NCAA Women's Tennis Championships: Cal, Stanford headed to 2nd round
Four Pac-12 teams took the courts on Saturday around the country, including three teams making their 2017 NCAA Women's Tennis Championships debut.
[Related: 2017 NCAA Women's Tennis Championships bracket (NCAA.com)]
First round: California 4, San Jose State 0
The Golden Bears made their NCAA debut at home at Saturday, blanking fellow Bay Area school San Jose State 4-0. Cal took the doubles point in straight sets with Olivia Hauger/Karla Popovic downing Marine Dans/Gaelle Rey, 6-1, before Maegan Manasee/Maya Jansen defeated Sybille Gauvain/Marie Klocker, 6-2.
The momentum kept rolling for the Golden Bears as they took four of the first six sets in singles play. Manasee was the first to the finish line, closing out Gauvain 6-3, 6-2. Just a few minutes later, Maria Smith put Cal firmly and control and up 3-0 when she defeated Rey 6-1, 6-1. Hauger officially punched her team's ticket to the second round with a 6-2, 6-0 victory over the Spartans' Tamara Culibrk.
The Golden Bears will now face LSU Sunday afternoon at 12 p.m. PT with a spot in the round of 16 on the line.
Olivia clinched Cal's 4-0 win over @SJSUAthletics with her 6-2, 6-0 victory on court 4 over Culibrk! #GoBears @NCAATennis pic.twitter.com/qyYUfhXF8a
— Cal Women's Tennis (@CalWomensTennis) May 13, 2017
First round: Stanford 4, Idaho 0
The Cardinal is through to Sunday with a 4-0 sweep over the visiting Vandals down on The Farm. Stanford started that day with an unusual and unfortunate advantage as Idaho had only five available players, therefore, had to forfeit the No. 3 doubles match and No. 6 singles match. Needing to win just one of the remaining doubles matchups, the Card's Emily Arbuthnott/Taylor Davidson locked up the point, defeating Lucia Badillos/Marianna Petrei, 6-3.
With the doubles point in hand and an additional point granted by virtue of the singles match forfeit, Caroline Lampl put things just about out of reach with a win over Maria Tavares 6-0, 2-0 after the Vandal sophomore was forced to retire with an injury. Emily Arbuthnott closed it out for Stanford, defeating Shion Watabe 6-2, 6-0 on the fifth court.
Stanford secures a 4-0 win over Idaho and advances to the NCAA second round. @emilyarbuthnott with her 25th overall win and eighth clincher. pic.twitter.com/t5Nvwz7K3D
— StanfordWTennis (@StanfordWTennis) May 13, 2017
The Cardinal will look to win the regional at home on Sunday when they toke on TCU at 1 p.m. PT.
Second round: Pepperdine 4, UCLA 1
After a strong performance in Friday's first round, the Bruins came up short against host Pepperdine 4-1 on Saturday in Malibu, California. It looked promising early as UCLA claimed the doubles point. Gabby Andrews/Alaina Miller gave the women of Westwood the early advantage, defeating Luisa Stefani/Apichaya Runglerkriangkrai, 6-3. The Waves pulled even when Christine Maddox/Mayer Sherif defeated Terri Fleming/Jada Hart, 6-3. It came down to court three where Ena Shibahara/Kristin Wiley topped Pepperdine's Ashley Lahey/Dzina Milovanovic, 6-4.
Bruins win 6-4 on 3 to take the doubles point over the Waves! pic.twitter.com/ab0CJrBijI
— UCLA Women's Tennis (@uclawtennis) May 13, 2017
From there, everything went the way of the Waves. The Bruins' Wiley was the first fall, losing to Milovanovic 6-2, 6-2. Stefani handed Pepperdine the lead for good, upending Shibahara 7-6 (5), 6-2. In quick succession, Lahey toppled Fleming 6-2, 4-6, 6-1. It all came down to Andrews, who was unable to keep the match alive, falling to Runglerkriangkrai 4-6, 6-2, 6-2.
First round: North Carolina State 4, Oregon 2
The women from Eugene put up a fight, but it wasn't enough as the Ducks fell to North Carolina State 4-2 Saturday in Athens, Georgia. Oregon jumped out early, taking the doubles point. After Martina Frantova/Anna Rogers defeated Julia Eshet/Shweta Sangwan 6-1, the Ducks rallied with victories by Alyssa Tobita/Rifanty Kahfiani (over Bianca Moldovan/Claudia Wiktorin, 6-4) and Nia Rose/Marlou Kluiving (over Adriana Reami/Tayla Stenta, 6-3).
Oregon's 1-0 lead was short-lived as Reami claimed a victory over Rose, 0-6, 6-0, 6-1 on court four. Sangwan picked up a straight-sets win over the Wolfpack's Rogers 6-2, 6-4 to temporarily regain the lead, but it would be the Ducks' last point of the day. NC State's Frantova downed Tobita 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 to make the overall score 3-2 in favor of the Wolfpack. Wiktorin then sealed it with a 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 victory over UO's Eshet.
— Oregon Ducks WTennis (@OregonWTennis) May 13, 2017