PALO ALTO “”mdash; As Elizabeth Lumpkin’s forehand shot
bounced off the net and fell to the ground, so did the UCLA
women’s tennis team’s chance to upset No. 4 Florida in
the NCAA Championships Round of 16. The Bruins lost in devastating
fashion, 4-3.
The Bruins, a heavy underdog to even make it to Stanford to
compete as one of the nation’s top 16 teams, were counted out
far before they even took the courts Thursday afternoon. After all,
Florida had lost just one match, while UCLA wasn’t even
ranked high enough to host a regional.
While their season finished three rounds shy of the ultimate
goal, the Bruins still proved to the rest of the women’s
tennis world what they believed all along: They can step onto the
court and push any team to the limit.
“I thought the match this evening was one of the best
college matches I’ve ever been a part of,” Florida
coach Roland Thornqvist said. “A match like this takes a lot
out of you, more so mentally than anything else. The UCLA team was
a very, very tough team.”
UCLA came out firing, winning the doubles point in dramatic
fashion as the tandem of Lumpkin and junior Alex McGoodwin overcame
Lolita Frangulyan and Diana Srebovic.
The Gator pair served for the match at 7-6, but the Bruins were
able to contest every point and take the match into a tiebreaker,
where they did not let the opposition tally a single point. The
Gators had an immediate response, winning four of six first sets in
dominating fashion.
“We always try to forget the bad experiences in doubles
and come out with newfound energy,” Thornqvist said. “I
think our team was probably more mad than disappointed and with the
senior leadership on courts No. 1 and 4, that trickled across the
team.”
The Bruins were not to be counted out just yet, as they began to
recapture the momentum that seemed to have found a permanent
address in Gatorsville.
Senior Laura Gordon began to take the lead in her second set,
and sophomore Tracy Lin along with freshman Ashley Joelson took
care of business in the first sets of their respective matches.
“We came out a little slow, but we hung in there and made
them earn every point,” UCLA coach Stella Sampras Webster
said.
But that would not be the last momentum shift, as the Gators
once again found the answer for the Bruins’ threat. Srebovic,
the nation’s ninth-ranked singles player, equalized the
overall match with a win over sophomore Riza Zalameda, just as
Zalameda began mounting what appeared to be a second set comeback
that would force the match into a third set.
Just minutes later, the Gators took a 2-1 lead that would later
prove to be insurmountable when senior Boglarka Berecz defeated
McGoodwin 6-2, 6-2 on court 4.
“Sometimes a kick in the rear end, either you fall down,
or you get back up and I think we did a good job responding,”
Thornqvist said. “We knew UCLA wasn’t going to let
down.”
The Bruins refused to let the match go without a fight.
Gordon pushed her match to an intense third set where she had
the opportunity to serve for the match, up 5-4. But No. 14 Alexis
Gordon proved to be too much for the Bruin senior in her last
collegiate dual match, winning the match 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 and putting
the Bruins in a 3-1 hole.
“It was a really close match throughout,” Laura
Gordon said of her battle with Florida’s senior.
The Bruins quickly responded as Joelson had no trouble in the
second set like she did in the first, putting the pressure on
Florida. UCLA continued to show heart as Lin and Lumpkin moved
battle into a pair of third sets on opposite ends of the Taube
Tennis Stadium. But Lumpkin’s comeback effort came up just
short, and Florida pulled off the win.
The Gators will now move on to face No. 5 Baylor in the
quarterfinals.
“The match was so close that it could have gone either way
in the end,” Sampras Webster said.