Sports Briefs

TENNIS GLORY   The men’s tennis victory over Georgia turned into the sixth NCAA jewel in the university’s crown. A few days earlier, the women’s tennis team had beaten Florida to win Stanford’s fifth NCAA championship of 1997. They had won the national title six years in a row, from 1986 to 1991. Since then, they’ve been close, but no champions. Florida had beaten Stanford for last year’s national title, as it had done in 1994. Freshmen Lilia Osterloh and Anne Kremer, and senior Sandra De Silva won their singles matches; senior Katie Schlukebir lost; and it was up to freshman Teryn Ashley and junior Julie Scott to bring home the national title. Coach Dick Gould’s men’s tennis team got singles victories from senior Grant Elliott and juniors Paul Goldstein and Geoff Abrams, and a doubles victory from Goldstein and sophomore Ryan Wolters to clinch the title. This was the second time in 30 years that Stanford men’s tennis has won three straight NCAA championships. No other team ever has achieved this record and no other school has more national tennis titles: men’s 15 and women’s 10. In fact, either team alone has won more championships than all other men’s and women’s teams combined from 1973 to the present.

                                      Michelle Weiss

A PLACE FOR CHAMPIONS   The championship tennis teams couldn’t have played in a more fitting place ­ the recently renovated and renamed Taube Family Tennis Stadium. The stadium, which can now accommodate 2,500 spectators, underwent more than $10 million in renovations. For the improvements the tennis program received $2.5 million from Tad Taube, a Stanford graduate and real estate investor. More than 500 people donated to the project, among them Michelle Weiss, an All-American tennis player at Stanford from 1981 to 1984. She died of cancer in July 1996 and left $100,000 to the tennis program and another $5,000 to buy a chair in the tennis stadium in her name. Her father, learning of his daughter’s will, donated another $100,000. The facility includes an indoor championship court and practice range and 4,500 square feet of office and seminar space.

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