford (24-3, 9-0 Pac-12) checked in at No. 46 in the national rankings, its lowest position in school history. The Cardinal was sitting at a modest 4-3 overall, with its three losses coming against postseason regulars such as Vanderbilt, Texas and Florida. Junior All-American Melissa Lord wasn't expected back for three more weeks following a shoulder injury and for the first time since the NCAA shifted to a 64-team field in 1999, Stanford was in serious jeopardy of not even hosting the first and second rounds for the first time.
But the wins started piling up, Lord got healthy and by the start of NCAA's, Stanford had skyrocketed 31 spots in the rankings. Its reward – despite winning the Pac-12 for a third straight year – was a No. 15 seed and possible matchups against North Carolina and Duke in a tournament setting played 90 minutes away.
Once again, none of it mattered, and Vanderbilt – which pounded Stanford 7-0 in Nashville back on Feb. 3 – became the latest victim in Stanford's annual practice of making a mockery of the bracket.
It certainly didn't matter when Vanderbilt (27-4, 12-1 SEC) secured the doubles point and grabbed a 1-0 lead in Tuesday's match. After all, Stanford had been in this exact position against North Carolina in the round of 16 and Duke in the semifinals. The Cardinal has now won 15 of its last 20 matches when losing the doubles point, a remarkable stretch that covers the last three years.
The Cardinal evened the match at 1-1 following a 6-3, 6-2 win from Emma Higuchi over Summer Dvorak at No. 6. The nation's top player at her position, Higuchi closed out the year with 17 consecutive wins, having not tasted defeat since Feb. 24.
Caroline Lampl then delivered a 6-4, 6-2 win at the No. 3 position, giving Stanford a 2-1 advantage. Notching her team-best 76th career win, Lampl's season paralleled Stanford's, with the junior winning 12 of her final 13 matches after a 9-6 start.
Vanderbilt leveled the match at 2-2 when 11th-ranked Astra Sharma defeated Michaela Gordon 7-6 (3), 6-3 at the top spot of the lineup.
Stanford surged in front 3-2 when Janice Shin picked up her 25th win of the season, taking down Emma Kurtz 6-3, 6-3 on court five.
The Commodores kept threatening and knotted the match at 3-3 after Amanda Meyer outlasted Emily Arbuthnott 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 at the No. 4 spot.
That left everything riding on court two, where Lord and Contreras had split sets. Lord, who missed the first meeting due to injury, made her presence felt with a 6-4, 2-6, 7-5 victory, improving to 15-0 over her career in NCAA team matches and providing her first clincher of the season.
The title also represented No. 117 for Stanford Athletics, which moved one spot in front of UCLA for the all-time lead in NCAA team championships.
No. 15 Stanford 4, No. 2 Vanderbilt 3
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DOUBLES
1) No. 11 Contreras/Sharma (VANDY) d. No. 3 Arbuthnott/Gordon (STAN) 6-3
2) No. 69 Kurtz/Smith (VANDY) d. No. 84 Lampl/
Kimberly Yee (STAN) 6-4
3) Lord/Shin (STAN) d. Meyer/Rosca (VANDY) 6-4
Order of Finish: 1, 3, 2
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SINGLES
1) No. 11 Astra Sharma (VANDY) d. No. 15
Michaela Gordon (STAN) 7-6 (3), 6-3
2) No. 40
Melissa Lord (STAN) d. No. 10 Fernanda Contreras (VANDY) 6-4, 2-6, 7-5
3) No. 93
Caroline Lampl (STAN) d. No. 44 Chris Rosca (VANDY) 6-4, 6-2
4) Amanda Meyer (VANDY) d. No. 43
Emily Arbuthnott (STAN) 4-6, 6-4, 6-2
5) No. 96
Janice Shin (STAN) d. Emma Kurtz (VANDY) 6-3, 6-3
6) No. 102
Emma Higuchi (STAN) d. Summer Dvorak (VANDY) 6-3, 6-2
Order of Finish: 6, 3, 1, 5, 4, 2
All-Tournament Team
No. 1 Singles - Astra Sharma, Vanderbilt
No. 2 Singles - Melissa Lord, Stanford
No. 3 Singles - Caroline Lampl, Stanford
No. 4 Singles - Ida Jarlskog, Georgia Tech
No. 5 Singles - Janice Shin, Stanford
No. 6 Singles - Emma Higuchi, Stanford
No. 1 Doubles - Astra Sharma and Fernanda Contreras, Vanderbilt
No. 2 Doubles - Emma Kurtz and Emily Smith, Vanderbilt
No. 3 Doubles - Meible Chi and Hannah Zhao, Duke
Most Outstanding Player - Astra Sharma, Vanderbilt
