Stanford women to send full singles lineup to NCAAs

Stanford's Kristie Ahn is seeded third in NCAA women's singles,
May 21-26 in Athens, Ga. Tri Nguyen/TriNguyenPhotography.com

   Stanford women's coach Lele Forood has done quite a recruiting job.
   The Cardinal women will send their entire singles lineup to the NCAA Championships. The Stanford men, however, were shut out.
   The NCAA today announced the men's and women's fields in singles and doubles for the May 21-26 competition in Athens, Ga. The 64-player singles and 32-team doubles brackets will be released in two weeks.
   Kristie Ahn, a senior from Upper Saddle River, N.J., is seeded third. Joining Ahn in Athens will be junior Ellen Tsay of Pleasanton, sophomore Krista Hardebeck of Santa Ana and freshmen Taylor Davidson of Statesville, N.C., Caroline Doyle of San Francisco and Carol Zhao of Canada.
   Ahn, 26-3 at No. 1 singles, is ranked third nationally. Zhao is 23rd, Davidson 40th, Tsay 49th, Doyle 52nd and Hardebeck 54th.
   Cal, meanwhile, will send four singles players to the NCAA Championships. Anett Schutting, a senior from Estonia, is seeded 9-16. Also representing the Bears will be junior Zsofi Susanyi of Hungary, sophomore Lynn Chi of Weston, Fla., and freshman Denise Starr of Brooklyn, N.Y.
   Schutting is ranked 19th, Susanyi 20th, Chi 25th and Starr 31st. Susanyi reached the NCAA semifinals as a freshman. 
   Also receiving NCAA singles bids were Jenny Jullien of Saint Mary's and Katie Le of Santa Clara.  Jullien, a senior from France, is seeded 9-16.
   In contrast to the women, only one man from a San Francisco Bay Area school, Cal senior Ben McLachlan, earned an NCAA singles berth. Mackenzie McDonald, a freshman from Piedmont, will represent UCLA.
   The women's doubles draw features Ahn and Zhao, and USC's Giuliana Olmos of Fremont and Zoe Scandalis. The men's doubles field includes Cal's Gregory Bayane and Chase Melton, and the UCLA pair of Marcos Giron and McDonald.
   The NCAA released the brackets for the team competitions, May 9-20, on Tuesday. Among the women's teams are fourth-ranked Cal, No. 9 and defending champion Stanford, and unranked Sacramento State. The men's field includes No. 19 Cal and No. 27 Stanford. 
   The first two rounds of the team tournaments will be played at schools across the country. The final 16 men's teams and 16 women's squads will advance to Athens to determine the national champions.