Miami Upsets USC, 4-1, to Advance to NCAA Championship Final
May 22, 2006
STANFORD, Calif. – Nearly 24-hours after play was suspended due to rain, the seventh-seeded Miami women’s tennis team (24-6) upset third-seeded Southern California (21-4), 4-1, in an NCAA Championship Semifinal Monday morning to advance to the title match for the second time in school history and first time since 1985. Miami likewise, becomes only the second Atlantic Coast Conference team to reach the NCAA final, joining Duke’s 1998 team.
The match, which began at 10:00 a.m. PST Sunday morning after a one-hour rain delay, was halted by rain mid-way through singles play where Miami had won five first sets despite losing the doubles point. After rain washed out the Taube Tennis Center for the remainder of the afternoon and into the evening, the match was postponed for Monday.
Miami will now play top-seeded and No. 1 ranked Stanford (29-0), who defeated fourth-seeded Florida 4-0 this afternoon, Tuesday, May 23 at 3 pm EST. (12 pm Pacific). Miami has not played Stanford since 1989 when the Cardinal topped the Hurricanes 6-3. Stanford holds a 10-1 lead in the all-time series.
“The team played unbelievable tennis,” said head coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews. “We were aggressive. I think the break (the rain delay) actually helped us in certain positions. It definitely helped up at #3 singes. Our freshman was able to get her heels into the match and got rid of some of her nerves.”
“We’ve been harping at these kids to play aggressive tennis and it seems like late in the season when it has counted, the team has stepped up and believed in the philosophy of taking it to the other team. I think that at all the spots that we won today, we definitely played aggressive. We played to win, not to wait to see what happened.”
Miami’s first and only NCAA Championship final appearance was in 1985 where the Hurricanes fell to USC, 6-3. The Hurricanes are making their 11th-consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament. In its 21st NCAA Tournament appearance, Miami is 24-20 all-time.
The match opened up on Sunday morning with USC claiming the doubles point. Miami’s second-ranked duo of All-American’s Melissa Applebaum and Audra Cohen defeated USC’s 28th ranked Dianne Matias/Carine Vermeulen, 8-4 at the No. 1 slot. With her win in doubles, Applebaum surpassed Lise Gregory as Miami’s all-time career doubles winner with a 105-32 record.
After the Trojans claimed a win at No. 2 doubles, all attention turned to court No. 3 where Judy DeVera and Amanda Fink defeated Miami’s Caren Seenauth/Patricia Starzyk pair to clinch the win and give USC a 1-0 match lead heading into singles.
The Hurricanes took the court Monday morning with leads in five of the six singles positions. First to finish was Seenauth who, after rallying from a 5-3 deficit took the first set 7-5 the previous day at the No. 6 position, did not give up a game en route to a 7-5, 6-0 victory over 101st ranked Vermeulen to put Miami on the board.
Applebaum, ranked 76th in singles, gave the Hurricanes the lead for good when she upset seventh ranked Fink in three sets at the No. 2 slot. The Miami senior claimed the first set 6-4 and fell behind 4-1 in the second before play was halted. Fink went on to win the second set 6-1 but Applebaum rebounded to win the third, 6-2, for the victory.
Starzyk put Miami up 3-1 when she topped 58th ranked Anca Anastasiu in straight-sets, 6-2, 6-4 at No. 6 singles. Starzyk has gone 3-0 in singles this week.
Dancevic, Miami’s lone freshman, clinched the match for the Hurricanes at the No. 3 position. Down 6-4 in the first set, Dancevic, who is ranked 107th nationally, took a 2-1 lead in the second set before the rain delay. Taking advantage of the break in play, Dancevic took the second set 6-4 and won the third 6-2 to vault the Hurricanes to their first national title match in 21 years. Dancevic also clinched Miami’s 4-0 quarterfinal victory over Notre Dame.
The Hurricanes have been on a tear since the onset of the NCAA Championships. After winning the Coral Gables Regional with 4-0 wins against Boston University and Florida International, Miami reached the NCAA Quarterfinals for the first time since 2004 with a 4-1 victory over 23rd ranked Fresno State in the Round of 16. Miami garnered its first upset of the weekend by defeating No. 2 seed Notre Dame, 4-0 in the quarterfinals to reach the semifinal for the first time since 1986.
After defeating third-ranked USC, Miami is now 3-0 against third ranked opponents this season. During the regular season, the Hurricanes faced then third-ranked Texas and North Carolina coming out victorious in both.
