Tuesday, May 21, 1996
Deep Florida lineup keys 5-1 rout over upstart Bruins in NCAA
semis
By Hye Kwon
Daily Bruin Staff
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. Â The UCLA women’s tennis team entered
Monday’s NCAA semifinal match against Florida thoroughly convinced
that it could upset this seemingly unbeatable team. Having taken
the Lady Gators to the limit earlier this year at the National
Indoor Tournament, the sixth-ranked Bruins were looking forward to
shocking the college tennis world.
But, after succumbing to Florida in a 5-1 loss at the Scott
Speicher Tennis Center on the campus of Florida State University,
UCLA learned that this Lady Gator team accomplished the nearly
impossible since the last time they met: they got better.
"I thought they improved by at least 80 percent since the last
time we saw them," UCLA’s No. 1 player Keri Phebus said. "They’re
pretty much unstoppable now."
Almost as soon as the match was under way, the depth of the Lady
Gators (30-0) was apparent when they took firm control of the
bottom portion of the lineup. Led by 18th-ranked Divya Merchant at
the No. 3 spot, Florida swept the bottom portion of the singles
ladder, all by straight sets.
Merchant, who lost in straight sets to Stephanie Chi at the
National Indoors, recorded an impressive 6-3, 6-1 victory while her
doubles partner Bonnie Bleecker routed Brandi Freudenberg 6-1,
6-3.
"I had nothing to lose because I had already lost to (Chi)
before," Merchant said. "I knew I could count on my teammates to
win even if I didn’t, so I was playing real relaxed."
That left the two Bruin seniors, who have carried the team on
their broad shoulders all season long, with the daunting task of
sending the match into doubles. Phebus and Paige Yaroshuk, who as a
duo are ranked fourth in doubles, tried desperately to get that
chance to play together by winning their singles matches.
At No. 1 singles, Phebus got off to a good start and won the
first set 6-1 with the help of Jill Craybas’ 23 unforced errors. In
the second set, fourth-ranked Craybas turned up the heat with 13
winners, en route to a 6-2 victory. Then Phebus answered back with
17 winners in the final set to close out match 6-2 in the
third.
"I just tried to stay positive and stay out there as long as I
can," Phebus said. "All throughout the match, I had a never-give-up
attitude."
Yaroshuk, who had a golden opportunity to win her match against
sixth-ranked Dawn Buth, let one get away. With a 5-4 lead in the
third set, Yaroshuk was serving to close out the match. At that
point, it looked like the end for Buth, who was battling
dehydration all through the match. Despite the fact that Buth
needed an intravenous treatment before the match, the sophomore
mustered enough strength at the end to take the last three games
for the 7-5, 3-6, 7-5 clincher.
"I give all the credit to Florida," UCLA head coach Bill Zaima
said. "As far as the depth throughout the lineup is concerned, this
was as good a team as we’ve seen in a long time."
ANDREW SCHOLER/Daily Bruin
Defending NCAA champion Keri Phebus, representing UCLA at No. 1
singles for the final time, defeated No. 4 Jill Craybas of Florida
6-1, 2-6, 6-2 in a losing cause.
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