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1998 NCAA DIVISION I WOMEN'S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIP
May 21-29
Courtney Tennis Center
University of Notre Dame
Quarterfinals Notes
Stanford's Julie Scott is in the semifinals for the second straight year. At the '97 NCAA championship, Scott dropped a 7-5, 6-1 decision to Florida's M.C. White in her semifinal contest.
Duke's Vanessa Webb, with her 6-1, 6-3 victory over Yana Dorodnova of Kansas State, advances to the NCAA singles semifinals for the first time in her career. In her four singles matches during this '98 NCAA singles draw, Webb has yet to drop a set. Webb is the highest seeded player (4) left in the singles draw.
Tomorrow's semifinal match will mark the second straight year that a player from Duke has advanced this far in singles competition. At the '97 NCAA championship, top-seeded Karen Miller got into the semifinals, but lost to eventual champion Lilia Osterloh of Stanford.
Stanford's Ania Bleszynski if making her second appearance in three years in tomorrow's NCAA singles semifinals. As a sophomore in '96, she advanced to the semifinal round before dropping a 6-2, 6-3 decision to eventual champion Jill Craybas of Florida.
The fourth semifinalist is Zuzana Lesenarova of San Diego. She is making her first-ever semifinal appearance and becomes the first player from the University of San Diego to advance to the semifinal round. Lesenarova has a 34-7 singles record this year.
Only two of the four semifinalists have played each other this season. Julie Scott and Zuzana Lesanarova met at the Riviera All-America Championship in October with Lesanarova earning a 6-2, 6-4 victory.
For the second straight year, Stanford has two players advance into the semifinals. Last year, Julie Scott and Lilia Osterloh played in the semifinals. This will be the seventh time that Stanford has had two players advance to the semifinals. Florida is the only other school to have two players in the semifinals. Twice the Gators have had two players in the semifinals (1988 and 1993).
Top-seeded Murela Vladulescu lost for just the third time this season with her three-set decision to Julie Scott. Vladulescu ends the year with a 40-3 singles mark. The last top-seeded player to win the single crown was Florida's Lisa Raymond in 1993.
Tomorrow's semifinal matchup between Zuzana Lesenarova (San Diego) and Ania Bleszynski (Stanford) marks the first time that two unseeded players will play each in the semifinals and guarantees that for the second straight year an unseeded player will advance to the finals. A year ago, Florida's M.C. White advanced to the finals after being unseeded.
Notre Dame's Jennifer Hall and Tiffany Gates lost for the second time this season to Duke's Vanessa Webb and Karen Goldstein. During a dual match between the two schools in April, the Duke tandem beat Hall and Gates 8-2.
Duke's Vanessa Webb is the only player who will be playing in both singles and doubles semifinals action tomorrow. The last player to reach the semifinals in both singles and doubles in the same NCAA championship was Kerry Phebus of UCLA who won both the singles and doubles championship in 1995.
Today was the 100th career doubles win for Stephanie Nickitas and Dawn Buth. In two-plus seasons playing together in the NCAA doubles tournament, the duo has won all 13 of their matches and dropped just three sets.
Lauren Nickolaus and Michelle O's three-set victory (7-6 (6), 1-6, 6-3) over Stanford's Ania Bleszynski and Julie Scott marked the second time this season that the Tribe tandem beat the Stanford doubles team. Earlier this year, the Tribe duo beat Bleszynski and Scott 7-5, 6-3.
The doubles team of Amanda Augustus and Amy Jensen is the only unseeded doubles team remaining in the draw. The three other doubles participants are all seeded in the top eight.
Heading into tomorrow's singles action, the career records for the semifinalists are: Julie Scott (148-20), Vanessa Webb (117-22), Ania Bleszynski (106-42) and Zuzana Lesenarova (62-12).
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