Friday, May 10, 1996
With 4-1 run to end season, Vanderbilt a tough first-round
foe
By Hye Kwon
Daily Bruin Staff
It took a while, but the NCAA Women’s Tennis Championships
brackets are finally out.
The Bruins, who are seeded in the Nos. 5-8 classification, take
on Vanderbilt, which finds itself in the Nos. 9-12 group. Only the
top four teams in the tourney get seeds while the other 12 squads
are arranged so that two teams who have played each other during
the regular season won’t play one another in the first round of the
tournament.
The Commodores come into the tournament ranked eighth in the
country. They began the season ranked at No. 17, but since then
have made like Ms. Pac-Man and systematically gobbled up opponents.
With its 19-5 overall record that includes a 4-1 run to end the
regular season, UCLA could have drawn an easier first-round
opponent.
* * *
As expected, the top four seeds of the tournament are the four
best teams in the nation, according to the Intercollegiate Tennis
Association’s rankings. Undefeated Florida comes in No. 1, while
Stanford, Duke and Arizona are seeded No. 2 through No. 4,
respectively.
To say that those four teams have been dominating this year
might be doing injustice to the way they have destroyed their
opponents. They have combined for 79 wins compared with just seven
losses. That translates to a winning percentage of .918.
* * *
There will be some recognizable absences at Tallahassee, Fla.
next week. No. 13 Pepperdine is the highest ranked team in the
nation to be left out of the tournament. The Waves did not receive
an at-large bid and had to qualify through the NCAA Regionals.
Unfortunately for Pepperdine, 19th-ranked USC came out victorious
in the tournament and received the invitation.
The Cinderella team in this year’s tournament is 38th-ranked
Oklahoma State. But midnight will strike quickly for OSU as they
have a date with No. 1 Florida in the first round.
Other interesting first-round matchups have Duke tangling with
the Trojans, William and Mary against Texas, and Mississippi versus
Arizona.
FRED HE/Daily Bruin
Paige Yaroshuk will lead the Bruins against Vanderbilt in the
first round.