Air Jordaan

The resurgence of the Terrapin women's tennis team this year has been one built on youth and new faces. Of the five players on the 10-person roster that are in their first year as Terps, four already have claimed the team's top singles spots.

And while junior transfer Cristina Sanchez-Quintanar, who strung together 14 consecutive singles victories to begin the season before losing Friday, may be the only ranked player among them, her doubles partner, Jordaan Sanford, has been just as important to the Terps' success.

A freshman from Diamond Bar, Calif., Sanford has quickly become a spark plug for the young Terps, winning in the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 singles slots this season. Although she has dropped three of her past four singles matches, Sanford had a streak of seven straight singles victories earlier this season. And along with Sanchez-Quintanar, she boasts a 16-1 doubles record on the season. Earlier in the year, she claimed match points in a win over Syracuse and an upset of a ranked Brown team.

"Jordaan's accomplishments have been enormous," coach Howard Joffe said. "They are even more special when understood in terms of the distance she has had to come away from home, being a freshman and adjusting to college."

Her dreams of being in this position at this stage in her career started early. She began playing tennis at age 5 and soon found inspiration in the U.S. Open matches she watched with her father. She modeled her style of play after Venus Williams, another Los Angeles County-bred woman who found success on the courts.

As Sanford got older and moved to a higher level, she entered local tournaments and began playing competitively. As a blue-chip prospect, a number of colleges targeted her for the next level, including national powers Notre Dame, Pepperdine and UCLA.

But it was this university that emerged as a contender after the urging of Sanford's father.

"I wasn't returning his calls for a while," Sanford said of Joffe's recruitment. "But my dad told me to give him a call, and I went here on a recruiting visit. He was really nice, and I fell in love with it here."

Similarly, Joffe and the Terps have fallen in love with her play. Sanford has become a consistent force in the team's top-three singles spots and a fixture on the nation's No. 39 doubles tandem. In the Terps' last match at Clemson, Sanford and Sanchez-Quintanar downed the No. 1 doubles duo in the country, the largest such upset in program history.

Asked about Sanford's youth and her potential for even greater accomplishments, Joffe stated what's become obvious to all.

"Her contributions to resurrecting our program are huge," Joffe said, "and yet I am confident we haven't even scratched the surface of what is to come with her."

munson@umdbk.com