Today, the No. 2 Stanford women’s tennis team heads to the Las Vegas desert for the sixth annual Freeman Memorial Women’s Tennis Championships, one of the final tournaments of the individual season.

Despite a flurry of injuries in the fall season and the loss of their No. 1 and 2 players from last year, the Cardinal women come into this weekend’s tournament as the second-ranked team in the nation.

Interestingly enough, the rankings administered by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association came as a shock to head coach Lele Forood.

“Quite frankly, I think we’re ranked too high right now,” Forood said. “There’s still a little too much disconnect between the team and individual rankings. We’re ranked ahead of teams with four to five players in the top 50 of the individuals right now and there’s no excuse for that.”

Stanford is currently ranked behind defending national champions Georgia Tech, who received 25 of the 26 first place votes. No. 3 UCLA garnered the remaining ballot, followed by No. 4 University of Florida and No. 5 University of Georgia.

“The teams to beat are Georgia Tech and UCLA, who got to the finals and lost nobody in their lineup from last year, and I certainly don’t see us ahead of either one as we start the season,” Forood said.

But, within a month, the National Team Indoors will reveal the teams who are truly at the top.

“In a month’s time, we’re going to meet in Madison, Wisc. with just about everybody who factors into the top 15 and the winner will be the number one team,” Forood said. “At that point in the middle of February, the rankings will be accurate because they will be based on that tournament where everybody plays everybody.

“Not until that point will there be any true rankings.”

In the singles rankings, Stanford was represented by junior Jessica Nguyen at 21st. She was followed by sophomore Lindsay Burdette (No. 39) and freshman Carolyn McVeigh (No. 58).

However, none of the Stanford doubles duos cracked the top-50 mark in the poll.

“It’s totally surprising,” Forood said. “But you know, we’re still figuring out our team. We haven’t played people together probably enough to get the results to get ranked, so this is a chance to try some other teams and we’re going to evaluate where we’re at based on how these teams work out.”

Still, Forood has complete confidence in her squad.

“We’ll be fine,” Forood added. “We have a really good lineup of players, but like I said, nothing means anything until the Indoors in a month.”

This weekend, the Cardinal women will get the chance to earn their lofty ranking at the highly competitive Freeman Championships.

The Championships will feature elite programs from across the nation including top-ranked Georgia Tech, No. 3 UCLA, No. 4 Florida, No. 8 Southern California, No. 12 North Carolina, No. 19 Arizona State and No. 45 Oregon.

At least 13 ranked individuals are slated to play, nine of which fall in the top-50 rankings. Leading the way is No. 7 Kristi Miller of Georgia Tech in the singles bracket.

Representing Stanford in the singles bracket are seniors Whitney Deason, Lejla Hodzic and Celia Durkin. Nguyen and freshmen Jennifer Yen and Hilary Barte will also compete in the singles.

The Card will also send three doubles teams: the combos of Barte and Durkin, Deason and Nguyen and Yen and Hodzic.

“There might be some more schools from back east coming, so it’s really a good mix of teams and conferences,” Forood said. “It gives us a chance to see who some of the new of people are for some of the schools that we won’t see on our schedules.”

Fortunately, Stanford has shown a penchant for playing in the desert — especially Durkin, who took home the title two seasons ago.

“We have played very well in Las Vegas over the years,” Forood said. “Celia hasn’t had a chance to play as much during the fall and I’m hoping that this is a good chance for her at a tournament she’s had success with in the past to basically get her season on track.”

Last year, however, freezing weather conditions halted play after the first round, leaving the tournament without a champion.

At the end of the month, Stanford will begin team competition against UC-Davis. But for now, the Cardinal women are set on finishing their individual season strong in the desert.

“We have a lot of people going who have had good memories at this tournament in the past and hopefully that’ll help them.”