1998 NCAA DIVISION I WOMEN'S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIP
May 21-29
Courtney Tennis Center
University of Notre Dame

Duke freshman Megan Miller came back to defeat Arkansas sophomore Andrea Ho (5-7, 6-1, 6-2) in the #3 singles, helping the #3-seeded Blue Devils post a 5-1 win over the Lady Razorbacks.

Duke 5, Arkansas 1

Singles

Vanessa Webb (D) def. Maria Pavlidou, 6-2, 6-1
Kristin Sanderson (D) def. Louise Ostling, 6-2, 6-0
Megan Miller (D) def. Andrea Ho, 5-7, 6-1, 6-2
Kendra Howard (A) def. Karen Goldstein, 6-4, 6-3
Kathy Sell (D) def. Brandy Brown, 4-6, 7-5, 6-4
Laura Zifer (D) def. Adriana Garcia, 6-4, 6-0.

Doubles did not play

Postmatch Quotes

Arkansas head coach Kevin Platt

On his team's overall performance:

"We played okay, we didn't play our best tennis, but we competed well. I was very pleased with the play of Brandy Brown. She's a fighter and from the way she played today it shows. After she was down 4-1 in the third set, she came back to make it 5-4. Overall, I'm pleased with our showing."

On Duke:

"They're a great team with some of the top players in the country. They played great and deserved to win."

On their first appearance in the NCAA Championships:

"We were a little nervous at first going out their, but once a few points were under their belts they started to get going. Hopefully with the players coming back, we can be here next year."

Duke head coach Jamie Ashworth

On Arkansas:

"The five to one score seemed lopsided, but most of the matches were pretty close. We got off to a slow start and Arkansas played real well early on."

On the long layoff from any matches:

"It's been nearly a month since we played a match and it really hurt us. With the way the NCAA does its format, it automatically puts the top ten teams in the Championships while other schools get to play in the regionals. Arkansas already played three matches last week and we were off for long time. That puts us at a competitive disadvantage. What we needed today was some tough matches, and that's what we got."

On Sell's and Miller's long matches:

We've had to work on ourselves with conditioning through the year. I think we've done a good job at that. Both Sell and Brown finished strong, so I was pleased with that."

Duke player Kathy Sell

On the third set:

"I was up five to two and I let her back a little bit. I had two match points at 5-2 and I couldn't finish it out and all of a sudden it was 5-4. I heard my teammates rallying around me, which pumped me up a little bit, and I got back on track."

On the team's performance:

"Every match we play here, we have to win every point as to opposed to every point we played in the season we had long rallies and they would eventually miss. I think we're prepared to play, we're definitely ready to be here. I don't think we're match tough, but we'll get there if we want to win."