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NCAA Singles and Doubles Championship
No. 7 Andersson and Juricova Earn Spot in NCAA Doubles Semifinal
5/23/2009 12:00 PM | Women's Tennis
May 23, 2009
2009 NCAA Tennis Championships Tournament Central
2009 NCAA Women's Singles Draw (PDF)
2009 NCAA Women's Doubles Draw (PDF)
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - The No. 7-ranked California women's tennis doubles team of sophomore Mari Andersson and freshman Jana Juricova punished the No. 1-ranked and top-seeded duo of Renata Kucerkova and Anastasia Petukhova of Fresno State in the second set of a straight-set quarterfinal victory on Saturday (May 23) to earn a spot in the 2009 NCAA Division I Women's Tennis Doubles Championship semifinal at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center. Advancing further than any Golden Bear doubles team since the 2003 NCAA champion tandem of Raquel Kops-Jones and Christina Fusano, Andersson and Juricova will face No. 13 Csilla Borsanyi and Lenka Broosova of Baylor at 12:30 p.m. PT on Sunday (May 24) in one semifinal.
“I'm just taking it one match at a time," said Andersson, "because we play so many matches you can't keep track of them. You just wake up and do the same in the morning: you come here and play. It's my first NCAAs and for Jana (Juricova) too, so we don't really know what to expect. We have played a lot of tournaments, but not NCAAs. NCAAs is different from other tournaments, so it is very exciting.”
The Bears took the first game of the match by breaking Petukhova's serve but Fresno State answered back by negating Juricova's service efforts in the second game. The two teams held until they traded service breaks once more on Petukhova and Juricova serves. Again, the teams held until the 10th game with the Bulldogs up 5-4. Juricova was serving with a 30-15 lead when all matches were suspended due to rain. After returning from the two-hour delay, the Bears took care of business to knot the first set at five-all.
Andersson's furious baseline rally awarded the Bears with a triple-break point opportunity but they only needed one as Cal broke Kucerkova's serve for the first time to gain a 6-5 lead. The Bulldogs were not deterred, however, as they broke back on Andersson's serve to send the first set into a tiebreaker. The Bears were all business in the tiebreaker as they broke open the proceedings by taking a point on Kucerkova's serve. Juricova's serves produced the next two points before the Bears continued to run up the score by turning away Petukhova's service efforts. The Bears found themselves up 6-1 with Kucerkova back behind the toss. One more long shot from Fresno State ended the set, 7-6, in Cal's favor; 7-1 in the tiebreaker.
The Bears carried the momentum gathered from winning the first set and turned it into a 3-1 lead in the second. Juricova served Cal into a 4-1 lead before the Bears went up two breaks as they closed out a win on Kucerkova's serve in the sixth game. The Bulldogs responded with a win in the seventh by taking a game on Andersson's serve before Petukhova held to pull Fresno State into a two-game deficit at 5-3.
With Juricova back to serve once more, the Bears jumped out to a 30-love lead when Kucerkova returned a shot into the net. The Bulldogs continued to fight and forced a 30-all tie as the Bears suffered from a lapse in communication but the next point belonged to Cal to put Andersson and Juricova up 40-30 with match point. Juricova attacked the net to change what began as a baseline rally when her shot forced the Fresno State volley to go long, giving the Bears a 6-3 win and the right to advance to the doubles semifinal.
For complete draws, results and additional information, please visit www.aggieathletics.com/ncaa2009/tennis
2009 NCAA Division I Women's Tennis Doubles Championship
George P. Mitchell Tennis Center | College Station, Texas
Round of 32 | Thursday, May 21
No. 7 Mari Andersson/Jana Juricova (CAL) def. No. 12 Whitney Chappell/Alex Haney (AUB) 7-6(5), 6-3
Round of 16 | Friday, May 22
No. 7 Mari Andersson/Jana Juricova (CAL) def. No. 19 Michaela Kissell/Laura Vallverdu (MIA) 7-5, 6-4
Quarterfinal | Saturday, May 23
No. 7 Mari Andersson/Jana Juricova (CAL) def. No. 1 Renata Kucerkova/Anastasia Petukhova (FSU) 7-6(1), 6-3
Semifinal | Sunday, May 24
No. 7 Mari Andersson/Jana Juricova (CAL) vs. No. 13 Csilla Borsanyi/Lenka Broosova (BAY) - 12:30 p.m. PT
