Stanford, Wolters Finish No. 1 at Ojai

Holding up a gleaming trophy beats clapping politely for someone else doing the same, and doesn’t Ryan Wolters know that now.

Wolters, a Stanford senior, erased memories of losing two Pacific 10 Conference men’s singles finals in a row by defeating Gustavo Marcaccio of Arizona State, 6-4, 6-4, Sunday at the Ojai Valley tennis tournament.

The fact that Marcaccio wasn’t a teammate motivated Wolters, who lost to Paul Goldstein last year and Bob Bryan in 1997. Both were Stanford players.

“I was more nervous this morning and that told me I wanted to win more than in the past,” Wolters said. “The last couple of years it was good to get to the final, but it was a letdown to play a teammate.”

Wolters, ranked No. 4 in the nation and the team captain, particularly appreciated that his victory enabled Stanford to win outright its fourth consecutive Thacher Cup as the championship team. Marcaccio, a senior from Argentina, was the crowd favorite because of his quickness and flamboyance. However, he did not break Wolters’ serve until late in the second set.

The women’s singles, doubles and team titles also went to Stanford. Freshman Marissa Irvin completed her turnaround from three recent Pac-10 dual-match losses by defeating Ditta Huber of USC, 6-1, 7-6 (7-4), in the singles final.

Irvin, ranked No. 3 in the nation, did not lose a set in five matches in the tournament and avenged dual-match losses to Arizona State’s Allison Bradshaw and Huber.

Huber, ranked No. 13, fought back from a 5-2 deficit in the second set to force a tiebreaker. Irvin was thwarted on five match points, including three on serve.

Irvin and Teryn Ashley won the women’s doubles title by defeating Claire Curran and Anita Kurimay of California, 6-1, 6-2. The men’s doubles title went to Jean-Noel Grinda and Jong-Min Lee of UCLA, who beat Bruin teammates Jason Cook and Brandon Kramer, 7-6 (7-4), 7-6, (7-2).