Match Notes - May 25, 1998

Four of the top eight seeds were eliminated in the first round: #2 Anne Kremer (Stanford), #5 Sandy Sureephong (Texas), #6 Annica Cooper (UCLA) and #8 Lauren Nikolaus (William & Mary). It marked the first time ever that four to the top eight seeds lost in the first round. Six of the top 16 seeds lost in the opening round.

UCLA sophomore Elizabeth Schmidt was 17-0 prior to today in matches where she had won the first set. Today, she won the first set 6-2 before dropping the next two sets to 3-6, 1-6 to Lioudmila Skavronskai of Miami.

Stanford's Anne Kremer is the first number two seed since Lucie Ludvigova (Texas) to lose in the first round (1994).

Freshman Mirela Vladulescu of Alabama-Birmingham is the first player for the school to earn a top seed in the NCAA singles tournament. With her 2-6, 7-6 (3), 6-3 victory over Julie Ditty (Vanderbilt), she improves her record to 38-2.

Notre Dame's Michelle Dasso finished her freshman year with a 30-8 record.

Irish junior Jennifer Hall dropped a 6-3, 6-3 decision to Barbara Urbanska of Wisconsin today marking the third time this season that she has lost to Urbanska. She most recently beat Hall 6-0, 5-7, 6-1 just nine days ago at the NCAA Midwest Regional semifinals in Champaign, Ill.

William and Mary's Lauren Nikolaus was eliminated in the first round of the NCAA tournament singles competition for the second consecutive year. Today's 1-6, 6-4, 2-6 loss to Anoushika Van Exel of Tulsa marked the second time this season that the Tribe senior has lost to Van Exel. Van Exel beat Nikolaus 6-2, 6-4 at the Riviera All-American Championships in the fall.

Dawn Buth lost for the second straight year in the opening round of the NCAA singles championship. Last year Buth dropped a 6-2, 2-6, 0-6 decision to Wendy Fix of Duke. Buth advanced to the round of 16 in both the '96 and '95 championships.

USC's Jackie Boyd rallied for a three-set win over Aarthi Venkatesan of Georgia. Boyd lost the first set 3-6, trailed 1-5 (15-40) in the second set, but went on to win the set 7-6 (7-3 in the tie breaker), before taking the third set 7-5.

Three of the top eight doubles teams The Florida doubles tandem of Dawn Buth and Stephanie Nickitas won their 11th matches in the NCAA doubles competition. The two-time defending champion have dropped just three sets during their two-plus seasons in the NCAA doubles tournament.

Singles, First Round Quotes-- May 25, 1998

Amanda Augustus (California) (3 seed), 6-2, 6-2 winner vs. Romana Tedjakusuma of Nicholls State: "I was nervous coming into this match today, because last year I lost in the first round. Today I was well rested and ready to play. I stuck to my game plan and the matches just came to me . Overall, I think I played pretty good, and am now ready to continue on to the second round."

( On being the No. 3 seed): "This what I have been playing for all season, and it is A nice reward to be seeded as high as I am. I think that the most pressure I will have from being so highly seed was today's first round match. It is just exciting to be the number three seed in this elite group of Sixty-Four players."

Jennifer Hall (Notre Dame), 3-6, 3-6 loser vs. Barbara Urbanska of Wisconsin: "She's a hard person for me to play against. She has beaten two times already this season. She plays a game that is the worst for me. She'll attack short balls and plays a slow pace game. She played my weakness, which is my backhand. This is the best game she played against me."

(On her draw with Urbanska): "Actually I was a little excited to get her as a draw. I wanted a little revenge. You have to beaten everyone to advance."

Michelle Dasso (Notre Dame), 6-4, 4-6, 4-6 loser vs. Michelle O of William & Mary: "It was fun and a good experience to play next to Jennifer. Unfortunately it didn't work out for the both of us. I was excited to play and represent Notre Dame in this tournament."

(On her match): "It was an up and down match for me. In the second set I couldn't close out the points, and O capitalized on it. I was up 30-love, 40-love on 4-0 and I couldn't do anything about it."

Annica Cooper (UCLA) (6 seed), 6-2, 3-6, 1-6 Loser vs. Lioudmila Skavronskaia of Miami: " Coming in this morning I did not feel to well. I believe I was sick, but my nerves were not helping me feel any better. I think that this was the reason I got a slow start in the first set. After the first set I started feeling better and my game started to come back to me. I knew that if I stuck to my game plan I could eventually overpower her and win the next two sets."

(On upsetting Cooper in the first round): "I came to Miami in January and I still have not played enough people to know what to expect. I think that since I am so new it helps me, because I do not know what to expect for each player I encounter. It is very exciting to win this first round against a seeded player. Each set was difficult but I stuck to my game plan and I came out on top."

Cristina Moros (Texas) (9-16 seed), 6-3, 6-1 Winner vs. Alina Wyganoska of Oregon: "I warmed up early this morning, so I ended up having a long break before I started to play. This caused me to get out to a slow start and probably was the reason I lost the first game. After that everything started to work well for me and I started winning games. Overall, I think I [played very well and now I have to find out who I will play next."

(On different mentalities in team and individual competition): "There is a huge difference in the way you mentally prepare for a individual match compared to a team match. For me this year I want to play well and have a good showing for individuals. Since this is my last year here it means lot to me to do well here this week."

Kylie Hunt (Kansas) 7-6 (3), 6-4 winner vs. Dawn Buth of Florida (9-16 seed): "I've been watching Dawn all this week and she has been playing some excellent tennis. I know I had to play an excellent match to beat her. I didn't play my best tennis, but I competed well enough to get the win."

(On getting back to the NCAA finals): "I'm out here to do my best, I've been playing some good tennis. What comes at me I'll take day by day. Hopefully I'll repeat like I did in 1996 when I made it to the finals.

Dawn Buth (Florida) (9-16 seed): "I thought I played pretty well today. Not to take anything away from Kylie, but I was physically and mentally fatiqued out their. She played a great match."

(On preparing for her doubles match later today): "I just have to put this loss behind me and get ready to defend our doubles' title. Steph and I are focused and look for the challenge to get back to the finals."

Lauren Nikolaus (William & Mary) (8 seed), 1-6, 6-4, 2-6 loser vs. Anoushlka Van Exel of Tulsa: (On Van Exel):"She just didn't make any unforced errors. She just kept coming and didn't miss and made me play a lot of shots. She's tough; she didn't have any long streaks of mental lapses. It's tough to play an opponent like that."

(On her season): "I was pleased with it. It's your last season, and I tried to work pretty hard, and I had a good time."

Anoushlka Van Exel (Tulsa) (On her play): "I didn't feel any pressure; I just swang free. The pressure was all on her. I think I played pretty well in the first set, played pretty aggressive. But I backed off in the early second set and let her get back into the match. But I corrected that in the third set and started playing better."

(On Nikolaus): "When Lauren gets into a groove; she's a tough player to beat. Basically I had to prevent her from getting into a groove, and that's what I did."

Mirela Vladulescu (Alabama-Birmingham) (1 seed), 2-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-3 winner vs. Julie Ditty of Vanderbilt: (On her play): "It usually takes me a long time to get into a tournament, so I kind of expected the match to go the way that it did. In the second set, I was thinking about going home, but I then I concentrated better. After I won two games, I knew that I could turn the match around.

(On being seeded No. 1): "There is a lot of pressure being seeded number-one because my opponents just go on the court and don't really care. They just go on the court and try their best. I do the same, but I have more pressure to win, so it's kind of hard."

Julie Scott (Stanford) (9-16 seed), 2-6, 6-3, 6-0 winner vs. Elisa Penalvo of Marquette: (On the match): "Elisa played a tough first set. I made the mistake of going too much to her backhand, which she is really consistent on, so I started changing it up and realizing that I had to play to her forehand, and when I got an attack shot to attack her backhand. I got some of my nerves out in the first set and then started to play with more confidence."

(On individual singles play): "It's easier to play individual singles instead of team singles because you don't have the pressure of your team depending on you, and you're out there for yourself. It may not be as fun, but it's less pressure."

Sandy Sureephong (Texas) (5 seed), 4-6, 6-2, 3-6 loser vs. Teryn Ashley of Stanford: (On her play): "My serve wasn't working for me, and I missed some easy returns at the end. I knew what I had to do, but the shots weren't going where I wanted them to go. I had to get my balls deeper, and I just couldn't do that. I'm kind of disappointed with the way my year ended."

(On Ashley): "I thought that she played well when she needed to. There were a few games at the end in which she picked it up and hit some good shots. I lost to her before, so when I saw that I had to play her I thought, 'Nice draw." I thought that she should have been seeded. She played really well."

Teryn Ashley (Stanford), 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 winner vs. Sandy Sureephong of Texas (5 seed): On the match: "I played well in the first set, but in the second set I started to get a little down. My serve was working when I needed it to; my forehand was a little shaky, but I got it under control. I just fought really hard in the third set and played the big points pretty well.

(On Sureephong): "She is really good. She can turn it on; she's kind of streaky so you never know when she is going to come up with a great shot, but she did that a lot. I've seen her play better though."

Anne Kremer (Stanford) (2 seed), 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 loser vs. Zuzana Lesenarova of San Diego: (On the match): "It was a tough draw, a tough first round. To bad it was me, but if you want to win the tournament, you have to beat everyone. I wasn't aggressive enough. I had my chances to win. I was up 40-love on serve to be ahead 6-5 in the third set, and I messed up that game, and I think that's what cost me the match."

(On Lesenarova): "She changed her tactic in the third set, especially in the last game of the third set. She became more defensive, and I wasn't stepping it up enough, and that was key. She is a really good player."

Zuzana Lesenarova (San Diego) 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 winner vs. Anne Kremer (2 seed): (On the match): "I wasn't intimidated by her. During warmups I observed how she was playing and figured out how I was going to play. I had some losses coming in, but I played well today. I was trying to play aggressive, but my volleys were not too good, so I put a little more spin on the ball when I was playing defensively."

(On the turning point of the match): "I thought that when I was up 2-0 in the second set that I was going to win it in the second set. Then I thought I was going to lose it when I was down 0-1 in the third set, but then I got back on track and was okay."

Vanessa Webb (Duke) (4 seed), 6-1, 6-2 winner vs. Ivona Mihailova of Mississippi: (On the match): "It's really difficult to go from playing in the national championship team match to playing a first round singles match. You're on a high, and then you have to start again. I knew that I wasn't going to play well, so I just had to get through today and hope that I'll play better tomorrow. I was playing all right. I served really well, and that helped me out a lot."

(On the tournament): "I think that I can go pretty far in the tournament. I'm playing pretty well, and I've played a lot of tough matches this week. I've worked hard on my conditioning all year to prepare for this. I'm ready; it's all just a matter of playing well."

Kristina Kraszewski (Washington) (9-16 seed), 3-6, 6-1, 6-3 winner vs. Kristin Sanderson of Duke: (on the match): " During the first set I was really nervous, but I knew I had to get over them. In the second set I got back into my game and began to play better. I knew that if I stuck to my game plan eventually I would come out on top. Sanderson gave me a really tough match she played terrific and I had to play super to beat her."

(On being seeded in the tournament): " I was in awe when I saw that I was seeded. It was a great feeling knowing that all of my hard work all season paid off. This is the biggest honor of my life to date."

Doubles, First Round Quotes-- May 25, 1998

Amanda Angustus and Amy Jensen (California) 6-3,6-4 winners over Nicola Kaiwai and Dorothee Kurz (Wake Forest) (5-8 seed)

On going into the match: Amy Jensen - "We were looking forward to this match for a few days now, and we were excited to play some good tennis." Amanda Angustus - "We knew how they played, so we knew it was going to be a good match.

On advancing to the second round: Amy Jensen - "Right now we are playing the best tennis we have played all year. Hopefully we can keep this momentum going with us, because this was a tough draw."

Tiffany Gates and Jennifer Hall (Notre Dame) 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 winners over Alison Nash and Celene McCoury (Arizona State)

On the slow start: Jennifer Hall - "What's nice about this format is that there is the best two out of three, instead of a pro set. We started off slow and lost the first set, but we gained some momentum in the second." Tiffany Gates - "I was a little nervous going out there on our home court and in front of the home crowd. Once a few points were scored I knew I had to play my game."

On a possible matchup with Stanford's Kremer and Ashley: Jennifer Hall - "I've actually never seen them play before, but I know that they very good. They had a good go at it in the team competition." Tiffany Gates - "Stanford always has some good doubles teams, and Kremer and Ashley are probably their best."

Marjon Copier and Barbara Urbanska (Wisconsin) 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 winners over Courtenay Chapman and Agnes Muzamel (Mississippi) (5-8 seed): "I think we had a slow start, but also their game style is very different. They have very strong ground strokes from the baseline and they work it from there, which is kind of unusual for doubles, so it kind of took us a while to get used to their game. They were really tough and threw us out of our game for a while. We just stayed aggressive and we found a way to pull it out. It was a really emotional match."

(On adjusting to Chapman's and Muzamel's style of play): "I think we tried maintaining our focus a little better and also feeling their weaknesses out so we knew which formation was more effective. It just took a while to get used to it and we think we were more prepared after a couple of games. I don't think we have played a team like this before and they were just really good."