NCAA TENNIS / MEN’S FINAL : No. 3 at Stanford, Palmer Is No. 1

Jared Palmer, Stanford’s No. 3 singles player, won the NCAA men’s tennis title Sunday at Athens, Ga., with a 6-2, 6-0 victory over Georgia’s Patricio Arnold, becoming the 10th Cardinal to take the championship and first unseeded player to win since Michigan’s Mike Leach in 1982.

Palmer, 38th in the Volvo Tennis Collegiate Rankings, won the final eight games of the 66-minute match. It was the largest margin in a championship match since the present format of both dual match and individual titles was introduced in 1977.

California’s Matt Lucena and Bent Pedersen defeated top-seeded Palmer and Jonathan Stark 6-2, 7-6 (8-6), in the doubles final.