Hurricane Tennis Star Eliminated from NCAA's in Three Sets
May 26, 1999
GAINESVILLE, Fla. –University of Miami sophomore LioudmilaSkavronskaia pushed No. 1-ranked Zuzana Lesenarova of San Diego tothreesets before falling to the tournament top-seed, 6-2, 1-6, 6-0, in theroundof 16 at the 1999 NCAA Division I Women’s Tennis Championship at LinderStadium at Ring Tennis Complex on the University of Florida campus.
Despite the loss, Skavronskaia(29-6) earned ITA All-American honorsfor the second straight season by way of winning two matches at theNCAASingles Championship. She is the program’s 14th player to garnerAll-American honors and the eighth to earn multiple honors. Thesophomorefrom Moscow, Russia defeated Mississippi’s Celeste Frey and Arkansas’ChinBee Khoo to advance to the Sweet 16. Last year, Skavronskaia advancedto thethird round with wins over UCLA’s Annica Cooper and Pepperdine’s ZsofiaCsapo before falling to Washington’s Kristina Kraszewski.
Lesenarova moves on to thequarterfinals where she will faceteammate Katarina Valkyova. Also in the quarterfinals are SouthernCalifornia’s Ditta Huber and Texas’ Sandy Sureephong, whom Skavronskaiadefeated in back-to-back matches during the Hurricanes’ Sweet 16 runin theNCAA Team Championship.
In her two seasons at Miami,Skavronskaia forged a 44-12 overallsingles record. Her 29-6 mark in 1999 marks the fifth highestwin total inprogram history. Of her 56 overall singles matches at Miami,37 wereagainst ranked opponents where she went 26-11. In addition, Skavronskaiaheld a 4-2 mark against top 10 competition. Her top wins cameover #5 Huber(USC) and #7 Whitney Laiho (Florida) in 1999 and #7 Martina Nedelkova(VCU)and #9 Cooper (UCLA) in 1998.
The Hurricanes garneredmuch success with Skavronskaia in theline-up over the past two seasons. Consistently rated among thetop 20, UMwent a combined 36-17 in 1998 and ’99. Miami was also selectedfor NCAAplay in each season, with appearances in the round of 32 in ’98 andround of16 in ’99. UM won the 1998 BIG EAST Championship and advanced to thefinalsin 1999. Skavronskaia was named the BIG EAST’s Most OutstandingPerformerfollowing UM’s win over Notre Dame to win the crown in ’98. Amongher othertournament honors was winning the top flight at the Lady Seminole FallClassic earlier this year.
