Stanford women reach fourth consecutive NCAA final

Janice Shin, shown on May 5, and Michaela Gordon won within 11 seconds of
each other to give No. 3 Stanford a 5-2 victory over No. 2 North Carolina today
in the semifinals of the NCAA Championships in Orlando, Fla. Photo by Mal Taam

   A rare double-clinch put the Stanford women in their fourth consecutive NCAA final.
   Michaela Gordon and Janice Shin won within seconds of each other to give the No. 3 Cardinal a 5-2 victory over No. 2 North Carolina today in the NCAA Championships in Orlando, Fla.
   Stanford (27-1), the defending champion, extended its winning streak to 22 matches and ended the Tar Heels' at 24. North Carolina ended the season at 33-2.
   No. 108 Shin, a sophomore from Houston, defeated Jessie Aney 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 on Court 5 at the USTA National Campus 11 seconds before No. 24 Gordon, a sophomore from Saratoga in the San Francisco Bay Area, topped No. 5 Makenna Jones 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 on Court 1. But because both concluding points were in progress simultaneously, Shin and Gordon were credited with clinching victories, according to gostanford.com.
   Shin improved to 7-0 in the NCAA Championships, and Gordon defeated the highest-ranked player of her career. However, Caroline Lampl's winning streak ended at 23 matches on Court 3.
   No. 20 Emily Arbuthnott and Gordon lost to No. 12 Jones and Cameron Morra 6-4, but Stanford won the doubles point. No. 29 Melissa Lord made it 2-0 with her 100th career singles victory, 6-1, 6-3 over No. 7 Alexa Graham on Court 2. No. 119 Sara Choy, a late substitution as a freshman from Palo Alto, increased the lead to 3-0 with a 7-5, 6-1 decision over Alle Sanford on Court 6.
   North Carolina rallied for 3-2 before falling short.
   Stanford will seek its third NCAA title in four years when it faces No. 1 Georgia on Sunday not before 2 p.m. PDT (Tennis Channel). The Bulldogs (28-1) beat No. 5 Duke 4-2.
   Georgia edged Stanford 4-3 on Feb. 11 in the semifinals of the ITA National Team Indoor Championships in Seattle.
   Stanford leads all schools with 19 of a possible 37 NCAA titles. Florida ranks second with seven, and Georgia is tied for third with three other schools at two.
   This will be Georgia's fourth NCAA final, all against Stanford. The Cardinal won in 1987, but the Bulldogs prevailed in 1994 and 2000.