Pepperdine Downs UCLA in Four-Hour Battle, North Carolina, Texas and North Carolina State also Reach Women's Division I Final Four; Rinderknech, Sharma Receive French Open Wild Cards
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| Abigail Rencheli clinches North Carolina State's win over Georgia photo credit: USTA/Manuela Davies |
The quarterfinals of the NCAA Division I Women's Team Championships began with an upset today at the USTA's National Campus, with No. 6 seed North Carolina State taking out No. 3 seed Georgia 4-2. Although they were playing in their first NCAA quarterfinal, the Wolfpack showed no signs of nerves, getting close wins at lines 2 and 3 in doubles dealing the Bulldogs just their third loss of the doubles point all year.
Just how much that doubles point buoyed North Carolina State's prospects was apparent when the teams split first sets in singles. Georgia would need win all three of those matches and force a third set in another, but the Wolfpack didn't give them any opportunities.
Georgia's Katarina Jokic did get a quick point for her team at line 1, beating Anna Rogers 6-2, 6-2, but North Carolina State got the next two points, with straight-sets wins from Adriana Reami at line 3 and Jaeda Daniel at line 4. Lea Ma had a chance to take out Alana Smith in straight sets at line 2, but she couldn't close it out, and Smith forced the only third set of the match.
Georgia's Elena Christofi did finish her match at line 6 to make it 3-2, and the Bulldogs had a chance at line 5, with senior Marta Gonzalez serving for the second set at 6-5 against freshman Abigail Rencheli. But they went to a tiebreaker instead, with Rencheli saving a set point with a backhand winner at 5-6 and taking the next two points to seal the Wolfpack's place in the Final Four.
Rencheli said she knew she could end the match.
"In the moment, I was like, “This is it. I can clinch this,” said Rencheli, a 19-year-old from Sarasota. "But I wasn’t as nervous as I thought I would be. We’ve practiced every day, we’ve put in the work. I think it just came down to trusting everything we’ve been doing up to that point and just executing and staying disciplined. It worked out at the end.”
In the post match Zoom press conference, I asked head coach Simon Earnshaw, who won nine NCAA titles at Division II Armstrong Atlantic before joining North Carolina State in 2014, how he avoided a "just happy to be here" mentality when his program was making history with every win.
“In Division II I made 11 semifinals in a row, and that’s the last thing on my mind, is being satisfied just to
reach the Final Four," Earnshaw said. "We’re here to win this event, and I think you can almost see that with the girls. Of
course we’re excited to get the win, but we sat down at the start of the year and had a fairly animated
discussion at times as far as what we’re trying to achieve, and this year was really no question. We really
believe we have the team."
North Carolina State will take on No. 2 seed Texas, who beat No. 7 seed Florida State 4-0. Although the Longhorns won the doubles point with straight-forward victories at lines 1 and 2, Florida State did get a win at line 3. For a while, it looked like that might be the only set the Seminoles would win, as Texas took all six first sets. Peyton Stearns made it 2-0 Texas with a dominant 6-0, 6-1 win over Guilia Pairone at line 1, but Florida State put a stop to the Longhorns momentum then and there, with three matches going to third sets. Texas got its third point from Anna Turati at line 2, and Fernanda Labrana put away Andrea Garcia 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 at line 6, but Texas had earned that shutout.
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| Shiori Fukuda clinches Pepperdine's win over UCLA photo credit: USTA/Manuela Davies |
The 5:30 p.m. quarterfinal between No. 4 seed UCLA and No. 5 seed Pepperdine was a classic, with the Waves winning the four-hour and 10 minutes battle 4-3, with Shiori Fukuda clinching at line 4.
The doubles point provided a preview of just how close and volatile the match would be, with all three courts at 4-5 or 5-5. Pepperdine took line 2 and UCLA took line three, with court 1 set to decide it. UCLA's Abbey Forbes served for the point for the Bruins at 6-5, but was broken, so a tiebreaker would decide the doubles point. Forbes and Hart built a 6-2 lead in the tiebreaker, but Ashley Lahey and Lisa Zaar saved those four match points, then earned a match point of their own at 7-6. A terrific and lengthy rally ended in UCLA saving a match point, with Hart parrying several point blank volleys at the net. Hart saved the next match point with a forehand winner, but at 9-8 UCLA couldn't get Lahey's second serve back in play and the Waves had the precious point.
The teams split the singles matches, although it took until after 8 p.m., a half-hour after the North Carolina-Duke match was supposed to start, to finish all the first sets. Abi Altick got UCLA on the board with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Zaar at line 5. Forbes earned a split with Lahey at line 1 after Elysia Bolton had done the same with Taisiya Pachkaleva at line 3. Annette Goulak put UCLA up 2-1 with a win over Nikki Redlijk at line 6, and then matches began ending in rapid succession. Bolton had served for the match at 5-4, but Pachkaleva won the final four games of the match for her 23rd consecutive victory. Failla made it 3-2 Pepperdine with her win over Hart at line 2 just after Pepperdine's Fukuda won the second set at line 4 over Wolff. Forbes, who had trailed Lahey 3-1 in the third, came back to win 4-6, 6-2, 6-4, meaning that the berth in the Final Four would come down to Fukuda and Wolff. At 2-2, Fukuda came back from 0-40 down, winning the deciding point on an overrule of Wolff and then broke to take a 4-2 lead. She got a quick hold for 5-2 and took a 15-40 lead as Wolff was serving to stay in the match. Wolff saved one match point, with a huge forehand down the line, but a forehand error on the second match point gave Fukuda and the Waves the victory.
Pepperdine will play the winner of the match between No. 1 seed North Carolina and Duke, which was still going at 11:45 p.m. I'll update that match when it finishes.
Unseeded Duke gave top seed and undefeated North Carolina all it wanted and more in a match that finished at 1:05 a.m. Thursday morning.
The doubles point turned on a late break at line 3, after the Tar Heels had won at line 2 and the Blue Devils had take the match at line 1. At 5-all Duke was broken and Alle Sanford served it out to give North Carolina a 1-0 lead.
In singles, Duke won four first sets and North Carolina just two, giving Duke a path to the upset. But UNC took a 2-0 lead with Fiona Crawley's quick win at 5, and the splits they needed began to happen. Chloe Beck put Duke on the board with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Cameron Morra, but Tar Heels Reilly Tran and Makenna Jones got splits at 4 and 6, while Kelly Chen of Duke took her second set from Sara Daavettila. Tran and Jones ended up getting the wins, with Jones coming back from losing the first set 6-0 to defeat Meible Chi 0-6, 6-4, 6-4 to clinch the 4-1 victory and place in the semifinals against Pepperdine.
The men's quarterfinals are scheduled for Thursday, with No. 3 Tennessee playing No. 11 seed Georgia at 11 a.m., No. 7 seed TCU facing No. 2 seed Baylor at 2 p.m., No. 4 seed Texas taking on No. 12 seed Southern California at 5:30 p.m., and No. 1 seed Florida playing No. 8 seed Texas A&M, not before 7:30. The first two matches will be on the TennisONE app, with the two evening matches on Tennis Channel.
The NCAA announced on Wednesday that covid capacity restrictions have been lifted, and the remaining matches will allow 100%, from the 50% that was in effect the first four days.
For more information on tickets, see the tournament website.
Wednesday's women's quarterfinal results:
NC State 4, Georgia 2
Doubles
1. #6 Katarina Jokic/Ariana Arseneault (UGA) vs. #12 Anna Rogers/Alana Smith (ST) 6-5, unfinished
2. #5 Jaeda Daniel/Adriana Reami (ST) def. Elena Christofi/Morgan Coppoc (UGA) 6-4
3. #42 Abigail Rencheli/Amelia Rajecki (ST) def. Meg Kowalski/Lea Ma (UGA) 7-5
Singles competition
1. #4 Katarina Jokic (UGA) def. #6 Anna Rogers (ST) 6-2, 6-2
2. #55 Lea Ma (UGA) vs. #23 Alana Smith (ST) 7-5, 4-6, 0-1, unfinished
3. Adriana Reami (ST) def. #20 Meg Kowalski (UGA) 6-1, 6-4
4. Jaeda Daniel (ST) def. #68 Morgan Coppoc (UGA) 6-4, 6-4
5. #82 Abigail Rencheli (ST) def. #52 Marta Gonzalez (UGA) 6-3, 7-6(6)
6. Elena Christofi (UGA) def. Lexi Keberle (ST) 7-5, 6-2
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1); Singles (1,3,4,6,5)
Match Notes:
NC State Wolfpack 20-5; National ranking #6
Georgia 23-2; National ranking #3
Georgia - #3 National Seed, NC State - #6 National Seed
T-2:50
Texas 4, Florida State University 0
Doubles
1. #19 Kylie Collins/Lulu Sun (UT) def. #30 Victoria Allen/Emmanuelle Salas (FS) 6-3
2. Anna Turati/Fernanda Labrana (UT) def. #8 Nandini Das/Andrea Garcia (FS) 6-1
3. Giulia Pairone/Petra Hule (FS) def. #47 Peyton Stearns/Charlotte Chavatipon (UT) 6-3
Singles
1. #37 Peyton Stearns (UT) def. #12 Giulia Pairone (FS) 6-0, 6-1
2. #35 Anna Turati (UT) def. #44 Emmanuelle Salas (FS) 6-1, 6-4
3. #62 Lulu Sun (UT) vs. Nandini Das (FS) 6-3, 6-6 (7-8), unfinished
4. #76 Charlotte Chavatipon (UT) vs. Petra Hule (FS) 6-3, 3-6, 5-2, unfinished
5. #72 Kylie Collins (UT) vs. Victoria Allen (FS) 6-2, 6-7(5), 1-1, unfinished
6. Fernanda Labrana (UT) def. Andrea Garcia (FS) 6-2, 2-6, 6-3
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (1,2,6)
Match Notes:
Florida State University 19-6; National ranking #7
Texas 29-1; National ranking #2
Texas - #2 National Seed, FSU - #7 National Seed
T-2:31
PEPPERDINE 4, UCLA 3
Doubles
1. Ashley Lahey/Lisa Zaar (PEPP) def. #59 Jada Hart/Abbey Forbes (UCLA) 7-6(8)
2. Shiori Fukuda/Taisiya Pachkaleva (PEPP) def. Annette Goulak/Vivian Wolff (UCLA) 6-4
3. Abi Altick/Elysia Bolton (UCLA) def. Anastasia Iamachkine/Jessica Failla (PEPP) 7-5
Singles
1. #7 Abbey Forbes (UCLA) def. #77 Ashley Lahey (PEPP) 4-6, 6-2, 6-4
2. #21 Jessica Failla (PEPP) def. #50 Jada Hart (UCLA) 7-6(7), 6-4
3. #89 Taisiya Pachkaleva (PEPP) def. Elysia Bolton (UCLA) 6-3, 1-6, 7-5
4. #118 Shiori Fukuda(PEPP) def. Vivian Wolff (UCLA) 6-7(7), 6-3, 6-2
5. Abi Altick (UCLA) def. Lisa Zaar (PEPP) 6-2, 6-3
6. Annette Goulak (UCLA) def. Nikki Redelijk(PEPP) 7-6(4), 6-3
Order of finish: Doubles (2,3,1); Singles (5,6,3,2,1,4)
Match Notes:
PEPP 24-3; National ranking #5
UCLA 22-5; National ranking #4
UCLA - #4 National Seed, Pepperdine - #5 National Seed
T-4:10
North Carolina 4, Duke 1
Doubles
1. Meibel Chi/Margaryta Bilokin(DUKE) d. Sara Daavettila/Cameron Morra(UNC) 6-2
2. Makenna Jones/Elizabeth Scotty(UNC) d. Chloe Beck/Karolina Berankova(DUKE) 6-4
3. Alle Sanford/Reilly Tran(UNC) d. Kelly Chen/Georgia Drummy 7-5
Singles
1. Sara Daavettila(UNC) v Kelly Chen(DUKE) 6-1, 2-6, 4-3 unf.
2. Alexa Graham(UNC) v Georgia Drummy(DUKE) 4-6, 7-6(5), 3-0
3. Chloe Beck(DUKE) d. Cameron Morra(UNC) 6-1, 6-4
4. Makenna Jones(UNC) d. Meible Chi(DUKE) 0-6, 6-4, 6-4
5. Fiona Crawley(UNC) d. Margaryta Bilokin(DUKE) 6-1, 6-0
6. Reilly Tran(UNC) d. Karolina Berankova(DUKE) 5-7, 6-1, 6-1
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (5,3,6,4)
Duke 18-7; National ranking #18
North Carolina 30-0; National ranking #1
UNC - #1 National Seed
T-3:03
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The French Open announced its wild cards earlier this week, with seven of them in both the men's and women's draws going to French players. Tennis Australia maintained its reciprocal wild cards with the French federation for their respective slams, but the USTA decided not to participate in that trading this year. We'll see if it resumes in 2022.
1 comments:
Oliver Crawford, U of Florida, takes out "Merit Based WC" Christian Harrison ( who didn't sign up for the tournament) 4, 6(4) in the second round in the M25 Pensacola, Florida Tournament.
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