Stanford's Hardebeck crushed in Pac-12 final

UCLA's Kyle McPhillips, shown in last year's Australian Open
girls doubles event, demolished Stanford's Krista Hardebeck
to win the Pac-12 women's singles title. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Sunday couldn't have gone much worse for Stanford's Krista Hardebeck.
   In the most one-sided final in the history of the Pac-12 Championships, 40th-ranked Kyle McPhillips of UCLA trounced No. 19 Hardebeck 6-1, 6-0 in Ojai, Calif. Both players are freshmen.
   Hardebeck, from Santa Ana in the Los Angeles area, had defeated McPhillips, from Willoughby, Ohio, 7-5, 6-1 in Stanford's 4-3 victory over UCLA on March 29 in Los Angeles. McPhillips also lost to Cal freshman Klara Fabikova the following day but has won nine consecutive matches since then.
   McPhillips became the first UCLA player to win the conference singles title since Yasmin Schnack, from the Sacramento suburb of Elk Grove, in 2010 and the first Bruins freshman to do so since Sara Walker in 2000. Hardebeck was trying to become the third straight Stanford player to win the crown, following Kristie Ahn in 2011 and Nicole Gibbs last year.
   Gibbs, a Stanford junior, competed in the $50,000 Boyd Tinsley Clay Court Classic in Charlottesville, Va., instead of the Pac-12 Championships. She reached the singles quarterfinals, losing to Patricia Mayr-Achleitner of Austria, and the doubles final with fellow American Shelby Rogers, falling to Nicola Slater of Great Britain and CoCo Vandeweghe of the United States.
    Big Sky Conference Championships in Gold River, Calif. -- The Sacramento State women won their 12th straight title and the Sac State men their fifth in a row. Both teams defeated Montana 4-1 and advanced to the NCAA Tournament, which begins on May 10.
   The Sac State women (13-13) extended their conference winning streak to 105 matches dating to 2002. The Hornets' Rebeca Delgado, a senior from Mexico, pounded Heather Davidson, a senior from Rocklin in the Sacramento area, 6-2, 6-1 at No. 1 singles.
   Leading the Sac State men (17-12) was Marek Marksoo, a sophomore from Estonia who drubbed Mikolaj Caruk, a junior from Poland, 6-0, 6-0 at No. 1 singles. Sean Kolar, a sophomore from the Sacramento suburb of Loomis, clinched the title with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Ethan Vaughn at No. 4 singles.
   Family affair -- Siblings Michael and Ali Facey of Cameron Park, near Sacramento, played on losing teams in their respective conference finals.
   Michael, a senior at Montana, trailed 6-5 at No. 1 doubles and led 7-5, 4-5 at No. 3 singles when the matches were halted because Sac State had clinched the doubles point and then the title. His parents, Mike and Kim, watched the matches at the Gold River Racquet Club, about a 25-minute drive down Highway 50 from the family's home.
   The No. 31 UC Irvine women, with Ali Facey, fell to No. 45 Long Beach State 4-1 in Indian Wells. Facey, a sophomore, lost 8-6 at No. 2 doubles and 6-2, 6-4 at No. 5 singles. Her twin sister, Kat, also is on the Anteaters' roster but did not play against the 49ers.
   Big West Conference Championships in Indian Wells -- The Pacific men lost to UC Santa Barbara 4-2 in the final. The Tigers, who ended their season at 16-9, received victories from Denis Stolyarov at No. 3 singles and Ben Mirkin at No. 5 singles. The Gauchos (12-13) advanced to the NCAA Tournament.