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 Edward Paige, whose son Nolan was playing for the Cardinal men’s team. 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 knew she was a good, quality player,” Forood said. “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.