Tuesday, May 26, 1998
Standout Popescu last hope for UCLA in NCAA singles
tournament
WOMEN’S TENNIS: West Region Rookie of the Year advances while
Pac-10 Player of the Year Cooper heads home
By Jeff Kmiotek
Daily Bruin Contributor
NOTRE DAME, IN — The Florida Gators have emerged from a field
of 16 teams to win the 1998 NCAA women’s tennis championships at
the University of Notre Dame. Florida capped off an unbeaten season
at 27-0 by defeating Duke 5-1 in the finals on Sunday.
The No. 1 seeded Gators dominated their way through the bracket
to secure their third title of the decade. Florida improved its
record to 19-1 all-time versus Duke and 35-13 in the NCAA
Championships.
The 5-1 score is somewhat deceiving, as the match could have
been tied 3-3 in a matter of moments. Florida’s Stephanie Nickitas
got the ball rolling by winning her tenth-consecutive match in
straight-sets, and teammates M.C. White and Whitley Laiho followed
with wins. Duke got on the board with a Laura Zifer win in the No.
6 slot to get the Blue Devils within 3-1.
And then nail-biting time began. On court No. 1, Duke’s No. 3
Vanessa Webb was battling No. 11 Dawn Buth of Florida, and another
closely contested match, between the Gators’ Stephanie Hazlett and
Duke’s Kathy Sell, was taking place on court No. 5.
Florida’s Buth had rallied back from a first-set loss to win the
second set and take a 4-1 lead in the final set. But Webb responded
by taking 4 straight points to go up 5-4. Meanwhile, the other
match had also come down to the decisive third set. With the tense
crowd gasping on every stroke, Buth finally overcame Webb 7-5 and
seconds later Hazlett completed her match to clinch the
victory.
"This is overwhelming," said Florida head coach Andy Brandi.
"One minute Dawn and Stephanie seemed to be in control of their
matches and the next it looked like they lost total momentum. This
was one of the most grueling matches I’ve been a part of in 14
years of coaching."
"This is great. I couldn’t have asked for a better way to end my
career," said Buth, who finished her collegiate campaign with a
record of 151-33.
The Gators said they would celebrate the championship by
"ordering lots of food and charging it to the University of
Florida."
Duke recorded its highest finish ever in the NCAA tournament and
finished the season with a 27-4 record. The loss snapped the Blue
devils 15-game winning string.
The championship match will air on ESPN tomorrow at 11:30
a.m.
Although Sunday’s final was intense and exciting, the most
thrilling match occurred in the semifinal game between Duke and
Stanford on Saturday. No. 2-seeded and defending champion Stanford
had only lost one game all season (to UCLA) and was 6-0 against
Duke.
After Duke took a 3-2 lead in singles, Stanford’s top player
Anne Kremer won a tight battle against Vanessa Webb 2-6, 6-1, 7-5
to tie the score at 3-3 and send it to the doubles. In doubles,
Stanford picked up the first win, but Duke came right back to knot
it up at 4-4. The whole season rode on the doubles match between
the No. 2 team of Webb and Karen Goldstein and the No. 14 twosome
of Kremer and Teryn Ashley.
The situation was similar to a full-count bases-loaded at-bat
with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning in the World
Series. The first team to eight points would advance to the finals,
and the score was tied at 6-6. But the duo from Duke took the next
two points to complete the upset and move on.
"Duke was tougher than we were," said Stanford coach Frank
Brennan. "It all came down to guts, and Duke put out some extra
effort and took more chances."
In the other semi-final match, Florida blanked Georgia 5-0.