Hurricanes Face No. 10 USC in Sweet 16

May 19, 1999

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The Universityof Miami women’s tennis team(20-9), straight off its upset victory over No. 7 Texas in Austin onMay 16,faces 10th-seeded Southern California (20-8) on Thursday, May 20 at5 p.m.in the Sweet 16 round of the 1999 NCAA Division I Women’s TennisChampionship team competition at the Linder Stadium at Ring TennisComplexon the campus of the University of Florida.

The Hurricanes, who weretrailing the Longhorns by as much as 3-0 intheir second round meeting at UT’s Penick-Allison Tennis Center, foughtbackto tie the score twice and eventually capture the come-from-behindwin, 5-4,over Texas.

The UM win snapped Texas’16-year streak of playing at the NCAAChampionships, where the Longhorns most recently won the national titlein1993 and 1995. In addition, the win was just one of two upsetwins overtop-10 teams in regional competition, with Texas being the highestseededteam to fall. South Alabama upset eighth-seeded UCLA, 5-2, inLos Angeles.

UM sophomore Lioudmila Skavronskaia,ranked No. 25 nationally, wasalso selected as a national at-large entry into the singles competitionwhich begins on May 24. Skavronskaia, who earned All-Americahonors at lastyear’s Championship at Notre Dame, led the team this season with a20-6 dualmatch singles record. Miami-local Meredith Laughlin (KillianH.S.) leadsthe team with a 27-6 overall singles record.

Southern California leadsthe all-time series with UM, 8-2,including a 6-3 decision over the Hurricanes to win the 1985 NationalChampionship. Miami last defeated USC, 5-4, in 1987, the lasttime UMposted 20 or more wins in a season. The UM/USC winner will facethe winnerof No. 2 Stanford and No. 15 Tennessee on Saturday at 2 p.m.

For more information, pleasecontact the UM Sports InformationOffice at (305) 284-3244 or the University of Florida Sports InformationOffice at (352) 375-4683.