Top Seeds Embree and Libietis Ousted in First Round of NCAA Singles Championships

©Colette Lewis 2013--
Urbana, IL

The Central Illinois weather gods answered the prayers of everyone involved in the NCAA Division I Team Tournament, with no rain delays in the six days of competition. But on the opening day of the singles competition Wednesday, the often-forecast rain finally emerged, with play stopped, and moved indoor on two separate occasions.

Top women's seed Lauren Embree of Florida and top men's seed Mikelis Libietis of Tennessee both saw their dreams of an NCAA singles title evaporate inside the Atkins Tennis Center, with Embree losing to Jacqueline Cako of Arizona State 6-3, 6-2 and Libietis falling to Mitchell Frank of Virginia 6-2, 6-1.

Embree and Cako, ranked 21st, began their match under cloudy skies at the Khan Outdoor Tennis Center, with Cako taking the first set 6-3. Embree, who had lost to Nicole Gibbs of Stanford 6-0, 6-1 in the Team Championship semifinals, was down a break at 3-2 in the second set, but was working her way back into the match, with the games getting much tougher for Cako to win as the match went on.  A shower, brief but heavy, interrupted the match around noon and because they were at 3-2 in the second set, Embree and Cako were one of the six matches sent indoors.

It proved the right move for the Cako, who won the next three games, and got her revenge for her 6-2, 6-3 loss to Embree in the first round of the ITA Riviera All-American last October.

"I definitely wanted to beat her after All-Americans," said Cako, a senior. "That's probably why I didn't get seeded this year, because I didn't do well at All-Americans. I don't play the fall season except for All-Americans, and I drew Lauren there. A tough draw."

Cako, who grew up in the Seattle area, said she is comfortable indoors, but hasn't played inside much during her career at Arizona State. Against Embree, Cako felt she could win if she stuck to her game plan.

"I felt like I played really well and I came out and executed my game plan really well. She wasn't doing much to hurt me, and I just attacked her," Cako said.

After her disappointing loss to Gibbs in the semifinals, ending the Gators run at a third consecutive championship, Embree was looking to close out her outstanding career at Florida with a good run in the individual tournament, which she can still do in the doubles championship, but there's no doubt her results the past three days stung the two-time Team Championship Most Outstanding Player.

"I thought Lauren played with a little bit of pressure, trying to win this tournament, while Jackie played freely and outplayed us," said Florida head coach Roland Thornqvist. "I feel bad for Lauren. She had hopes to win another team title and perhaps give it a run here in the individual championships, but it wasn't meant to be. She's greatly disappointed now, I'm sure, but when she gets away and thinks back on her career, I'm sure she'll be very proud, as we all are."

Thornqvist knows Embree's graduation leaves a huge hole in the Florida lineup.

"It goes way beyond the winning," said Thornqvist. "It's the way she prepares, practices, trains, it's lifted the whole boat for four years. People ask all the time how do you replace a player like that--you just don't. You have to, over time, hope that her footprint lives on, that everyone will continue to learn to train and act like she has. Hopefully we can get some good players next year that can pick up some of the slack, but you just can't replace a player like that."

Tennessee's Libietis was a question mark for the individual championships after he rolled his ankle in the quarterfinals against Tennessee last Saturday, but there was no structural damage, so the sophomore from Latvia took the court Wednesday afternoon against Virginia's title clincher Frank.

After the tense and emotionally draining 4-3 win over UCLA, Frank handled all the media interview requests, text messages and social media obligations, but didn't have time for much celebration.

"I was dealing most of the night with texts and Twitter and Facebook, making sure I responded to each person," said Frank, who won the two fall majors in 2011 as a freshman, but was injured throughout the 2012 fall season. "I've never had 70 text messages on my phone before. And Boland had like 700, so I can only imagine what he was going through."

Frank and Libietis also started outdoors, with Frank taking the first set easily, and Libietis showing few signs of hampered movement. Another brief shower, this one accompanied by a double rainbow, sent the match indoors, and while that would have appeared to be an advantage Libietis, who has a big serve, Frank continued to dominate despite the change in conditions.

"Deep down I was pretty upset that we had to go indoors," Frank admitted. "I felt like he was kind of losing it a little bit. But luckily I returned well indoors--he didn't serve his best today at all, I think he served a lot better against Jarmere (Jenkins), when he played him in the team match--so I was happy to get a couple of breaks indoors. I was nervous coming back in, because this guy has a huge game and you never know what's going to happen."

Despite his resume, which now includes an NCAA team title as well as the ITA All-American and the USTA/ITA Indoor Intercollegiate Championships, Frank, who was the No. 2 seed in last year's NCAA singles tournament, felt this was a big win for him.

"He's obviously earned his No. 1 ranking," said Frank. "This is a very good win for me. He's No. 1 for a reason. He's obviously done unbelievably this season. To be seeded No. 1 in the NCAAs is a tough thing to do, he's obviously been super consistent, so I'm happy to get the win."

Although Frank was able to overcome the well documented championship hangover, his teammate, No. 2 seed Alex Domijan, was not. Domijan fell to South Carolina's Tsvetan Mihov 6-4, 3-6, 6-2.

"I had nothing to lose," said Mihov, a junior from Bulgaria. "I was trusting my shots and my coach, and that helped me in the big moments in the match, especially in the third set."

Mihov made very few errors and handled Domijan's pace with little difficulty. Mihov acknowledged that his strength and concentration late in the match may have been partly due to Virginia's deep run in the team championships.

"Domijan played a lot of matches during this week," said Mihov. "They were tough matches. Congratulations to him and his team, it was a big time win, but I thought it would be easier for me because he had tough matches."

The only one of the two top seeds in the men's and women's draw to survive the first day was women's No. 2 Sabrina Santamaria of Southern Cal, who played under the lights on the north courts after the second rain delay and collected a 6-3, 6-2 win over Texas A&M's Nazari Urbina.

Defending champion Nicole Gibbs of Stanford, a 9-16 seed, was also still on the courts late into the evening, finishing her tough 7-5, 6-4 victory over the hard-hitting Yang Pang of Arkansas after 10 p.m.

In addition to Embree, three other seeds fell on the women's side, with Sofie Oyen of Florida, a 9 seed, losing to Stefanie Tan of TCU 6-3, 6-4,  Danielle Lao of Southern Cal, a 9 seed, falling to Breaunna Addison of Texas 1-6, 6-4, 6-3, and No. 8 seed and USTA/ITA Indoor Intercollegiate finalist Anett Schutting of Cal dropping a 7-5, 6-3 decision to Natalie Beazant of Rice.

The men lost even more seeded players than the women Wednesday, with half of the top eight seeds already eliminated.

No. 6 seed Emilo Gomez of Southern Cal lost to Jarryd Botha of Alabama 6-7(5), 6-3, 7-5 and No. 5 seed Romain Bogaerts of Mississippi State lost to UCLA's  Marcos Giron under the lights 6-4, 7-6(2), and Nik Scholtz of Ole Miss, a No. 9 seed, fell to Clifford Marsland of Tulsa 6-1, 6-4.

The second round of singles and first round of doubles is scheduled for Thursday.

The complete results and draws can be found at the tournament central page.

Finally and Again: Virginia Men and Stanford Women Claim NCAA Division I Team Titles in 4-3 Thrillers

©Colette Lewis 2013--
Urbana, IL--

For the Virginia men, it was a long delayed first title, for the Stanford women, it was title number 17, but both teams were deliriously happy to come out on the winning end of 4-3 decisions Tuesday at the Khan Outdoor Tennis Center at the University of Illinois.

No. 2 seed Virginia's win over top seed UCLA was possible only when Adrien Puget's winning backhand volley on match point was negated by his toe touching the net as he completed the follow through on his shot up 5-3, 40-30 in the third set against Mitchell Frank in the last match on court.

The chair umpire made the call and both the referee and assistant referee confirmed it,  but that consensus didn't make it any easier for UCLA head coach Billy Martin.

"We had it," said Martin, who in his 20 years as UCLA head coach couldn't recall a similar incident. "I guess he touched the net. We'd started to celebrate ourselves. I'm sure they didn't make a wrong call, but wow, it's just hard to imagine we were that close and didn't get it. I've been in the other position, but it's a tough pill to swallow in this particular match, with its importance."

The match had come down to Puget and Frank on court 3 after three hours of play had provided few clues on which was the better team.

Virginia took the doubles point with Jarmere Jenkins and Mac Styslinger defeating Dennis Novikov and Marcos Giron 8-2 on court 1 and Justin Shane and Julien Uriguen earning a 8-5 win over Alex Brigham and Clay Thompson at court 3, with UCLA leading on court 2 when Shane and Uriguen secured the point for Virginia.

Shane, who had lost both his matches in Virginia's previous two NCAA finals, and was serving for the match against USC's Yannick Hanfmann last year, only to lose the clinching match in a third set tiebreaker, wiped away those bad memories with a quick 6-2, 6-2 win over Thompson on court 5.

UCLA had taken the first sets on three courts, with Giron leading Alex Domijan on 2, Dennis Mkrtchian getting up on Styslinger on 4 and Puget blowing past Frank on 3 in the first set 6-0.

Uriguen had given Virginia the first set at 6 against Karue Sell, and when Jenkins won a first set tiebreaker in an extremely well-played opening set with Novikov, the Cavaliers also had three first sets.

But under the pressure of a national championship, and with the quality of the players on the courts, easy two-set matches were unlikely.  UCLA pulled even when Mkrtchian defeated Styslinger 6-4, 6-3, and Marcos Giron produced his second consecutive outstanding match in as many days, beating Alex Domijan 6-4, 6-4.

Frank had shaken off the nerves and taken a 4-2 lead in the second set over Puget, with the hundreds of Virginia fans who had made the trip to central Illinois starting a chant of "Mitchell, Mitchell, Mitchell, Mitchell," when he earned a break point for 5-2.  He converted it, but couldn't serve out the second set there, although he did squeeze through a deuce game, saving two break points, to win the second set 6-4.

Meanwhile, Jenkins had taken command against Novikov, who began to miss some of the shots he had made throughout the first set.  Serving at 3-5, Novikov got down 0-40, saved four match points, but double faulted on his fifth to give Jenkins the 7-6(3), 6-3 win and the Cavaliers a 3-2 lead.

Sell had earned a third set with Uriguen at 6, so UCLA was still very much in the match. Uriguen, unable to hold serve even once in the final set, trailed 4-0 and 5-1, and Sell finished the match off with yet another break for a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory and a 3-3 score.

Just as Sell collected his victory, Frank, serving down 3-4, was broken, looking nervous despite his reputation as unshakable competitor. He netted a forehand on break point to give Puget an opportunity to give UCLA their 17th title and their first since 2005, and the junior from France worked his way to that team match point before the ill-fated volley winner that wasn't.

Understandably shaken by the loss of that team match point, Puget made two errors and Frank was back on serve, sending the fans, now all crowded behind court 3, into a cheering frenzy.  Frank was down 15-30 in the next game, but Puget missed a passing shot and hit two shots long, and it was 5-5.

The "UVA, UVA" chants began, and Puget, up 15-0 at 5-5, lost the next four points.  After the changeover, Puget lost three more points, giving Frank three match points, but the drama was far from over.
On the first match point, Frank called a ball on the baseline long, but was overruled by the chair umpire. On the second match point, Frank's teammates on the sidelines, sure he had secured the win with a shot that Puget somehow got back, yelled out during the point, and Frank netted the next shot.  He asked for a hindrance, but since it was his own teammates, the referee did not agree, and Frank was down to his last match point.  He finally ended a half dozen years of frustration for Virginia, when Puget sent a forehand wide, setting off a wild celebration on the court and in the stands.

Puget went to the bench and collapsed into sobs, while Virginia head coach Brian Boland and assistant coach Andres Pedroso shared a long, quiet embrace.

"It's been a long journey," Boland said. "We've been here so many times, lost in close national championships the last two years. People kept telling me, colleagues and friends, that it's going to happen, it's going to happen, and all I've ever told the guys, is that we've got to give ourselves a chance. There's no guarantees. It's sports, and we gave ourselves a chance, and this time it worked out for us."

Despite the wrenching nature of the loss, Martin could still appreciate the joy Virginia was experiencing.

"I think I lost five or six finals before I got my one," said Martin, who was an assistant at UCLA before taking over the program in 1994, and was quick to empathize with the disappointment Virginia had experienced the past six years.  "There's some consolation there. But does the joy of that overtake the pain of losing this? No."

Boland also made a point of recognizing the former players who didn't win a national title, but were instrumental in taking the program to prominence.

"Losses can be painful, and every player deals with it differently," Boland said. "This is a win for all those former players who didn't have this moment, but they got us here. Somdev Devvarman, who meant so much to our program, Sanam Singh, Michael Shabaz, so many others, who put in such a great effort and it just never turned their way. Today was our day. People were telling me over the years, your day will come. And it finally happened."

Senior Jarmere Jenkins, who was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player, could sympathize with Puget's misfortune, while acknowledging his own emotions in ending his career with a national championship.

"They played their hearts out today and that match point that they had was unfortunate," Jenkins said. "But Mitchell's the hardest worker on the planet, and when you work hard, you can expect good things to happen."

"I had to let go a couple of tears earlier," Jenkins said. "This feels great. I can't put it in words. I remember making my decision to come to UVA, sitting in a room by myself, wondering if I made the right decision. As these four years have gone by, it's probably the best decision I've ever made in my life. Not only have I gotten a lot better as a tennis player, but I've grown as a person. Losing those matches the past few years, coming so close, we were hurt, but this is a special group of guys. We deserved more than anything to win it today."

No. 2 Virginia 4,  No. 1 UCLA 3
1 p.m. CT – South Courts
Singles
1. #3 Jarmere Jenkins (UVA) def. #27 Dennis Novikov (UCLA)  7-6(3), 6-3
2. #25 Marcos Giron (UCLA) def. #2 Alex Domijan (UVA)  6-4, 6-4
3. #39 Mitchell Frank (UVA) def. #22 Adrien Puget (UCLA)  0-6, 6-4, 7-5
4. #75 Dennis Mkrtchian (UCLA) def. #28 Mac Styslinger (UVA)  6-4, 6-3
5. Justin Shane (UVA) def. #119 Clay Thompson (UCLA)  6-2, 6-2
6. Karue Sell (UCLA) def. Julen Uriguen (UVA)  4-6, 6-3, 6-2

Doubles
1. #4 Jenkins/Styslinger (UVA) def. #42 Giron/Novikov (UCLA)  8-2
2. #77 Puget/Sell (UCLA) vs. #21 Domijan/Frank (UVA)  7-4*
3. #89 Shane/Uriguen (UVA) def. Brigham/Thompson (UCLA)  8-5

Order of Finish: Doubles (1,3); Singles (5,2,4,1,6,3)
* = unfinished

All-Tournament Team
No. 1 Singles: Blaz Rola, Ohio State
No. 2 Singles: Marcos Giron, UCLA
No. 3 Singles: Mitchell Frank, Virginia
No. 4 Singles: Devin McCarthy, Ohio State
No. 5 Singles: Garrett Brasseaux, Georgia
No. 6 Singles: Karue Sell, UCLA

No. 1 Doubles: Jarmere Jenkins/Mac Styslinger, Virginia
No. 2 Doubles: Adrien Puget/Karue Sell, UCLA
No. 3 Doubles: Justin Shane/Julen Uriguen, Virginia

Most Outstanding Player
Jarmere Jenkins, Virginia

=============================================

Of all the adjectives used to describe the Stanford women's tennis program, underdog is not one of them.  Their 4-3 win over Texas A&M Tuesday evening gave the Cardinal their 17th title, while Florida, their nearest rival, has six.

But entering the tournament as the No. 12 seed, Stanford defeated the No. 5, No. 4, No. 1 and No. 3 seeds, becoming the lowest seed to ever win an NCAA team title, and proving that reaching their peak at the right time and staying healthy could put them back in the winner's circle again.

"This has been a great team for a long time," said Stanford head coach Lele Forood.  "A lot of them are juniors and seniors, who contributed heavily to this win, and for Kristie Ahn to clinch, it's just poetic justice. She's been the missing player for the last two years at the end of the season, and we weren't able to get it done without her, and when we got her back, we got it done."

Ahn, who suffered an ankle injury and couldn't compete in 2011 and barely played due to assorted injuries in the months prior to the 2012 NCAA tournament, trailed Cristina Stancu 2-0 in the final set of the last match on Tuesday night.

She roared back to win the final six games of the match, earning a 7-5, 4-6, 6-2 victory that gave Stanford a 4-3 decision over a Texas A&M team making its first appearance in a national final.

Stanford took the doubles point on court 3, with with Natalie Dillon and Krista Hardebeck defeating twins Paula and Ines Deheza 8-5, after Texas A&M had won on court 1, and Stanford on court 2.

As they had done against UCLA in the semifinals, Texas A&M came out strong in the singles, taking four first sets, while Stanford could manage only two.

The most surprising first set was at line 1, where 2012 NCAA champion Nicole Gibbs had lost 6-0 to Cristina Sanchez-Quintanar, and was down 2-0 in the second set.

Forood, who doesn't spend much time coaching on court, made a brief visit to the bench after the first set and listened more than she talked.

"She said, I have to win this match," Forood said. "I have to do some things differently, because I have to win this match. And so it was her urgency and I think she found a little more energy. I think she felt a little sluggish in her legs early in the match and her opponent was playing beautifully, extremely well. But she found some energy, was able to plug away, get the momentum in her favor and things got rolling for her after that."

Gibbs wanted to provide a lift to her teammates, and while she had confidence in them, she knew her point was crucial.

"I've had a leadership role on this team, and it's really hard to see your No. 1 player go down 6-0, 6-0," said Gibbs. "We saw that yesterday with Florida, when I was lucky enough to rattle a couple off of Embree. That's a tough blow to come back from, so I think just sitting there thinking about the impact I was having on my team from losing just made me dig a little bit deeper, get through being tired, being exhausted from all the energy we've been putting into this week as captains, and just push through. Evidently it worked. It was the weirdest match I've ever played in my life, but I'll take it today."

After losing the first eight games of the match, Gibbs won the next 12, and although the result, a 0-6, 6-2, 6-0 win for Gibbs, was an unusually abrupt shift in games won, the points remained well-played and entertaining, with errors rare and winner frequent.

Prior to Gibbs' comeback, Stacey Tan had posted Stanford's second point with a 7-5, 6-3 win over Ines Deheza, making it 3-0, but the Cardinal was down a set or in the third in the four other matches, with Stancu taking the second set from Ahn at line 2.

Anna Mamalat gave the Aggies their first point with a 6-1, 7-5 win over Ellen Tsay at 5, and Nazari Urbina came back from a break down in the second set to earn a 6-3, 7-6(3) victory and cut the deficit to 3-2.  Meanwhile Stefania Hristov had built a 4-0 lead in the third set over Dillon court 6, and Ahn began to realize that it may come down to her.

"I was looking around and I thought we could get some third sets going on at 3 and 5, and Dilly was in the third set set," said Ahn. "So I was not complacent, but thinking we were in a good place, and all of a sudden it dawned on me that, oh, this could come down to me."

Ahn could sense that Stancu was nervous at that prospect.

"She started shanking balls, and pushing a little bit," Ahn said. "But I was like, this is it. Watching Krista last night was so inspiring, and I kind of drew from that. I can't tell you the amount of good energy I felt, how absurd that it was coming down to a 4-2, 4-3 match in the finals, it's crazy. And I started smiling uncontrollably. Life does not get more absurdly wonderful than this."

By the time Hristov completed her 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 victory over Dillon, Ahn was up 5-2 and serving for the match and the title. She saved two break points for deuce, when Dillon got a point penalty for throwing her racquet after her loss to Hristov.  The penalty would be assessed to Ahn, but not until the next game, and as it turned out, there wouldn't be another one.  Stancu hung tough, saving one match point when Ahn netted a forehand, and a second on some stellar defense, handling Ahn's massive forehand time after time and finally drilling one of her own at Ahn.

But on the next point, Stancu's slice drifted long, and for match point number three, Ahn produced an excellent first serve, which Stancu got a racquet on, but couldn't get into the court.

The celebration was exuberant and the satisfaction immense for both teams.

"There's no question the eight ladies on our team are awful good," said Howard Joffe, in his second season at Texas A&M. "In respect to today's match, I certainly don't feel we played our very best, and we still came within a couple points here and there of actually winning the title. We have a very good team."

For Gibbs, who returned to school this year with the goal of winning the team title, securing it was much more fulfilling that her individual titles in singles and doubles in 2012.

"It means so much more to me than any of the individual titles last year," Gibbs said. "Obviously it's awesome to have all three under my belt, but this was the one I wanted. I came back to school after having such a good year to chase after this title, and having it just means so, so much. It's everything I ever could have wanted. I'm so happy I got it."

===========================================
No. 12 Stanford 4,  No. 3 Texas A&M 3
5 p.m. CT – South Courts
Singles
1. #13 Nicole Gibbs (STAN) def. #4 Cristina Sanchez-Quintanar (TAMU)  0-6, 6-2, 6-0
2. #25 Kristie Ahn (STAN) def. #68 Cristina Stancu (TAMU)  7-5, 4-6, 6-2
3. #52 Nazari Urbina (TAMU) def. #14 Krista Hardebeck (STAN)  6-3, 7-6(3)
4. #103 Stacey Tan (STAN) def. Ines Deheza (TAMU)  7-5, 6-3
5. Anna Mamalat (TAMU) def. #92 Ellen Tsay (STAN)  6-1, 7-5
6. Stefania Hristov (TAMU) def. Natalie Dillon (STAN)  6-2, 3-6, 6-1

Doubles
1. #18 Stancu/Hristov (TAMU) def. #8 Ahn/Gibbs (STAN)  8-3
2. #28 Tan/Tsay (STAN) def. #49 Wen/Sanchez-Quintanar (TAMU)  8-4
3. Dillon/Hardebeck (STAN) def. Deheza/Deheza (TAMU)  8-5

Order of Finish: Doubles (1,2,3); Singles (4,1,5,3,6,2)


All-Tournament Team
No. 1 Singles: Nicole Gibbs, Stanford
No. 2 Singles: Kristie Ahn, Stanford
No. 3 Singles: Nazari Urbina, Texas A&M
No. 4 Singles: Stacey Tan, Stanford
No. 5 Singles: Olivia Janowicz, Florida
No. 6 Singles: Caroline Hitimana, Florida

No. 1 Doubles: Cristina Stancu/Stefania Hristov, Texas A&M
No. 2 Doubles: Stacey Tan/Ellen Tsay, Stanford
No. 3 Doubles: Krista Hardebeck/Natalie Dillon, Stanford

Most Outstanding Player
Nicole Gibbs, Stanford

ITA National Award Winners

At today's luncheon at the University of Illinois Colonnades Club above the football stadium, the ITA announced its National Award winners.  Players of the Year will be named later.


MEN:
ITA/Arthur Ashe Award for Leadership & Sportsmanship-Henrique Cunha, Duke
Farnsworth/ITA Senior Player of the Year-Jarmere Jenkins, Virginia
ITA Rookie Player of the Year-Romain Bogaerts, Mississippi State
ITA Player to Watch-Mikelis Libietis, Tennessee
ITA/Rafael Osuna Award-Sebastian Fanselow, Pepperdine
ITA Assistant Coach of the Year-Chris Woodruff, Tennessee
ITA Coach of the Year-Sam Winterbotham, Tennessee
NCAA Elite 89 Award-Victor Valente, Georgia State

WOMEN:
ITA/Arthur Ashe Award for Leadership & Sportsmanship-Hannah Duke, Air Force Academy
ITA Senior Player of the Year-Lauren Embree, Florida
ITA Rookie Player of the Year-Julia Elbaba, Virginia
ITA Player to Watch-Ema Burgic, Baylor
ITA/Cissie Leary Award for Sportsmanship-Mary Weatherholt, Nebraska
ITA Assistant Coach of the Year-Alex Santos, Miami
ITA Coach of the Year-Jenny Mainz, Alabama
NCAA Elite 89 Award-Emily Zabor, Alabama

Virginia and UCLA Meet for Men's Division I Title; Stanford and Texas A&M Will Determine Women's Champion Tuesday

©Colette Lewis 2013--
Urbana IL--

Accepting the pressure of being the last match on is never easy, but two freshmen and a sophomore came up with the biggest victories of their careers Monday in the men's and women's semifinals of the NCAA Division I team championships at the Khan Outdoor Tennis Center at the University of Illinois.

The wind, which was over 20 mph when the men's semifinals began at 1 p.m., didn't make for pretty tennis, but UCLA sophomore Marcos Giron made the necessary adjustments, getting his only break of his match with Ohio State's big serving Peter Kobelt at 4-5 in the third set of the deciding match to put the Bruins in their first NCAA final since their 2005 championship.

"His serve wasn't really popping as big as it usually is due to the wind, but it was really tricky because there was so much action on the ball," said Giron, who posted a 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-4 victory. "But at the end of the second set you could see his shots were starting to have a little less pizazz, didn't have the same pop, and that's how I was able to take the second set tiebreaker."

Top seed UCLA had the cushion of the doubles point, with No. 5 Ohio State really struggling with the windy conditions, and losing at lines 1 and 2.

But the Buckeyes won three first sets in singles, and although UCLA took a 2-0 lead with Clay Thompson's 6-1, 6-1 win over Chris Diaz at No. 5, Ohio State got a boost from Devin McCarthy, who defeated Dennis Mkrtchian 6-1, 6-3 at line 4 to make it 2-1.

Ohio State's Blaz Rola got the second set that the Buckeyes needed against Dennis Novikov at No. 1, and almost simultaneously Ohio State's Connor Smith defeated Adrien Puget at line 3 6-2, 7-6(5), and UCLA's Karue Sell downed Constantin Christ 6-4, 7-6(5) at line 6 to give UCLA a 3-2 lead.

The match would be decided at courts 1 and 2, with Ohio State needing both points.  Rola took a 4-2 lead in the third set against Novikov, and after a third overrule, Novikov was penalized a point, giving Rola a 5-2 lead.  The UCLA sophomore smashed his racquet on his foot and was given a game penalty, quickly ending the match and turning all the attention to court 2, which may not have helped the Buckeyes.

"You hope that doesn't happen," said Ohio State coach Ty Tucker. "Because maybe Rola goes to serve it out, takes five more minutes, and Peter's not feeling the weight of the world on his shoulders, maybe he gets that hold for 5-all. But if ifs and buts were candy and nuts it'd be Christmas every day."

Despite not making a single first serve, Kobelt did have a 40-15 lead in the 4-5 game, but a forehand long by him and a forehand winner by Giron brought it back to deuce.  Another stray forehand gave Giron a match point, and with the crowd gathered behind court two eerily quiet, the only sound was the clanking of cables as the wind rattled the NCAA flags against their poles.

Adding a bit of spice to the tense moment was the knowledge that Giron was playing with two overrules, and had been since 4-4 in the second set.  Kobelt's first serve appeared a couple of inches long, and although he asked the umpire to confirm, there was no argument when he did.  The second serve never made it over the net, as it didn't touch the strings, but went off the frame, high into the air, and while the UCLA players stormed Giron on the court, Kobelt, the hero in Ohio State's quarterfinal victory over USC on Saturday, crumpled to the ground, his 6-foot-7 frame shrinking into the court.

"In the third set, especially when it comes down to the last match, you don't know what's going to happen from a coaching standpoint," said UCLA coach Billy Martin. "You want some breaks, but you don't know nerve-wise what's going to happen. It seemed like [Kobelt] got a little tight, he didn't make one first serve out of eight that last game, and you hate to be in that position. But Marcos has been there for us, as I'm sure Peter has too, but Marcos held up under the pressure and thank goodness we're moving on."

Giron, who clinched the Bruins win over USC in a third-set tiebreaker, was elated he could help his team advance to the final.

"This is definitely not the first match I've clinched," said Giron. "So I've had experience in that situation, where everyone around you is cheering at you, and you learn to block it out. It's really a fantastic feeling coming through for yourself and your teammates."

UCLA's opponent in the final will be No. 2 seed Virginia, who reached the championship match for the third consecutive year with a hard-fought 4-1 win over No. 3 Georgia.

The Cavaliers took the doubles point, but Georgia came out with great resolve in the singles, getting early breaks on three courts, and taking the first sets at lines 1 and 2, where Virginia is considered strongest.  Ben Wagland made it 1-1 with a 7-5, 6-3 win over Jarmere Jenkins at No. 1, but Mitchell Frank gave Virginia a 2-1 lead a few minutes later with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Austin Smith at line 3.  Julien Uriguen made it 3-1 with his 6-3, 7-5 victory over Marcos Nunez at line 6, and at line 5, Mac Styslinger was primed to make it a relatively straightforward 4-1 win when he had two match points against Garrett Brasseaux who was serving down 4-6, 4-5 15-40.  But Brasseaux saved not only those two, but two more serving at 5-6, to reach a tiebreaker, which he proceeded to win after saving another match point, his fifth.

Meanwhile Georgia's Hernus Pieters had broke Ryan Shane at line 4 to force a third set, and although Virginia's Alex Domijan had won his second set against Nathan Pasha at line 2 and was leading 4-2 in the third, Pasha got the break back to make it 4-4.  But Pasha was unable to hold after that break, double faulting three times in the game, including on the last two points, and Domijan served out the match to take a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory.

"It was really competitive," said Domijan. "It kind of looked like we were going to secure it pretty safely midway through the singles, but they fought back. They are helluva competitors, they played real well. They've been facing adversity and kind of banding together as a team.  I was not expecting them to go away, I knew they were going to fight. I think we did a good job as a team of staying focused and finishing the job."

Domijan, a junior from Florida, has been to the finals now each of the three years he has been at Virginia, but hasn't yet held the winner's trophy.

"I'm looking forward to it," Domijan said. "UCLA is stacked, 1-6, we're stacked 1-6, so it's going to be a hell of a match. We didn't train as hard as we did to lose. Hopefully we just go out there and compete as hard as we can and get it done."

Virginia coach Brian Boland was impressed with the Georgia team, who lost their top player KU Singh when he abruptly left the team prior to the NCAA tournament.

"It was a great match," Boland said. "Credit to Georgia. They played a great match and fought incredibly hard. You get to this point and the matches are amazing. We'll be ready for tomorrow, we're excited to be in another national championship. Being here the last couple of years really will help us."

It was unlikely that the women's semifinals would match the tension the men produced, but they equaled and then exceeded it, with Stanford's Krista Hardebeck coming all the way back from a set and 5-1 down to deliver the No. 12 seeded Cardinal into the final with a 4-3 victory over arch rival and top seed Florida.

Hardebeck won five games in row against Florida junior Alex Cercone at line 3 to take a 6-5 lead in the second set, only to have Cercone finally hold, forcing a tiebreaker.  Even with Stanford up 3-0 by virtue of the doubles point, a shockingly brief 6-0, 6-1 win by Nicole Gibbs over Lauren Embree at line 1, and Kristie Ahn's 6-1, 6-4 win over Sofie Oyen at line 2, a quick and easy victory was not anticipated by anyone.  Florida's Brianna Morgan made it 3-1 with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Stacey Tan at line 4 and Caroline Hitimana gave Florida point number 2 with a 1-6, 6-1, 6-0 win over Natalie Dillon at 6.  It looked as if Cercone would put the match onto the shoulders of Florida's Olivia Janowicz and Stanford's Ellen Tsay when she ran out to a 7-6(5), 5-1 lead, but she was unable to stop her downward spiral.

The match had hit the four hour mark when Janowicz got a late break to defeat Tsay 6-2, 3-6, 6-4, and Hardebeck and Cercone were at 2-2 in the third set.  Although Cercone had never lost a singles match in her previous two NCAA appearances and was the hero of Florida's 4-3 win over Duke in the semifinals last year, she was struggling with cramps against Hardebeck, receiving frequent medical attention on changeovers.

"When I saw her getting medicals, and grabbing her leg, I thought, I am more physically into this than she is," said Hardebeck, who also clinched the Cardinal's 4-1 win over No. 4 seed Georgia on Sunday.

With Cercone electing to keep Hardebeck off balance with more slice and no pace, Cercone needed to be able to defend well and hit a lot of balls, but that strategy was thwarted by her physical problems.

"That's always a difficult game style to play," said Hardebeck. "I definitely had to tell myself--I like to hit winners--so I said to myself, calm down, you just need to work out the points and really focus."

"She's the kind of player always going for her shots, no matter where it is in the match, and that's sort of who we are as a team," said Stanford head coach Lele Forood. "The last two days she's gotten way down in matches and then been very clutch. I'm hoping tomorrow she doesn't get way down. But she's just been beautifully composed and put herself back in the matches."

The two played evenly until 3-3, when Hardebeck got the break, held at love, then broke Cercone for the victory to send Stanford into the finals in search of their 17th National Team championship.

Their opponents couldn't be more of a contrast, with No. 3 seed Texas A&M reaching the final for the first time in school history. In fact, every victory after the round of 16 was a first for the Aggies, who took down No. 7 seed and 2012 finalist UCLA 4-3, with first semester freshman Ines Deheza defeating Chanelle Van Nguyen 6-3, 6-7(9), 6-4 in the deciding match.

Like Hardebeck, Deheza had been on the verge of defeat, trailing 4-2 40-0 in the third set against Van Nguyen. But unlike Hardebeck, Deheza had also been on the verge of victory much earlier, holding a match point in the second set tiebreaker only to see Van Nguyen save it with a deft backhand volley.

UCLA took the doubles point, but Texas A&M dominated in early singles play taking five first sets.  Cristina Sanchez-Quintantar put the Aggies on the board with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Robin Anderson at No. 1, with UCLA's Catherine Harrison answering back wit a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Anna Mamalat at No. 5 to making it 2-1.  In the meantime, Kyle McPhillips had earned a third set with Cristina Stancu at 2, and she made it 3-1 UCLA with her 2-6, 6-1, 6-0 win.

Although A&M faced a 3-1 deficit, they had taken the first set in the three remaining matches, and Stefanie Hristov and Nazari Urbina kept those leads, with Hristov beating Courtney Dolehide at line 6 and Urbina defeating Pam Montez 6-4, 6-2 at line 3.

The final set between Deheza and Van Nguyen began with Deheza taking a 2-0 lead, but Van Nguyen stormed back to take the next four games and serving at 4-2, 40-0 was a point away from dominating a confused Deheza, who was having difficulty finding the court in those games. But she abandoned her defensive counterpunching at just the right moment, sensing that Van Nguyen was struggling physical.  At 4-4, Van Nguyen was in great pain, and the cramping caused her to receive a point penalty that resulted in the break of serve.  Deheza, serving for the match, took a 40-0 lead, but the combination of Van Nguyen's condition and her own nerves resulted in two errors on the first two match points.

"When she got cramps and I was 40-0 up and lost two match points, I was like, oh, god," said the 19-year-old from Bolivia. "She's hurt and it's difficult to keep playing because you know she's not going to run. I was trying to play safe and that was why I lost those two points. I looked at my coach and he told me, you've got to be aggressive here or you're going to lose. So that's what I tried to do and it really worked out."

A former ITF Top 10 junior, Deheza, who hit her share of moonballs in the match, went for a huge deep forehand close to the sideline, and Van Nguyen was unable to do any more than get a racquet on it.

"At 4-2 40-0 Chanelle was looking good," said UCLA head coach Stella Sampras Webster. "But I have to say Ines played really well, played a really good game to get it back to deuce there and win it. That really turned things around and it got tough for Chanelle. Ines took it. She played well, she stepped up."

"Ines is an awful good player," said Texas A&M head coach Howard Joffe, in just his second year leading the A&M program. "But you saw her go through a whole myriad of emotions. If I were Sigmund Freud I could guess what brought her back in the match, but she's truly a really strong kid and I have utmost respect for her."

As Sampras Webster had admitted on Sunday night, Forood said she knew little about the Texas A&M team.

"We know their top girl, because she's been around and had great results, but I don't think we know a lot of their team," Forood said. "So, we'll see. We'll figure it out."

The finals are scheduled for 1 p.m. for the men and 5 p.m. for the women, but rain is expected Tuesday.
===========================================
No. 1 UCLA 4,  No. 5 Ohio State 3
1 p.m. CT – South Courts
Singles
1. #12 Blaz Rola (OSU) def. #27 Dennis Novikov (UCLA)  5-7, 6-3, 6-2
2. #25 Marcos Giron (UCLA) def. #8 Peter Kobelt (OSU)  4-6, 7-6(4), 6-4
3. #71 Connor Smith (OSU) def. #22 Adrien Puget (UCLA)  6-2, 7-6(5)
4. #73 Devin McCarthy (OSU) def. #75 Dennis Mkrtchian (UCLA)  6-1, 6-3
5. #119 Clay Thompson (UCLA) def. #104 Chris Diaz (OSU)  6-1, 6-1
6. Karue Sell (UCLA) def. Constantin Christ (OSU)  6-4, 7-6(5)

Doubles
1. #42 Giron/Novikov (UCLA) def. #12 Kobelt/Smith (OSU)  8-4
2. #77 Puget/Sell (UCLA) def. #90 McCarthy/Van Engelen (OSU)  8-3
3. Brigham/Thompson (UCLA) vs. Rola/Callahan (OSU)  7-7*

Order of Finish: Doubles (2,1); Singles (5,4,6,3,1,2)
* = unfinished

 =========================================
No. 2 Virginia 4,  No. 3 Georgia 1
1 p.m. CT – North Courts
Singles
1. #33 Ben Wagland (UGA) def. #3 Jarmere Jenkins (UVA)  7-5, 6-3
2. #2 Alex Domijan (UVA) def. #47 Nathan Pasha (UGA)  3-6, 6-3, 6-4
3. #39 Mitchell Frank (UVA) def. Austin Smith (UGA)  6-3, 6-3
4. #115 Hernus Pieters (UGA) vs. #69 Ryan Shane (UVA)  4-6, 7-5, 4-2*
5. Garrett Brasseaux (UGA) vs. #28 Mac Styslinger (UVA)  4-6, 7-6(7), 1-0*
6. Julen Uriguen (UVA) def. Marco Nunez (UGA)  6-3, 7-5

Doubles
1. #5 Pieters/Wagland (UGA) vs. #4 Jenkins/Styslinger (UVA)  4-3*
2. #21 Domijan/Frank (UVA) def. #15 Pasha/Brasseaux (UGA)  8-3
3. #89 Shane/Uriguen (UVA) def. Nunez/Diaz (UGA)  8-4

Order of Finish: Doubles (2,3); Singles (1,3,6,2)
* = unfinished

===========================================
No. 3 Texas A&M 4,  No. 7 UCLA 3
5 p.m. CT – North Courts
Singles
1. #4 Cristina Sanchez-Quintanar (TAMU) def. #3 Robin Anderson (UCLA)  6-1, 6-3
2. #20 Kyle McPhillips (UCLA) def. #68 Cristina Stancu (TAMU)  2-6, 6-0, 6-1
3. #52 Nazari Urbina (TAMU) def. Pamela Montez (UCLA)  6-4, 6-2
4. Ines Deheza (TAMU) def. Chanelle Van Nguyen (UCLA)  6-3, 6-7(9), 6-4
5. #93 Catherine Harrison (UCLA) def. Anna Mamalat (TAMU)  6-4, 6-2
6. Stefania Hristov (TAMU) def. Courtney Dolehide (UCLA)  7-6(5), 6-1

Doubles
1. #25 Anderson/Morton (UCLA) def. #18 Stancu/Hristov (TAMU)  8-5
2. #38 Dolehide/Montez (UCLA) vs. #49 Wen/Sanchez-Quintanar (TAMU)  7-4*
3. Harrison/McPhillips (UCLA) def. Deheza/Deheza (TAMU)  9-7

Order of Finish: Doubles (1,3); Singles (1,5,2,6,3,4)
* = unfinished
===========================================
No. 12 Stanford 4,  No. 1 Florida 3
5 p.m. CT – South Courts
Singles
1. #13 Nicole Gibbs (STAN) def. #1 Lauren Embree (FLA)  6-0, 6-1
2. #25 Kristie Ahn (STAN) def. #17 Sofie Oyen (FLA)  6-1, 6-4
3. #14 Krista Hardebeck (STAN) def. #51 Alexandra Cercone (FLA)  6-7(5), 7-6(5), 6-3
4. #89 Brianna Morgan (FLA) def. #103 Stacey Tan (STAN)  6-1, 6-3
5. #123 Olivia Janowicz (FLA) def. #92 Ellen Tsay (STAN)  6-2, 3-6, 6-4
6. #116 Caroline Hitimana (FLA) def. Natalie Dillon (STAN)  1-6, 6-1, 6-0

Doubles
1. #8 Ahn/Gibbs (STAN) def. #11 Embree/Oyen (FLA)  8-3
2. #28 Tan/Tsay (STAN) def. Cercone/Hitmana (FLA)  8-3
3. Collins/Morgan (FLA) vs. Dillon/Hardebeck (STAN)  6-3*

Order of Finish: Doubles (1,2); Singles (1,2,4,6,5,3)
* = unfinished

Black, Paul Win Again, This Time at ITF Grade 4 in Delray Beach; Division III Championships Underway Today in Kalamazoo; Grade A Italian Open Begins in Milan

Before the start of today's Division I semifinals, I wanted to post on a few other items of interest.

First of all, if you are interested in more on the tournament, the local newspaper, The News-Gazette, is providing excellent coverage every day.  Today's feature gives some background on the often overlooked job of umpire, and they've had an extensive notebook section every day too.

The Division III men's and women's championships begin today in Kalamazoo, with the women's quarterfinals first, followed by the men's.
See the Kalamazoo College tournament page for live scoring. For more background on the men's field, see this preview at the Tennis Recruiting Network, and follow the blog division3tennis.com.

At the ITF Grade 4 in Delray Beach, Tornado Alicia Black and Tommy Paul, both of whom won the week before in Plantation, kept their streaks going.  Black, the No. 2 seed, collected her second career ITF singles title when unseeded Emma Higuchi was unable to compete due to illnes.  Paul, also the No. 2 seed,  defeated unseeded Baker Newman
7-5, 7-5, and has moved his ITF junior ranking up to 152 with this run, while Black is up to a career high of 78.

Top seeds Black and Dasha Ivanova won the doubles title with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over No. 3 seeds Katerina Stewart and Nicole Frenkel. Eduardo Nava and Nathan Ponwith, seeded eighth, took the boys doubles championship with a 6-3, 6-2 win over No. 5 seeds Basil Khuma of India and Anudeep Kodali.

The Grade A Italian Open is underway, with Nikola Milojevic of Serbia and Antonia Lottner of Germany the top seeds.  There are five US boys in the main draw: qualifier Dennis Uspensky, Martin Redlicki, Luca Corinteli, Noah Rubin(13) and Stefan Kozlov(9). Two US girls are competing in Milan: Christina Makarova(5) and Katrine Steffensen.

Austin Krajicek and Alisa Kleybanova won the $10,000 Pro Circuit events last week, Krajicek defeated Christian Harrison in a walkover in Tampa, and former WTA Top 20 player Kleybanova defeated former Tennessee star Natalie Pluskota in the Landisville, Pa final.

Stanford Meets Florida, UCLA Faces Texas A&M in Women's Semifinals Monday Evening

©Colette Lewis 2013--
Urbana, IL--

Stanford, Florida and UCLA, three gold standards in women's college tennis, will be joined by upstart Texas A&M in Monday evening's semifinals after all four teams collected victories Sunday at the Khan Outdoor Tennis Center at the University of Illinois.

Temperatures reaching the lower 90s, a hot south breeze blowing, and the heat rule in effect didn't keep two Pac-12 teams from advancing, although the third, Cal, fell to top seed and two-time defending champion Florida 4-2.

Florida won a close doubles point, decided on court 1, after the eight-seeded Bears had taken line 2, and the Gators line 3, all by 8-4 scores.

Cal got on the board quickly, with Zsofi Susanyi dealing Florida junior Alex Cercone her first singles loss in NCAA competition by a 6-1, 6-1 score.  The teams had split first sets, so Cal needed to turn one of the matches around to put pressure on the two-time defending champions, but it wouldn't be on court 1, where Lauren Embree, the nation's top-ranked player, ground down USTA/ITA Indoor finalist Anett Schutting 6-2, 6-0 to make it 2-1.

Olivia Janowicz made it 3-1 Florida with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Tayler Davis at line 5, and Florida head coach Roland Thornqvist didn't want to let Janowicz's contribution go unnoticed.

"She's really hitting on all cylinders now," Thornqvist said of the junior from Florida. "The last month, she's been automatic in her play and she manages herself really well. She doesn't get enough credit, some of the players on the top courts here get the credit, but the way she's playing and the way she's staying focused in her play is very helpful for the Gators."

Cal got the split they need on court 4, with Lynn Chi coming back from losing a 6-0 first set to take the second 6-1 over fellow freshman Brianna Morgan.  Klara Fabikova of Cal made it 3-2, beating Sofie Oyen 7-5, 6-4 at line 2, but  Caroline Hitimana of Florida had worked her way into position to close out her match with Annie Goransson at line 6 and the senior from Belgium put an end to the three-and-a-half-hour match with a 6-3, 6-2 win.

Fifteen minutes earlier, Stanford, seeded No. 12, had completed their 4-1 win over No. 4 seed Georgia, setting up a rare semifinal meeting between the two most decorated programs in women's college tennis.

It didn't look great for the Cardinal in the match's first hour, with Georgia totally dominating the doubles point, but once the singles began, Stanford took control, led by junior Kristie Ahn, who blew past Georgia's Maho Kowase 6-0, 6-1.

"I knew she was due for a win," said Stanford head coach Lele Forood. "She played really well Friday (in a loss to USC's Danielle Lao) and I think we all felt that she was going to assert herself."

With Stanford up a set in three other matches, Georgia needed to post a singles point to change the momentum, but Mia King was unable to close at Natalie Dillon at No. 6, despite a 6-1, 5-1 lead, and in the meantime, Stanford earned its second point, with Ellen Tsay defeating Ayaka Okuno 6-1, 6-2.  Krista Hardebeck had earned a split with Georgia's Silvia Garcia at line 3, so Georgia was desperate for a boost, and they had hope when Lauren Herring took the second set of her match with Nicole Gibbs at 1, and Kate Fuller broke Stacey Tan serving for the match at 6-4, 5-4 at line 4.

Fuller was broken in the next game however, and Tan took her second chance to finish the match giving Stanford a 3-1 lead with her 6-4, 7-5 win. Hardebeck completed her comeback with 2-6, 6-1, 6-1 victory over Garcia, putting the Cardinal in the semifinals for the 28th time in 32 years.

Freshman Hardebeck is eager to play Florida for the second time in her brief college career.

"For as long as I can think back from watching Stanford tennis, it's always been Stanford and Florida," Hardebeck said.  "So it's great to be here at NCAAs, with a five o'clock start time, kind of a night match, so it's going to be great."

Hardebeck's first exposure to what she calls the "fierce" rivalry was back in February when Stanford dropped a 4-2 decision to the Gators in a dual match that finished indoors due to rain in Gainesville.  Embree, on the other hand, has seen the Cardinal at some of the biggest moments in her illustrious college career, including clinching the 2011 national title against Mallory Burdette in a third set tiebreaker after trailing 4-0 in the final set of the last match on.

"They're a great team always," said Embree, a senior from Florida. "We always have great matches and we're looking forward to another tough, long match."

"I had a feeling they were going to go deep in this tournament," Thornqvist said. "When we played them in February at home that team, I thought at that point, was wicked good. We played really well to get out of that jam."

In the 4 p.m. matches, No. 3 seed Texas A&M is making school history with every victory, and their 4-0 win over No. 6 Miami was an impressive display for a team new to the NCAA stage.

The Aggies, who own a win over top seed Florida during the SEC regular season, dominated the doubles point and took five first sets in the singles.  Cristina Stancu made it 2-0 with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Kelsey Laurente at line 2 and looked to be cruising with leads on four on the remaining courts.  The Hurricanes desperately needed a set to change the momentum, but A&M's Cristina Sanchez-Quintanar denied Stephanie Wagner at No. 1, getting a late break for a 7-5, 6-4 victory and a 3-0 lead.  Miami had a glimmer of hope with a tiebreaker on court 5 and a lead late in the second at 6, but senior Nazari Urbina put an end to the Hurricanes with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Line Lilekite at No. 3.

"They're an awful tough team to beat," said Texas A&M's second-year coach Howard Joffe. "We absolutely took a commanding lead in everything, but true to form, Miami fought and clawed their way back and the match became awful interesting."

Asked if he was surprised by his team's success this season and their sudden rise to the top of the women's game Joffe was ambivalent.

"Looking at what Texas A&M was ranked two years when I got the job, they were in the 30s, so it's absolutely not plausible," Joffe admitted. "But with respect to the players that are on the team, it's not shocking to me that we've come this far. We've got eight very, very good players, so in that respect, it's not so surprising, and yet in the context of a program being somewhere and then ending up in the final four a year and a half later, it is sort of hard to believe."

Urbina, a senior from Mexico who recorded her 100th singles win as an Aggie today, can also appreciate the distance the team has traveled in just two years.

"One of my goals when I came to A&M was to get them a conference championship and become one of the top 10, top 5 in the nation," said Urbina. "It's a dream come true. It's special for me and for all the girls because we're making history at the university and I'm really happy for my teammates and the university because they deserve that and even more."

The Aggies' semifinal opponent is 2012 finalist UCLA, who avenged their loss to North Carolina in this year's Team Indoor final by a 4-1 score, as dusk descended on the South Courts.

The seventh-seeded Bruins had taken the doubles point in that February match in Charlottesville, Virginia, but Sunday evening the No. 2 Tar Heels started singles play with a 1-0 lead.

At one stage in singles play all six courts had score of 5-4, but it was the  Bruins who took five first sets. With the UCLA men's team cheering her on, Pac-12 champion Kyle McPhillips pulled the Bruins even with a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Zoe De Bruycker.

Robin Anderson delivered the Bruins' second point, defeating Gina Suarez-Malaguti 7-5, 6-1 at line 1, reversing the outcome of that matchup at the Indoor, which Suarez-Malaguti had won 6-3, 6-4.  Pam Montez, who had lost a third-set tiebreak to North Carolina's Whitney Kay in the deciding match, earned a 6-4, 6-4 win over Kay to make it 3-1, but Montez said it wasn't revenge that drove her.

"It wasn't really a payback type of thing," said Montez, a senior from Mexico. "Coming into the match I wasn't thinking, oh, they took it from us. The goal was always NCAAs.  The goal is to win, and if we lose tomorrow, it will definitely be disappointing."

Once Montez made it 3-1, it looked as if Chanelle Van Nguyen would end the match sooner rather than later when she broke UNC's Caroline Price to serve for the match at 7-5, 5-4 at line 4.  But Price buckled down, broke, held and broke, sending that match into a third set, where the other two matches already were.  North Carolina's Tessa Lyons had forced a third set against Courtney Dolehide at line 6, and UCLA's Catherine Harrison had won the second set over Lauren McHale at line 5.

UCLA took leads in all three matches, but it was Harrison who finished the job, defeating McHale 5-7, 7-5, 6-3 to end the nearly four-hour match.

"They came out with tremendous fight early on, with a lot of revenge on their mind, I guess," said North Carolina head coach Brian Kalbas. "They won a lot of close first sets and we got a little discouraged. We were looking around, we weren't as focused, but I give them credit. They played really well, and I think they handled the wind a lot better than we did. We just didn't take some of the early opportunities we had."

UCLA coach Stella Sampras Webster was concerned after dropping the doubles point Sunday.

"We won the doubles at the Indoor and had that momentum, and this time we didn't," said Sampras Webster. "Robin and Pam knew they had to step up and both of them are playing much better than they did in January and it's great to see them win those matches that they had lost earlier in the year. I think it's going to help them for tomorrow, with their confidence."

Unlike their current rivalry with North Carolina, UCLA has little history with Texas A&M.

"We've never played them," said Sampras Webster. "I know they're very good, they've beaten Florida, beaten a lot of great teams. We're going to have to find some notes from someone, but I know they're going to be tough. I know our team is really excited. We're very talented, and we just need to be sure we get them ready for tomorrow physically, because I know mentally, they'll be up for it."

The men's semifinals, with No. 2 Virginia facing No. 3 Georgia and No. 1 UCLA facing No. 5 Ohio State, will begin at 1 p.m. CDT, with the women's semifinals to follow at 5 p.m.  For live streaming and stats, see the tournament central page.


===========================================

No. 1 Florida 4,  No. 8 California  2

Noon CT – South Courts

Singles

1. #1 Lauren Embree (FLA) def. #8 Anett Schutting (CAL)  6-2, 6-0

2. #43 Klara Fabikova (CAL) def. #17 Sofie Oyen (FLA)  7-5, 6-4

3. #5 Zsofi Susanyi (CAL) def. #51 Alexandra Cercone (FLA)  6-1, 6-1

4. #70 Lynn Chi (CAL) vs. #89 Brianna Morgan (FLA)  0-6, 6-1, 4-1*

5. #123 Olivia Janowicz (FLA) def. Tayler Davis (CAL)  6-1, 6-1

6. #116 Caroline Hitimana (FLA) def. Annie Goransson (CAL)  6-3, 6-2

Doubles

1. #11 Embree/Oyen (FLA) def. #33 Shutting/Chi (CAL)  8-4

2. Fabikova/Goransson (CAL) def. Cercone/Hitmana (FLA)  8-4

3. Collins/Morgan (FLA) def. Davis/Chui (CAL)  8-4

Order of Finish: Doubles (2,3,1); Singles (3,1,5,2,6)

* = unfinished

===========================================

No. 12 Stanford  4,  No. 4 Georgia 1

Noon CT – North Courts

Singles

1. #13 Nicole Gibbs (STAN) vs. #6 Lauren Herring (UGA)  6-1, 3-6, 3-0*

2. #25 Kristie Ahn (STAN) def. #19 Maho Kowase (UGA)  6-0, 6-1

3. #14 Krista Hardebeck (STAN) def. #104 Silvia Garcia (UGA)  2-6, 6-1, 6-1

4.  #103 Stacey Tan (STAN) def. Kate Fuller (UGA)  6-4, 7-5

5. #92 Ellen Tsay (STAN) def. Ayaka Okuno (UGA)  6-1, 6-2

6. Mia King (UGA) vs. Natalie Dillon (STAN)  6-1, 6-5*

Doubles

1. #1 Fuller/Garcia (UGA) def. #8 Ahn/Gibbs (STAN)  8-5

2. #52 Herring/Kowase (UGA) vs. #28 Tan/Tsay (STAN)  6-4*

3. Kimbell/King (UGA) def. Dillon/Hardebeck (STAN)  8-3

Order of Finish: Doubles (1,3); Singles (2,5,4,3)

* = unfinished

===========================================

No. 3 Texas A&M 4,  No. 6 Miami 0

4 p.m. CT – North Courts

Singles

1. #4 Cristina Sanchez-Quintanar (TAMU) def. #60 Stephanie Wagner (MIA)  7-5, 6-4

2. #68 Cristina Stancu (TAMU) def. #81 Kelsey Laurente (MIA)  6-1, 6-4

3. #52 Nazari Urbina (TAMU) def. #105 Lina Lilekite (MIA)  6-1, 6-4

4. #102 Clementina Riobueno (MIA) vs. Ines Deheza (TAMU)  7-5, 4-2*

5. Anna Mamalat (TAMU) vs. Monique Albuquerque (MIA)  6-4, 6-6*

6. Stefania Hristov (TAMU) vs. Melissa Bolivar (MIA)  7-5, 5-6*

Doubles

1. #18 Stancu/Hristov (TAMU) def. Albuquerque/Riobueno (MIA)  8-2

2. #49 Wen/Sanchez-Quintanar (TAMU) vs. Bolivar/Laurente (MIA)  5-4*

3. Deheza/Deheza (TAMU) def. Wagner/Dubins (MIA)  8-2

Order of Finish: Doubles (3,1); Singles (2,1,3)

* = unfinished

===========================================

No. 7 UCLA 4,  No. 2 North Carolina 1

4 p.m. CT – South Courts

Singles

1. #3 Robin Anderson (UCLA) def. #7 Gina Suarez-Malaguti (UNC)  7-5, 6-1

2. #20 Kyle McPhillips (UCLA) def. #49 Zoe De Bruycker (UNC)  6-4, 6-1

3. Pamela Montez (UCLA) def. #39 Whitney Kay (UNC)  6-4, 6-4

4. Chanelle Van Nguyen (UCLA) vs. #46 Caroline Price (UNC)  7-5, 5-7, 3-2*

5. #93 Catherine Harrison (UCLA) def. Lauren McHale (UNC)  5-7, 7-5, 6-3 

6. Courtney Dolehide (UCLA) vs. Tessa Lyons (UNC) 6-4, 4-6, 3-2*

Doubles

1. #58 Price/Kay (UNC) def. #25 Anderson/Morton (UCLA)  8-4

2. McHale/Dai (UNC) vs. #38 Dolehide/Montez (UCLA)  5-4*

3. Suarez-Malaguti/Lyons (UNC) def. Harrison/McPhillips (UCLA)  8-2

Order of Finish: Doubles (2,3); Singles (2,1,3,5)

* = unfinished