May 24, 2005
Singles Notes
No. 1 and Defending Champ Out of Singles Draw
On Monday two-time defending singles champion Amber Liu of Stanford withdrew from her first round match with a shoulder injury. Today, Miami's Megan Bradley, the top seed in the tournament, fell to Marianna Yuferova of VCU, 6-3, 3-6, 3-6. Yuferova snapped Bradley's streak of 39 consecutive victories with the upset. It is the first NCAA championship that the No. 1 seed failed to reach the Round of 16 since 1990 when Meredith McGrath of Stanford was defeated by USC's Luoita Novelo in the second round.
BCS Championship
The Southeastern Conference will be the most represented league in the singles draw on Wednesday with five players remaining. The Pacific-10 is just behind with four players left in the draw.
Have We Met?
Three matchups in the singles Round of 16 are rematches from earlier this year. Aibika Kalsarieva of Kentucky defeated Audra Falk of Vanderbilt, 6-3,6-4, on April 16. Jennifer Magley of Florida defeated Chloe Carlotti of Ole Miss, 6-0, 6-4, on April 10. In addition, Story Tweedie-Yates of TCU defeated Theresa Logar of Stanford, 6-3,6-2, on October 8. Tweedie-Yates was also a member of Stanford's national championship teams in 2001 and 2002 before making the move to TCU.
Singles Draw by Class
Of the 16 players remaining in the singles draw, seven are seniors. One junior remains in the tournament, two sophomores (Stanford's Theresa Logar and Anne Yelsey) and six freshmen.
Doubles Notes
Doubling Up
There are eight players left in the singles draw (Round of 16) that are also won their opening round doubles match Tuesday to make it to the Round of 16. They are: Marianna Yuferova (VCU), Anne Yelsey (Stanford), Jennifer Magley (Florida), Story Tweedie-Yates (TCU), Audra Cohen (Northwestern), Riza Zalameda (UCLA), Zerene Reyes (Florida) and Julie Coin (Clemson).
Seeds Still Around
For the first time since the 2002 NCAA Championships, all four of the top seeds advanced to the round of 16. In fact, the last time the number one seed won the doubles title was in 2002 (Gabriela Lastra and Lauren Kalvaria of Stanford).
Double Your Chances
Stanford and Florida each have two teams left in the round of 16 while the other remaining 12 tandems hail from different schools. The Cardinal, the Gators and the Cal Bears are tied for second with four NCAA Doubles titles in NCAA history with UCLA leading the pack at five. The Bruins have a team remaining including half of last year's championships squad in Daniel Bercek, paired this year with Riza Zalameda