Melissa Lord helps deliver Stanford women from 46th ranking to NCAA tennis title

A few years ago, Stanford women’s tennis coach Lele Forood got a call from Connecticut. It was the father of a Cardinal men’s player. His message was emphatic.

“You want Melissa Lord,” he said. “You really want Melissa Lord. She’s a phenomenal athlete and a great kid. Please, please, be recruiting her.”

Lord was already on Forood’s radar. “I saw her play at the national championships,” she said. “I knew she was a good, quality player. I didn’t know what kind of a competitor she was going to be for us. … She was one of the top-five kids coming into college her year.