May 23, 2006
Stanford, Calif. - A day behind schedule, the NCAA Division I Women's Championship was played today at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium, with top-ranked and top-seeded Stanford posting a 4-1 victory over seventh-seeded Miami this afternoon to claim the Cardinal's 15th NCAA team title.
Stanford, appearing in the title match for the 20th time in the 25 year history of the championship, captured the crown with a 4-1 victory over the Hurricanes on its home court this afternoon, extending Stanford's NCAA-record win streak to 86 consecutive matches. The Cardinal is also on a 107-home court win streak and has won 18-straight NCAA post-season matches en route to its third-straight title.
Although the title match was originally scheduled to play Monday night at 6:30 p.m., a full day of rain on Sunday pushed the semifinals and finals back one day, Stanford and Miami squared off at noon today, starting with doubles.
Celia Durkin and Amber Liu, ranked No. 22 in the nation, gave the Cardinal a good start, winning the first doubles match on court two with an 8-3 victory over Audrey Banada and Monika Dancevic of Miami. The Stanford point was not secure, though, as top-ranked Alice Barnes and Anne Yelsey were down, 7-3, on court one to second-ranked Melissa Applebaum and Audra Cohen and Lejla Hodzic and Jessica Nguyen were even with Caren Seenauth and Patricia Starzyk on court three.
But the top-ranked doubles duo in the nation proved their top ranking true, winning six-straight games to post a 9-7 victory and earn their 39th win of the season. The victory clinched the doubles point for Stanford.
Head coach Lele Forood changed the starting lineup prior to singles, taking out Yelsey and moving up Whitney Deason and Durkin and adding Nguyen at court six. The move up to court five did not phase Durkin, who finished with a quick 6-0, 6-2 victory over Patricia Starzyk. Nguyen, who had not played singles since the Cardinal's opening round of the tournament against Quinnipiac, gave Stanford a 3-0 lead with a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Caren Seenauth. Miami's second-ranked Audra Cohen notched the lone Hurricane point, posting a two set win over Liu at No. 1 singles.
But on the neighboring courts, Barnes and Theresa Logar were both leading in the second set and just one game away from clinching the Stanford win. It was Logar who finished first, scoring a 6-0, 6-3 victory over 107th-ranked Monika Dancevic to secure the Cardinal's 15th NCAA Team Championship and help Stanford finish the year with a 30-0 record. Logar finishes the dual season with a perfect 20-0 record, while fellow finisher Durkin ended her first team season at Stanford with an unblemished 23-0 mark in duals.
Stanford will be back on the courts tomorrow, as the NCAA Singles Championship begins at 10 a.m. Barnes, Deason, Durkin, Liu, Logar and Yelsey are all slated to compete in the singles bracket, while Barnes-Yelsey and Durkin-Liu compete in the doubles field.