NCAA Women’s Tennis : Stanford Hands USC a 9-0 Loss

After suffering the worst defeat in his 13-year coaching career at USC Thursday, one might have thought Dave Borelli would have little to offer for the record.

One might even have thought that he’d make a quick getaway from the scene, UCLA’s L.A. Tennis Center, to start erasing the 1987 NCAA women’s tennis tournament from his mind.

But no. There was Borelli, calmly discussing the loss to No. 4-seeded Stanford, and the entire season. Anyone else might have had difficulty with it.

Consider:

--The 9-0 loss to Stanford was the first time USC has suffered a first-round NCAA defeat. Previously, the Trojans’ worst NCAA finish was in 1982, when they finished fourth.

--Stanford handed USC its 13th defeat of the season. The Trojans hadn’t ever lost more than seven matches in a season, and that happened just once, in 1984. Furthermore, USC lost just five matches combined in 1985 and 1986.

--The Cardinal clinched the victory, appropriately, when No. 2 singles player Stephanie Savides aced Stephanie Harges on match point. In all, USC managed to win two sets in nine matches. It was also the first time the Trojans had lost a match, 9-0, under Borelli.

NCAA Tennis Notes Georgia provided the first major upset of the tournament, defeating second-seeded Miami, 5-4, in another first-round match. The Bulldogs, seeded No. 15, will meet Trinity (Tex.) in today’s quarterfinals. Top-seeded Florida, which beat No. 16 Harvard, 8-1, plays ninth-seeded Northwestern. Northwestern upset Big Ten champion Indiana, 5-4. Other teams advancing to the quarterfinals were No. 3 Cal, No. 11 SMU and No. 5 UCLA.