Bruins Can’t Overcome NCAA’s Cardinal Rule : College tennis: Stanford women beat UCLA, 5-1, in final for sixth consecutive national championship.

Stanford continued its dominance of women’s college tennis in general and UCLA in particular with a 5-1 romp over the Bruins in the team finals of the NCAA Women’s Tennis Championships Sunday at Stanford.

The title was Stanford’s sixth in a row and eighth in the last 10 years. The Cardinal has won 91 of its last 92 dual matches and 35 of 45 matches against UCLA since records began being kept in 1972.

“This has to be one of the sweetest, if not the sweetest because so many people got to see it,” Stanford Coach Frank Brennan said after his team become the first school to win the championship as host, with the finals drawing a crowd of 1,700. “This team is the closest team I’ve had in my 12 years here. That made my job a lot easier, because I didn’t have to put out a lot of fires dealing with personal conflicts.”

Stanford (26-1) wrapped up the match when No. 6 singles player Kylie Johnson downed Cammie Foley, 7-5, 3-6, 6-4.

Johnson held serve in the ninth and broke Foley in the final game when Foley double-faulted twice and hit a forehand long on match point.

Stanford also got victories from Debbie Graham, 6-4, 6-3, over Iwalani McCalla; Teri Whitlinger, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, over Stella Sampras; Heather Willens, 6-2, 7-5, over Kirsten Dreyer; and Laxmi Poruri, 6-3, 6-2, over Mamie Ceniza.

UCLA (23-5) got its only point when Kimberly Po, the nation’s 17th-ranked player, defeated No. 1 Sandra Birch, 7-5, 6-1. Birch, who missed Stanford’s first two matches of the tournament because of a stomach virus, was slowed by stomach cramps during the second set and had to serve underhanded.

The individual portion of the tournament begins today. Top-seeded Birch, 1989 singles champion, may not play. Defending champion Graham is seeded second.