Stanford women beat Pepperdine in NCAA quarters

Emily Arbuthnott, shown on May 5, clinched No. 3 Stanford's 4-1 victory over No. 6
Pepperdine today in the NCAA Championships in Orlando, Fla. Photo by Mal Taam

   After losing the doubles point, the No. 3 Stanford women won four consecutive singles matches to defeat No. 6 Pepperdine 4-1 today in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Championships in Orlando, Fla.
   It's the fifth time this season that the Cardinal (26-1) has triumphed after losing the doubles point, according to gostanford.com. In fact, Stanford has won 20 of 25 matches after trailing 1-0 since 2016.
   Pepperdine (24-4) won both completed doubles matches at the USTA National Campus. No. 86 Daria Kuczer and Ashley Lahey beat No. 29 Emily Arbuthnott and Michaela Gordon, a sophomore from Saratoga in the San Francisco Bay Area, 6-4 to clinch the point.
   Defending champion Stanford then received straight-set victories from, in order, No. 108 Janice Shin on Court 5, No. 107 Emma Higuchi on Court 6, No. 29 Melissa Lord on Court 2 and No. 44 Arbuthnott on Court 4. Lord, a senior from Bloomfield, Conn., earned her 99th career singles victory.
   No. 37 Lahey, last year's NCAA singles runner-up, led No. 24 Gordon 6-4, 2-6, 2-0 on Court 1 when the match was abandoned.
   Stanford will face an even hotter team than itself when it meets No. 2 North Carolina (33-1) on Saturday at 11 a.m. PDT. The Tar Heels, who have lost to the Cardinal in the NCAA Championships for the past two years, defeated No. 7 UCLA 4-1 for their 24th straight win.
   In Saturday's other semifinal, No. 1 Georgia (27-1) will play No. 5 Duke (27-3) at 3 p.m.