Stanford women edge Cal in NCAA thriller

Caroline Doyle, shown on Saturday against Long Beach State at Stanford, saved
two match points and beat fellow freshman Maegan Manasse in a third-set tie-
breaker to give the Cardinal a 4-3 victory over Cal in the NCAA Championships.
Tri Nguyen/TriNguyenPhotography.com

   The Stanford women had no business beating Cal on Thursday in the round of 16 at the NCAA Championships.
   The defending champion Cardinal trailed 2-0 and 3-2, leaving the match in the hands of two freshmen. The first suffered cramps and fatigue. The second faced two match points.
   Yet 11th-seeded Stanford rallied to stun sixth-seeded Cal 4-3 in Atlanta. The match was moved indoors from Athens, Ga., because of rain.
   Stanford (19-2) ended Cal's 14-match winning streak. The Cardinal, which had been the last team to beat the Bears (20-5), is scheduled to meet third-seeded Virginia on Saturday at 9 a.m. PDT (live streaming and scoring at www.ncaasports.com) in the quarterfinals in Athens. The Cavaliers (24-5) defeated No. 14 Baylor 4-1.
   Another freshman, 21st-ranked Carol Zhao, put Stanford on the board with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over No. 18 Anett Schutting, a senior, at No. 2 singles.
   No. 3 Kristie Ahn evened the score 2-2, downing No. 30 Denise Starr 6-4, 6-2 at No. 1 singles.
   No. 87 Klara Fabikova put Cal of the brink of victory with a win at No. 5.
   After splitting sets at No. 4, Stanford's Taylor Davidson took an injury timeout for cramps and fatigue. She battled to 3-3 in the third set, then reeled off three straight games to beat Lynn Chi 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.
   In the deciding contest, No. 57 Caroline Doyle of San Francisco survived match points serving at 4-5, 15-40 in the second set and went on to beat No. 62 Maegan Manasse, also a freshman, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 7-6 (0).
   "We came all the way out here to go far in the tournament, and I was just trying to leave it all on the court," Doyle said on gostanford.com. "Even if I ended up losing, I just wanted to know that I gave it 100 percent. I ended up getting those points and securing the game."
   Said Cal coach Amanda Augustus: "Obviously that was heartbreaking from Maegan. We knew that this match was going to come down to the wire, as it does every time we play our rival. It was just great tennis on every court. Unfortunately, we had a couple of match points that we didn't convert, but that's what can happen when you have two freshmen out there at the end. You don't really know what you're going to get.
   "I think Stanford will go really far now in the tournament. I think we're two of the better teams this year, so I wish them luck. If it can't be us, I want it to be someone from our conference. My team fought really hard today and left it all out on the court. You can't ask for anything else."
   Please see full results below.
   Senior women -- In an all-Northern California showdown, No. 2 seed and defending champion Tracy Houk of Montara outlasted No. 4 seed Judy Newman of Scotts Valley 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 in 4 hours, 15 minutes to reach the women's 50 final of the USTA National Women's Hard Court Championships in La Jolla.
   Houk will meet top-seeded Ros (Fairbank) Nideffer of San Diego today for the title. Nideffer, a two-time French Open doubles champion, topped third-seeded Frances Chandler of Jackson, Tenn., 6-4, 6-1.
   Second-seeded Martha Downing of Shingle Springs in the Sacramento area will face top-seeded Tina Karwasky of Glendale in the women's 60 final. Downing beat third-seeded Sherri Bronson of Scottsdale, Ariz., 6-4, 6-2.

NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
Women's round of 16

Stanford 4, Cal 3

In Atlanta

Doubles

   1. No. 10 Kristie Ahn and Carol Zhao (S) def. No. 41 Lynn Chi and Anett Schutting, abandoned.
   2. No. 47 Maegan Manasse and Denise Starr (C) def. No. 50 Taylor Davidson and Ellen Tsay, 8-3.
   3. No. 83 Klara Fabikova and Zsofi Susanyi (C) def. Caroline Doyle and Amelia Herring, 8-4.
   Order of finish: 3, 2.

Singles

   1. No. 3 Kristie Ahn (S) def. No. 30 Denise Starr, 6-4, 6-2.
   2. No. 23 Zsofi Susanyi (C) def. No. 41 Krista Hardebeck, 6-2, 6-1.
   3. No. 21 Carol Zhao (S) def. No. 18 Anett Schutting, 6-2, 6-3.
   4. No. 50 Taylor Davidson (S) def. Lynn Chi, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.
   5. No. 87 Klara Fabikova (C) def. No. 54 Ellen Tsay, 6-4, 6-3.
   6. No. 57 Caroline Doyle (S) def. No. 62 Maegan Manasse, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 7-6 (0).
   Order of finish: 2, 3, 1, 5, 4, 6.