NCAA Women’s Tennis Championships : Stanford Wins Its Second Straight Title With 5-1 Victory Over Georgia

Almost everyone else had taken Georgia lightly at the NCAA women’s tennis championships, so one might venture that defending champion Stanford would do the same.

Because, in a sense, the hard part was over for Stanford. USC went down without winning a single match against the Cardinal in the first round. UCLA managed to record one hollow victory. And top-seeded Florida didn’t even reach the doubles competition against the fourth-seeded team.

But, seniors Stephanie Savides, Patty Fendick and Leigh Anne Eldredge had long memories. Savides remembered the last time the Cardinal had underestimated an opponent in the NCAAs.

“Two years ago, we lost to Trinity when we were overconfident,” she said. “This time, we got ourselves revved up against Georgia.”

As it turned out, the Bulldogs did provide a little more opposition than had been expected. Stanford, however, had too much depth and defeated Georgia, 5-1, to win its second straight NCAA team championship Sunday at UCLA’s L.A. Tennis Center.

Prior to the final, all Savides had to do was remind herself that two years ago, after being eliminated from the NCAA tournament in the quarterfinals by Trinity, Stanford players were practicing on an outside court, listening to the cheering crowd while USC was defeating Miami for the title.

Understandably, tempers flared and rackets flew during the practice because the loss to Trinity was especially hard to take. Stanford had suffered just one defeat before the tournament and was the top-seeded team. Eventually, Coach Frank Brennan got so angry, he ended the practice and chewed his players out.

This year, the Stanford players thought of a way to to stay motivated for Georgia. The solution:

“We got these little dogs on chains,” Savides said. “It was a stuffed dog, and we all had dog dishes and bones. We were not going to take the Bulldogs lightly.”

So, after walking the stuffed dogs around with a chain, Stanford ran the real Bulldogs, in tennis skirts, right off the court.

No. 1 singles Fendick, No. 2 Savides, No. 4 Kay Tittle, No. 5 Eleni Rossides and No. 6 Eldredge won their matches in straight sets. Laurie Friedland defeated Lisa Green, 6-4, 7-5, at No. 3 for Georgia’s only point.

Savides clinched the match when she rallied from a 3-1 deficit in the second set against Jane Cohodes for a 7-6, 6-3 victory. Last year, Savides (with doubles partner Cari Hagey) scored the winning point in the NCAA final against USC.

“I really wanted to win it in two sets,” Savides said. “When I was down 2-3, Frank came over and said, ‘We’re up 4-0.’ I said, ‘That’s it. I’ve got to win the match right here.’ There was no way I was going to three sets.”

Cohodes never won another game, and that was it for the Bulldogs. Georgia, seeded No. 15, had capped off a history-making season by reaching the final with victories over No. 2 Miami, No. 7 Trinity and No. 11 SMU.

“We were just very happy to get a bid,” said Georgia Coach Jeff Wallace, whose team finished third in the Southeastern Conference tournament, behind Florida and Kentucky. “It was our first time here in 13 years and in my second year as coach. We fought for every single match and ended up having a great tournament.”

Said Brennan: “When I first got here on Tuesday, I went down to a practice court and the first guy I bumped into was Jeff Wallace. I said, ‘Yeah, you guys are in the tournament this year, great.’ “I never thought on Tuesday, when we shook hands, we’d be doing it after the championships. He said he expected it even less.”

Tennis Notes

Defending champion and top-seeded Patty Fendick of Stanford will play Chris Seiffert of Arizona this morning in the first round of the individual singles tournament. Second-seeded Beverly Bowes of Texas meets Kay Tittle of Stanford, and third-seeded Ronni Reis of Florida plays Hilary Shane of Princeton in the first round. Kentucky’s Sonia Hahn is seeded fourth, Northwestern’s Diane Donnelly is fifth and Monique Javer of San Diego State is sixth. . . . UCLA has four players--Jane Thomas, Joni Urban, Jennifer Fuchs and Allyson Cooper--competing in the singles’ draw. Maeve Quinlan, Stephanie Harges and Anya Kochoff represent USC. Marisa Sanchez, Ginger Helgeson and Carrie Crissel qualified for Pepperdine. . . . Stanford Coach Frank Brennan on Fendick, who has won 51 straight singles matches: “She’s kind of like money in the bank. . . . She’s the finest athlete I’ve ever coached. I think she’s going to have a great pro career.” . . . Georgia, which finished 26-5, has two singles players and one doubles team in the individual tournament. Alice Reen and Laurie Friedland qualified in singles. Stanford (22-4) has Fendick, Savides, Green and Tittle in the singles draw. Savides and Fendick are seeded No. 4 in doubles.