©Colette Lewis 2007--
Athens, GA--
For eight years running, there was one team you could pencil in as a finalist of the NCAA women's team championship. Stanford was the New York Yankees, the Tiger Woods, the Roger Federer of women's college tennis--until Monday evening, when the Cardinal lost to the UCLA Bruins 4-2, ending their hope for a fourth consecutive NCAA title.
The season's first indication that top-seeded Stanford might be vulnerable came at the ITA Team Indoor, when their 86 match winning streak came to an end courtesy of Georgia Tech. Then three 4-3 wins against Cal, USC and UCLA proved to those teams that the Cardinal weren't the juggernaut they had been in years past.
"They've been very intimidating because they've been so dominating," said UCLA head coach Stella Sampras Webster. "This year is different because they've had a lot of close matches. In the past they were just dominating, it was tough to win a match against them. Everyone knew this tournament was anyone's, whichever team was going to peak was going to be the winner."
With a 4-0 win over No. 5 Northwestern and 4-3 win over No. 4 Florida, the No. 12 Bruins are definitely peaking and Sampras Webster credits the improved doubles play as a key to their run.
"In April and May, when we finally had our doubles partners set, we were starting to win the doubles point," said Sampras Webster. "We stressed doubles in practice, and we knew if we had the doubles point we had a chance to win every match."
In their previous two losses to Stanford this season the Bruins had lost the doubles point, but not Monday evening, as UCLA won at the No. 1 and No. 2 positions to take a 1-0 lead.
Stanford evened the match when Theresa Logar handled Riza Zalameda 6-2, 6-2, but freshman Yasmin Schnack gave the Bruins a 2-1 lead with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Celia Durkin at No. 3.
Tracy Lin gave UCLA a 3-1 lead by beating Anne Yelsey 6-4, 6-4 for what she said was the first time ever, dating back to their days as Southern California.
"I was really nervous today," Lin said, "but I convinced myself I could do it. I got down 0-3 in the first set, but I knew if I could just win that first set, the match was mine."
With the main three courts finished, the action moved to Nos. 4, 5 and 6, with UCLA needing just one more point. Alex McGoodwin was trailing in the third set against Jessica Nguyen of Stanford, so that final point wasn't likely to come from her at No. 5. Bruin Ashley Joelson, who served for the first set of her No. 4 match with Whitney Deason but lost it in a tiebreak, had a big lead in the second set, while Liz Lumpkin at No. 6 was down a set and even in the second against Cardinal freshman Lindsay Burdette. While Lumpkin broke Burdette to force her to a third, Nguyen finally put away McGoodwin, closing the gap to 3-2. Joelson earned an early break and held it, although she needed to save two break points at 4-3 to keep Deason from pulling even. But Deason, for all her power, could not keep the ball in play long enough to truly threaten Joelson, and while Lumpkin held off Burdette, saving match points, Joelson stayed steady. When she broke Deason for a 6-7(4), 6-1, 6-3 win, the sophomore from Texas set off a riotous celebration.
"It's one of those things that you don't believe, but then you believe" said Joelson. "You knew you could do it, but then once you do it, it's like 'wow, we really did it.' Everyone's so excited."
It was nearly midnight when No. 3 Georgia Tech took the measure of an experienced and determined Cal-Berkeley squad, earning their chance for a national championship with a 4-2 win over the Bears. Due to lengthy matches earlier in the day, it was after 8 p.m. when the teams took to the courts at the Dan Magill Tennis Center, and Tech Coach Bryan Shelton had no doubt that his team was in for a long night.
"Cal's a great team. We knew they were going to come after us today," Shelton said. "We thought they'd come after us harder in the doubles, and they came out a little bit flat. We were so jacked up starting the match, and we got on them early."
After taking the No. 1 and No. 2 doubles matches for the point, Tech carried the momentum straight to the singles, winning the first set in four of the six singles, much to the delight of the hundreds of Georgia Tech supporters in the crowd. But only Amanda McDowell at No. 4 stayed on top, defeating Stephanie Kusano 6-3, 6-0 and giving Tech a 2-0 lead. It was much later when freshman Amanda Craddock defeated Nina Henkel 6-3, 2-6, 6-1 at No. 3 to make it 3-0 Georgia Tech, but by then, the Bears had made their move.
"I told the team that at some point they were going to come after us today," Shelton said. "And when they came hard, they got up, started rolling and the momentum started going their way."
Cristina Visico got the Bears on the board with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Tarryn Rudman at No. 6, and Susie Babos roared back to take a 2-6, 6-3, 6-0 decision from Tech's Kristi Miller at No.1. With Tech's Christy Striplin down 4-1 to Marion Ravelojaona at No. 5, it looked as if the No. 2 match between Alison Silverio and Zsuzsanna Fodor, in which Silverio had just forced a third set, would decide who would face UCLA on Tuesday.
But Striplin, who had been blitzed in her match against Notre Dame on Sunday, winning only one game, won five straight games to put her team in the final.
"She kind of broke down in the third," said Striplin, a sophomore. "I could sense she was getting tight. The momentum switched, and I carried with it. It's all mental with me--I psyched myself out yesterday. I know when I'm there and in the match, I can beat anyone in the nation, and when I'm not in the match I can lose to anyone."
After coming through three straight 4-2 matches, the Yellow Jackets have their final challenge Tuesday against UCLA, hoping to give their school its first NCAA title in women's sports. Shelton is expecting a battle.
"We're going to be up against it tomorrow," he said. "We understand that, and we felt the same way against Cal. But at this point, I definitely feel like things are going to go in our favor tomorrow. I truly belive that."
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