No. 5 Stanford continues to dominate their hypercompetitive nonconference schedule

The GIST: Play went mostly as expected on the courts this weekend, with a few surprises — and soccer-inspired moves — sprinkled in to keep you on your toes.

The weekend’s hero: No. 5 Stanford’s season always starts with a hypercompetitive nonconference schedule — and this year, it’s really paying off. The one-loss Cardinal crushed three Top-15 opponents in the last eight days, showing out for the West Coast in this weekend’s Big Ten/Pac-12 Challenge.

• Those huge wins, plus No. 6 Oregon’s 3-1 Saturday dub over No. 15 Ohio State, are more examples of the Pac-12 balling out in its last season (in this form, at least). Turns out, this year’s hottest ticket is the Pac-12 Goodbye Tour.

• The Cardinal will try to keep their hot streak alive in their grand finale of pre-conference play: They take on No. 4 Nebraska tomorrow at 9 p.m. ET, then No. 2 Louisville on Sunday. Beat the best to be the best, right?

Best of the rest: Speaking of Louisville, they earned their No. 2 rank yesterday with a 3-0 rout of No. 12 Penn State. And No. 13 Washington State caught some buzz with a 3-1 upset of No. 8 BYU on Friday, so expect this blazing-hot squad to climb in today’s poll drop.