Favorites Fall in Quarterfinals of NCAA Women's D-I Team Championships; No. 16 Seed Tennessee Makes History with 4-3 Win Over UCLA

©Colette Lewis 2024--

Stillwater Oklahoma--

The first three matches played in the NCAA Division I women's quarterfinals Friday went to the underdogs, but the contests themselves weren't as gripping as might have been expected when the No. 2, No. 3 and No. 5 seeds were eliminated.

All the drama came under the lights at the Greenwood Tennis Center, when giant-killer Tennessee, seeded No. 16, saved two dual match points to defeat No. 8 seed UCLA 4-3 in a four-hour marathon that ended at 11:38 p.m.

Tennessee's hero, for the second time in less than a week, was Sofia Cabezas, who had clinched the Lady Vols stunning 4-2 victory over undefeated No. 1 seed Oklahoma State last Saturday in the Super Regional.

Cabezas found herself on the same No. 1 court, in a similar situation, six days later, and it was the Iowa State transfer who was responsible for saving that dual match point. With the team score 3-3, after the three-set matches at 2, 4 and 6 had finished within 30 seconds of each other, Cabezas found herself needing to break reigning NCAA champion Tian Fangran who was serving for the match for the second time.

Cabezas had saved the first match point on a deciding point with Tian coming back from 15-40 down when serving at 5-4 in the second. At that time, the three other matches were still going, but that would have been UCLA's third point, after the doubles point and Anne-Christine Lutkemeyer's 6-2, 6-2 win over Lauren Anzalotta at line 5. Cabezas's forehand deep in the forehand corner drew a weak reply from Tian on that deciding point, and Cabezas came in and bounced the ball out of Tian's reach.

After earning another break, and all the other matches now concluded, Tian served for the match a second time at 6-5, but signs that the sophomore from China wasn't entirely comfortable surfaced immediately, as she caught her ball toss several times before the first point was played. Tian got the first point when the chair overruled Cabezas's call on the near sideline, but no first serves were forthcoming and nervous errors were multiplying. As she had in the 5-4 game, Tian came back from 15-40 for another deciding point, but netted a backhand to make it 6-all.

The tiebreaker was as close as the first 22 games, but with Tian serving at 4-5, Cabezas hit a deep forehand that handcuffed Tian, who then hit a forehand wide to send the match to a third set.

The first three games went to deciding points, and there were five consecutive breaks of serve, but Cabezas got two crucial holds for a 5-3 lead and broke Tian to send her team to yet another unexpected victory.

Cabezas, who was so locked in during that stressful end to the second set that she didn't remember saving match points, was happy that she had her experience last Saturday to lean on.

"It helped me for sure," said Cabezas, who saved two match points in her clinching match over Anastasiya Komar. "Especially when I had match points. I was like, I've been in this situation before, I know I can do it. Our psychologist has been talking to us and said we have to be lions, and that's what I was saying to myself. I'm a lion, and I have this."

This is Tennessee's first trip to the Final Four since 2002, when the Lady Volunteers head coach Alison Ojeda was on the team. And since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1999, this is the first time a No. 16 seed has advanced to the Final Four.

Tennessee will play SEC rival Texas A&M, after the 13th-seeded Aggies cruised past No. 5 seed Virginia 4-1. After dropping the doubles point in a tiebreaker at line 1, Texas A&M roared back in singles, taking six first sets and closing out four singles matches in straight sets. Freshman Lucciana Perez clinched the victory for her team with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Elaine Chervinsky at line 5.

Tennessee lost at home to Texas A&M 4-3 in their conference meeting in March.

A third SEC team advanced to the semifinals, with No. 7 seed Georgia starting off the warm and sunny day with a 4-1 victory over No. seed Stanford.

Georgia took the doubles point, but Stanford had their path when they took four first sets in singles, only to see the Bulldogs' Anastasiia Lopata force a third set at line 4 and clinch the match with a 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 win over Alexis Blokhina.

"After I lost the (first) set, I thought that was my set," said Lopata, a sophomore from Ukraine, who had missed an easy putaway on a deciding point and saw a 3-0 lead in the first set turn in to a 6-3 set for Blokhina. "But I started to be more focused, and was playing well in the third."

Georgia will take on No. 6 seed Pepperdine, who avenged their loss indoors at Michigan this winter with a 4-1 victory in conditions more similar to Malibu than Ann Arbor in February.

Janice Tjen, down 5-2 in the second set to Kari Miller at line 1, came all the back with some inspired tennis to claim the 6-2, 7-5 victory that clinched a second Final Four appearance for the Waves.

Saturday's schedule will begin with the men's semifinals, featuring Ohio State[1] and TCU[4] at noon Eastern, followed by Texas[2] and Wake Forest[6].

The women will follow, not before 5 p.m Eastern, with Georgia and Pepperdine, then Texas A&M and Tennessee, who will close out semifinal day.

Cracked Racquets will be providing coverage of all four matches at ESPN Plus.

Friday May 17, 2024

Georgia[7] d. Stanford[2] 4-1
Doubles:
1. Aysegul Mert and Dasha Vidmanova(UGA) d. Connie Ma and Alexandra Yepifanova(STAN) 6-1
2. Angelica Blake and Alexis Blokina(STAN) v Guillermina Grant and Mai Nirundorn(UGA) 5-3, unfinished
3. Anastasiia Lopata and Mell Reasco(UGA) d. Katherine Hui and Valencia Xu(STAN) 6-2

Order of finish: 1,3

Singles:
1. Dasha Vidmanova(UGA) d. Angelica Blake(STAN) 6-2, 7-5
2. Connie Ma(STAN) d. Alexandra Vekic(UGA) 6-4, 6-1
3. Alexandra Yepifanova(STAN) v Mel Reasco(UGA) 7-5, 6-6, unfinished
4. Anastasiia Lopata(UGA) d. Alexis Blokhina(STAN) 3-6, 6-1, 6-1
5. Guillermina Grant(UGA) d. Katherine Hui(STAN) 6-1, 6-4
6. Valencia Xu(STAN) v Mai Nirundorn(UGA) 6-0, 6-7(4), unfinished

Order of finish: 5, 2, 1, 4

Pepperdine[6] d. Michigan[3] 4-1
Doubles
1. Savannah Broadus and Janice Tjen(PEPP) d. Jaedan Brown and Kari Miller(MICH) 6-2
2. Vikki Redelijk and Vivian Yang(PEPP) d. Piper Charney and Reese Miller(MICH) 6-2
3. Julia Fliegner and Lily Jones(MICH) d. Anna Campana and Lisa Zarr(PEPP) 6-2

Order of finish: 1, 3, 2

Singles
1. Janice Tjen(PEPP) d. Kari Miller(MICH) 6-2, 7-5
2. Lisa Zaar(PEPP) v Julia Fliegner(MICH) 7-6(8), 1-2, unfinished
3. Savannah Broadus(PEPP) d. Gala Mesochoritou(MICH) 6-4, 6-2
4. Nikki Redelijk(PEPP) v Jaedan Brown(MICH) 6-4, 4-3, unfinished
5. Piper Charney(MICH) d. Anna Campana(PEPP) 6-1, 6-4
6. Vivian Yang(PEPP) d. Lily Jones(MICH) 6-2, 6-3

Order of finish: 5, 3, 6, 1

Texas A&M[13] d. Virginia[5] 4-1
Doubles:
1. Elaine Chervinsky and Melodie Collard(UVA) d. Mia Kupres and Mary Stoiana(TAMU) 7-6(5)
2. Carson Branstine and Lucciana Perez(TAMU) d. Hibah Shaikh and Natasha Subhash(UVA) 7-5
3. Meggie Navarro and Sara Ziodata(UVA) d. Nicole Khirin and Jeannette Mireles(TAMU) 6-4

Order of finish: 3, 2, 1

Singles:
1. Mary Stoiana(TAMU) d. Hibah Shaik(UVA) 6-2, 6-1
2. Carson Branstine(TAMU) d. Annabelle Xu(UVA) 7-5, 2-2, unfinished
3. Nicole Khirin(TAMU) d. Sara Ziotado(UVA) 6-4, 6-1
4. Mia Kupres(TAMU) v Natasha Subhash(UVA) 7-6(2), 2-1, unfinished
5. Lucciana Perez(TAMU) d. Elaine Chervinsky(UVA) 6-4, 6-4
6. Jeannette Mireles(TAMU) d. Melodie Collard(UVA) 6-4, 6-2

Order of finish: 3, 1, 6, 5

Tennessee[16] d. UCLA[8] 4-3

Doubles:
1. Tian Fangran and Elsie Wagle(UCLA) d. Elza Tomas and Sofia Cabeza(TENN) 7-6(3)
2. Kimmi Hance and Anne-Christine Lutkemeyer(UCLA) d. Esther Adeshina and Alana Wolfberg 7-6(2)
3. Lauren Anzalotta and Catherine Aulia(TENN) d. Sasha Vagramov and Ahmani Guichard 6-4

Order of finish: 3, 2, 1

Singles:

1. Sofia Cabezas(TENN) d. Tain Fangran(UCLA) 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-3

2. Elza Tomase(TENN) d. Kimmi Hance(UCLA) 6-2, 1-6, 7-5

3. Alana Wolfberg(TENN) d. Bianca Fernandez(UCLA) 6-0, 6-3

4. Catherine Aulia(TENN) d. Elise Wagle(UCLA) 4-6, 6-0, 6-3

5. Anne-Christine Lutkemeyer(UCLA) d. Lauren Anzalotta(TENN) 6-2, 6-2

6. Ahmani Guichard(UCLA) d. Esther Adeshina(TENN) 6-2, 4-6, 6-2

Order of finish: 3, 5, 2, 6, 4, 1