Florida Gators
NCAA Singles & Doubles - Day 4
W-Tennis Duo to Play for NCAA Doubles Championship
Friday, May 25, 2001 | Women's Tennis
Florida's Whitney Laiho (Newport, RI) and Jessica Lehnhoff (Delray Beach, FL) advanced to the final of the NCAA Women's Tennis Doubles Championships with a solid 6-2, 6-3 victory over top-seeded Lauren Barnikow and Lauren Kalvaria from Stanford.
Laiho and Lehnhoff, the No. 4 seed, will be aiming to give Florida its fourth NCAA doubles title, when the pair plays Stanford's No. 3 seeded Laura Granville and Gabriela Lastra on Saturday at 4:00 p.m. at the Lincoln Tennis Center. Granville, who is the defending NCAA singles champion, will try to become the first to successfully defend her title since UF's Lisa Raymond won back-to-back crowns in 1992 and 1993. Granville's match against teammate Lauren Kalvaria begins at 1 p.m.
"We stayed calm and under control and made them play," Laiho said of today's win. "We finished the shots we needed to today."
"We're proud of representing our school in the final," Lehnhoff said. "It's such an exciting feeling to be playing for the title. This is what Whitney and I have wanted since the tournament began."
The Gator duo, which avenged their only loss of the season, improved their season record to 33-1, and have a 44-6 career record playing together. Laiho and Lehnhoff lost to Barnikow and Kalvaria 8-4 in the NCAA team semifinal dual match. The Cardinal team was 41-4 entering today's match.
"I thought we got too caught up in the moment of the event the last time we played them," said Lehnhoff of the first meeting that occurred in the team semifinal. "We were definitely more nervous and feeling the pressure of the situation in that match. Today, we just felt like if we lost we got to finally go home, which is great, or if we won, even better because we're in the final."
Florida opened today's match winning Laiho's serve at love. Kalvaria held for Stanford and then Lehnhoff followed with a service hold, losing just one point during the game. The Gators earned the first service break of the match on Barnikow's serve, capitalizing on their second break point of the game. Laiho again held serve and Florida was off to a 4-1 lead. The Gators then broke Kalvaria on their third chance in the next game, as Lehnhoff served for the opening set. However, the Stanford duo finally earned their first break of the match after Florida held two set points. Barnikow lost her serve for the second straight time as the Gators claimed the first set 6-2.
In the second set, Laiho again held her serve at love and then helped break Kalvaria's, needing just five points to take a quick 2-0 lead. But Stanford broke back and then held to get the set back on serve. Laiho lost just one point on her service game to give UF a 3-2 lead and then broke Kalvaria when Laiho's cross-court backhand was unreturnable. The Cardinal duo wouldn't go down quietly, though, and came back to break Lehnhoff's serve after Kalvaria blasted a forehand winner down the line. But the Gators fought right back and broke Barnikova for the third time in the match, capped by Laiho's short forehand that Barnikova volleyed long. Laiho cranked up her serve and lost just one point en route to closing out the match, ending it with another of her unreturnable serves.
This is the sixth time a Gator doubles team has advanced to the final and the first time since 1998, when the duo of Dawn Buth and Stephanie Nickitas reached the finals but lost to California's Amanda Augustus and Amy Jensen. Buth and Nickitas won the 1996 and 1997 NCAA doubles titles, while the tandem of Jullian Alexander and Nicole Arendt captured the crown in 1991.
NCAA Women's Tennis Team Championships
Lincoln Tennis Center
Stone Mountain, Ga.
Friday, May 25, 2001
NCAA Women's Tennis Individual Championships
Complete Results
NCAA Doubles Semifinals
[4] Whitney Laiho/Jessica Lehnhoff, UF d. [1] Lauren Barnikow/ Lauren Kalvaria, Stanford 6-2, 6-3
[2] Laura Granville/ Gabriela Lastra, Stanford d. Katja Kovac/Jahnavi Parakh, Baylor 6-1, 6-1
NCAA Singles Semifinals
[1] Laura Granville, Stanford d. [4] Michelle Dasso, Notre Dame 6-2, 6-3
[8] Lauren Kalvaria, Stanford d. [6] Bea Bielik, Wake Forest 7-6, 6-3
END OF REPORT
