May 21, 1999
GAINESVILLE, Fla. - Karoline Borgersen and Jenny Lee rallied from a 5-2 deficit at No. 3 doubles to give the 6th-ranked California women's tennis team its fifth and match-clinching point, as the Golden Bears upset No. 3 Georgia, 5-4, at the NCAA Women's Tennis Championships, Friday. Cal, which earned only its third semifinal berth and improved to 20-4 on the season with the victory, faces the winner of this afternoon's Stanford-Southern California contest in Saturday's second Final Four match at 2 p.m. (EDT).
"I felt all year like we had a team that could contend for the national title, but there have been injuries and illnesses that have affected our ranking and seeding," said Cal head coach Jan Brogan following her 396th career victory. "But I always felt we could do this. The important thing now is to be focused and be ready to play tomorrow and think that it isn't good enough to just be in the semifinals. Our goal is to win an NCAA championship."
It is the second day in a row that the Bears have been involved in the match of the day. Yesterday, Cal needed over five hours to dispense with Pac-10 foe Arizona State, 5-4. And for the second-consecutive day, Cal needed a come-from-behind-effort to move on.
With the match knotted at 3-3 after singles play, the Bulldogs took their first lead of the afternoon, as defending NCAA doubles champs Amanda Augustus and Amy Jensen fell to Georgia's top-ranked duo of Vanessa Castellano and Marissa Catlin, 9-8 (5), in a tiebreaker at No. 1 doubles.
Cal, however was able level the score just minutes later when Thursday's heros, Claire Curran and Anita Kurimay, quickly dispatched Jane Reid and former Golden Bear Esther Knox, 8-3, at No. 2, paving the way for Borgersen and Lee's dramatic comeback victory at No. 3.
"There haven't been many times this season when we've lost two of three doubles matches," said Brogan. "And that has really given us an advantage this season. I just feel like everybody is playing so confidently right now."
With top player and team captain Amanda Augustus, who is still recovering form a recent bout with mononucleosis, unable to go in singles, Brogan was forced to move every player up a notch to open the match. But it didn't seem to bother the Bears, as Cal jumped out to an early 3-1 lead behind straight-set victories from Jensen at No. 1, Francesca La'O at No. 4 and Borgersen at No. 5. Georgia then bounce back with a pair of thee-set victories at Nos. 2 and 6, sending the match into doubles tied at 3-3.
"Amanda Augustus has had second degree mono for the whole spring and we didn't know it until about a month ago," Brogan said. "We knew coming here that she may not be able to play everyday in singles. I'm really proud that this team could go out there and win without their leader. That just goes to show the confidence they have in each other. No matter what the score was they played like they could win."
1999 Division I Women's Tennis Championship
Quarterfinal Match
University of Florida - Gainesville, Fla.
Final Score
No. 6 California 5, No. 3 Georgia 4.
Records: California 20-4; Georgia 24-3.
Singles
No. 1 Amy Jensen, Cal d. Vanessa Castellano, UGA 6-1, 6-2
No. 2 Aarthi Venkatesan, UGA d. Anita Kurimay, Cal 6-3, 4-6, 6-4
No. 3 Marissa Catlin, UGA d. Claire Curran, Cal 6-0, 6-4
No. 4 Francesca La'O d. Esther Knox, UGA 7-5, 6-1
No. 5 Karoline Borgersen, Cal d. Jane Reid, UGA 6-4, 7-5
No. 6 Christa Grey, UGA d. Lisa Swierniak, Cal 6-0, 1-6, 6-4
Doubles
No. 1 Castellano-Catlin, UGA d. Augustus-Jensen, Cal 9-8 (5)
No. 2 Curran-Kurimay, Cal d. Knox-Reid, UGA 8-3
No. 3 Borgersen-Jenny Lee, Cal d. Zoe Mellis-Grey 8-5
