NCAA Women’s Tennis Championships : Rossides Clinches 5-1 Victory for Stanford

At about the moment Stanford’s Eleni Rossides cautioned herself not to choke, her arm began to get tight.

Rossides tossed the ball in the air to serve. To put it nicely, the serve never cleared the net. More bluntly, it was the kind of serve that is familiar to weekend hackers. For a seasoned college player, though, it is a rarity.

But Rossides shrugged off her embarrassment and ignored the gasps from the surprised crowd at UCLA’s L.A. Tennis Center. Three points later, she closed out the 6-2, 1-6, 7-6 victory over Nicole Polasek, giving Stanford a 5-1 victory over Florida in Saturday’s semifinals of the NCAA women’s tennis championships.

Afterward, Rossides didn’t need to be prompted about The Serve. Those kind of things, especially when they occur in third-set tiebreakers, don’t fade from memory very quickly.

“You mean the first serve that hit the ground before it hit the net?” Rossides said, laughing. “It was kind of weird. I did it on some first serves earlier, but not that bad.”

In a sense, Rossides’ match was an indication of how the semifinals unfolded. It was the old experience-over-youth story. Florida came into the NCAA’s at 27-0 and was top-seeded. The Gators’ young lineup--four freshman in the top six--looked immune to pressure in their first two matches.

On the other hand, No. 4 Stanford, which plays Georgia in today’s final, came to Westwood with an 18-4 regular-season record. And, Rossides at No. 5 singles and Leigh Anne Eldredge at No. 6 were big question marks. Both spent most of the year on the sideline with stress fractures.

Rossides, who has won all of her singles matches here, admitted she didn’t know what to think when she took the court on Thursday. Stanford Coach Frank Brennan felt otherwise, as he came into the tournament with different expectations.

“I really expected it (for Rossides and Eldredge to perform well),” he said. “I was hoping I was right. I know what they’re capable of. They are both competitors. They’ve both been in the main draw of the U.S. Open against the big girls. Luckily, they got better just in the nick of time.”

For Florida Coach Andy Brandi, the Cardinal revival came a week early.

“Their experience showed against the youngsters, at least in these kind of circumstances,” Brandi said. “In this tournament, in this situation, these kids are used to this pressure.”

So, Brandi, whose team had little trouble with Georgia this season, joined the other coaches in the assessment that Stanford is clearly the best team in the nation.

Even with today’s final looking like a mere formality, Brennan wasn’t about to make any bold predictions. Either way, he doesn’t need to say his team is the best. Brennan already has USC Coach Dave Borelli, UCLA’s Bill Zaima, and now, Brandi, doing it for him.

NCAA Notes No. 15 Georgia reached the final, defeating No. 11 SMU, 5-2. The No. 3 doubles team of Jill Waldman and Laurie Friedland defeated Lynda Tate and Debbie Vanderslice, 6-3, 6-2, to clinch the semifinal victory. “I’m amazed, a month ago, I didn’t know we were even going to get into the tournament,” said Georgia Coach Jeff Wallace. “We were just really excited to get in.” . . . Three of the four teams in the semifinals--Florida, Georgia and SMU--didn’t even make the NCAA tournament last season. With the appearance of those teams in the semifinals, some observers have suggested that the dominance in women’s college tennis might be shifting away from the West. But, not surprisingly, the coaches are split on the issue. Florida Coach Andy Brandi believes the West’s dominance is at an end. Stanford Coach Frank Brennan commented: “No, it definitely isn’t. We’re going to be strong again. USC is reloading and UCLA will be good again.