Tennis is unable to hold lead

No. 19 women’s tennis could not hold on a 2-0 lead against No. 13 Stanford in the Pac-12 title match on Wednesday afternoon at the Ojai Valley Athletic Club, falling to the Cardinal 4-2 and losing for the first time in nine matches.

USC (12-5, 7-1) won the doubles point to kick off play with a strong 6-1 victory by freshmen Jessica Failla and Rianna Valdes over Stanford’s 67th-ranked Krista Hardebeck and Caroline Lampl followed by a 6-3 win by the No. 7 duo of senior Giuliana Olmos and sophomore Gabby Smith over Stanford’s No. 5-ranked Taylor Davidson and Caroline Doyle.

The Trojans jumped ahead by 2 points after junior Zoë Katz beat No. 82 Doyle to begin singles action. But Stanford (14-5, 9-1) stormed back to claim its first conference title since 2012 and 25th overall. No. 24 Olmos fell to Carol Zhao and No. 116 Madison Westby lost to No. 40 Taylor Davidson, both in two sets to even the score 2-2.

On Court 4, Rianna Valdes forced a tiebreaker in the second set against Melissa Lord, but ultimately lost 7-5, 7-6 (1), giving Stanford a 3-2 advantage. Caroline Lampl clinched for the Cardinal, defeating freshman Jessica  Failia in comeback fashion — 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 — for a 4-2 victory.

The date of the Women of Troy’s next team competition will be decided on May 3 when the NCAA Team Championship bracket is announced. Action in Ojai will continue Thursday as the singles and doubles competitions in the Pac-12 Championships take place through Sunday.