NCAA women's tourney opens; Maze Cup to begin

   The 11th-ranked Stanford women opened the defense of their NCAA championship with a 4-0 victory over Quinnipiac on Friday at Stanford.
   In the clinching match at No. 2 singles, 51st-ranked Krista Hardebeck routed Jacqueline Raynor 6-1, 6-0.
   The Cardinal (17-2) will meet No. 53 Long Beach State in the second round today at 1 p.m. at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium. The 49ers edged No. 21 Tulsa 4-3 in 4 hours, 53 minutes.
   Meanwhile, the sixth-ranked Cal women trounced Fairleigh Dickinson 4-0 in the opening round at the Hellman Tennis Complex in Berkeley. Freshman Denise Starr, ranked 30th, provided the clincher at No. 1 singles by dismantling Ksenija Tihomirova 6-1, 6-1.
   The Bears (19-4), the Pacific-12 Conference champions, will face 24th-ranked Pepperdine (19-4) in the second round today at noon at the Hellman Tennis Complex. The Waves pounded No. 40 LSU 4-0.
   Sacramento State lost to third-ranked UCLA 4-0 at UCLA to end the season at 12-17.
   The NCAA men's tournament will begin today at sites around the country. 
   No. 17 Cal (15-7) will take on No. 41 Texas Tech (13-10) in College Station, Texas, at 7 a.m. PDT, with the winner likely facing host and 10th-ranked Texas A&M (24-6).
   No. 27 Stanford (14-5) will play No. 43 Tulsa (15-12) in Waco, Texas, at 9 a.m. PDT, with the survivor probably meeting host and sixth-ranked Baylor (23-5).      
   Juniors -- The Maze Cup, pitting Northern California against Southern California, is scheduled to begin today at 9 a.m. at the Berkeley Tennis Club.
   Representing NorCal are:
   --Billy Griffith of Fresno and Logan Staggs of Tracy in the boys 18s.
   --Victor Pham of Saratoga, Andrew Gu of El Cerrito and Alexander Keyser of Danville in the boys 16s.
   --Michaela Gordon of Saratoga and Rachel Chong of Danville in the girls 18s.
   --Alaina Miller of Saratoga, Vanessa Nommensen of San Jose and Sarah Hu of Oakland in the girls 16s.
   Gordon, 14, beat 24-year-old Denise Muresan, ranked No. 481 in the world, in the first round of a $25,000 Challenger tournament in Raleigh, N.C., this week. Gordon then lost to eighth-seeded Maria Sanchez, a Modesto product who will play in today's semifinals.