ATHENS – Monday's NCAA tennis semifinals resembled an episode of the reality show "Survival." Not only did teams have to outwit, outlast and outplay their opponents, but Mother Nature wreaked a little havoc, too.
In the end, four teams advanced. Defending national champion Florida moves on to face No. 1-ranked UCLA in Tuesday's 1 p.m. women’s final. The Gators (26-1) outlasted Duke 4-3 while the Bruins (26-2) survived cross-town rival Southern Cal 4-3.
Monday’s men’s semifinals, interrupted by thunderstorms, were eventually decided under the roof of the Lindsey Thompkins Indoor Couorts. Top-seeded Southern Cal advanced with a 4-1 win over UCLA and No. 3 Virginia bested Pepperdine by the same score. The Trojans (32-1) and Cavaliers (29-1) will be play for the national championship at 5 p.m. Tuesday.
With Georgia out of the equation -- both men's and women's teams were eliminated in the quarterfinals -- tournament organizers reduced championship tickets to $6 to spur interest.
“I’ve heard that rooting does no good,” said USC women’s coach Richard Gallien, asked whether he’d be rooting for the Pac-12 rival Bruins, who’d just ousted his squad 4-3. “I root every year for my mother-in-law not to come to Thanksgiving dinner, but she always comes anyway.”
Likewise, it remains unclear whether the pro-Bulldog crowd, which still makes up the majority of attendees for this event, will be pulling for their SEC sisters as the Gators play the West Coasters for the titles.
“You mean Georgia fans pulling for orange and blue?” Florida coach Roland Thornqvist wondered. “I’m not going to hold my breath.”
With or without the aid of partisanship, it is clear that the stakes mattered to the individuals involved. Consider some of the evidence from the women’s semifinals, played in 90-degree heat on the hard courts of Dan Magill Tennis Complex:
-- Florida star Joanna Mather, a senior from Duluth who plays No. 3 singles for the Gators, threw up between serves in the fifth game of her third set against Duke’s Hanna Mar. Nevertheless, she rolled on to a 6-0 victory in the last set. “I probably distracted her a little bit,” Mather said sheepishly.
-- Mather’s Florida teammate, Allie Will, the nation’s No. 1-ranked player, needed exactly three hours to dispatch No. 2-ranked Beatrice Capra. Remarkably, they played only two sets, 6-4, 6-4, an average of nine grueling minutes per game.
-- Post-match intravenous fluids weren’t enough to revive UCLA’s Robin Anderson after her 6-7 (7-5), 6-4, 6-2 victory over Southern Cal’s Zoe Scandalis. Afterward Anderson had to be transported to St. Mary’s Hospital to be treated for dehydration. She is expected back for the championship bout.
-- Florida’s Alex Cerconne took advantage of a specially implemented heat rule to leave the court for 10 minutes between the second and third set of her match against Duke’s Mary Clayton. She rallied for a 6-3 third-set win that ended up the clinching victory. Elapsed time: 3 hours and 14 minutes.
“If this was any other match, I think you would feel fatigue,” Thornqvist said. “But we’re playing for a national championship. If you can walk, you can play.”
Fitness played a major part in the clinching match that decided UCLA-USC. McCall Jones, ranked No. 98 by the ITA in singles, had dropped the second set and was on serve in the third when the gathering teammates on the adjacent court made it apparent that the 3-all match had now come down to her.
What followed was brilliant display of willful tennis. She outlasted her No. 19-ranked opponent, Danielle Lao, for an incredibly long point to go up 40-30, then got the break on an unforced error. The subsequent 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 victory was her first head-to-head victory over Lao.
“I think she got a little tight when she knew it was going to come down to her,” Jones said. “I think it was almost the opposite effect for me. I think I was tight until it came down to me. When I knew it was on me, I started to play better tennis."
Winning is old hat for Mather. With her two victories on Monday, she now has 214 in her career, ninth all-time in Gator history. Her 110 doubles wins are seventh in Florida annals. But she’s never had a match during which she got sick in the middle.
" I didn’t know what to do,” said Mather, who trained at Racquet Club of the South in Norcross. “[Assistant] coach Dave [Balogh] was telling me to go ahead and throw up. I felt so much better afterward. I think I just drank way too much Gatorade on the previous change-over.”
About the Author
