Irvin, Granville Earn All-Stanford Final

Marissa Irvin of Stanford advanced to the individual final at the NCAA Division I women’s tennis championships for the second consecutive year after defeating Katarina Malec of Nevada Las Vegas, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, Thursday at Pepperdine.

Irvin, a sophomore from Santa Monica who plans to turn pro after this tournament, will play Cardinal teammate Laura Granville, a freshman, today at 1 p.m. for the title. Granville crushed fifth-seeded Aarthi Venkatesan of Georgia, 6-1, 6-0, in the other semifinal.

“It’s been a grueling week,” said Irvin, who attended Harvard-Westlake High in Studio City. “I don’t feel I’ve played anywhere near my capabilities.”

The top-seeded Irvin (28-2) lost to San Diego’s Zuzana Lesenerova in a third-set tiebreaker in last year’s final. She struggled against Malec, an unseeded player whom Irvin beat two months ago in straight sets. Malec (39-5) had Irvin down a set and 1-0 in the second when Irvin rebounded to win the next six games.

“There’s been a lot of pressure all year for me to win every match, basically love-love,” Irvin said. “I want to go out and play a good match [today].”

In doubles, Pepperdine’s team of Ipek Senoglu and Paola Palencia, bidding to make the first final in school history, lost to defending champion California, 6-4, 6-3. The Golden Bears will face Georgia in the final.