Stanford’s Abrams Is Historic

Stanford senior Geoff Abrams added his name to another Ojai Valley tennis tournament perpetual trophy, beating the heat and Cardinal doubles partner Alex Kim, 7-6 (2), 6-7 (4), 6-4, to win the men’s Pacific 10 singles division Sunday at Libbey Park.

Abrams, a Newport Beach native, became the first player in the tournament’s 100-year history to win boys’ 14, 16, CIF and men’s Pacific 10 singles titles. It was the third time in the last four years that Stanford teammates have played for the championship.

“There was a lot of pressure on him to win another one,” Stanford Coach Dick Gould said of Abrams, who needed 2 hours 51 minutes to beat Kim. “You’re looking at two of the best players in the nation. They both had great weeks.”

Kim, Stanford’s No. 1 player and the tournament’s top-seeded player, broke Abrams serve three times in the third set, but still came up short.

“You break that many times and you think you should be able to hold on and win,” Kim said. “But I just wasn’t able to get it done.”

UCLA’s Brandon Kramer and Jong-Min Lee won in doubles, taking the Pac-10 title with a 3-6, 6-2, 7-5 victory over Oregon’s Guillermo Carter and Leslie Eisinga. The victory helped UCLA tie Stanford with 12 points in the Thacher Cup team competition. Stanford, the No. 1 team in the nation, won a share of its 10th team title in 11 years.

UCLA freshman Sara Walker overcame a personal tragedy to win the Pac-10 women’s singles title. Walker, whose mother was killed in a car accident a month ago, beat Arizona State’s Alison Bradshaw, 6-1, 6-1.

The Stanford women, top-ranked in the country at 25-0, won the Thacher Cup with 11 points.

Arizona’s Lindsay Blau and Michelle Gough won the Pac-10 women’s doubles, beating USC’s Kara Warkentin and Tiffany Brymer, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5. One-time Ojai resident Mark Ellis had the local crowd behind him during the final of the men’s open singles division. Ellis, now a Ventura resident, fell in the first set to Motecito’s Peter Jeschke, 6-0, coming back to win the final two sets, 6-4, 7-5.

San Diego’s Nicole Elliott-Herrmann beat San Bernardino’s Mary Fallara, 6-2, 6-3, to win the women’s open singles title.

Boise State lived up to its No. 1 seeding, beating No. 2 New Mexico, 4-0, for the men’s Big West championship.