It Comes Down to No. 3 Doubles, and Florida Women Defeat UCLA

The undefeated doubles team of Andrea Farley and Nicole Polasek lifted Florida past UCLA, 5-4, Saturday and into the finals of the NCAA women’s tennis championships at Gainesville, Fla., where the Lady Gators will face Stanford.

Top-ranked Stanford, the four-time defending champion, earned its 64th consecutive victory by beating Texas, 6-1, in the other semifinal.

Farley and Polasek (12-0) beat Allegra Milholland and Cammie Foley, 6-0, 6-3, in No. 3 doubles for Florida’s decisive point.

UCLA (23-7) and Florida (32-2) were tied, 3-3, going into the doubles. Mamie Ceniza and Stella Sampras of the Bruins were straight-set winners in the No. 1 match. The No. 2 Lady Gators team of Nicole Arendt and Jillian Alexander also won in two sets.

Stanford (28-0) breezed to the victory over Texas (27-5) despite losing a singles match for the first time in the tournament. Led by Sandra Birch, the Cardinal got straight-set wins in the first four matches before Vickie Paynter upset Lisa Green, 7-5, 6-4.

Edna Olivarez of Cal State Los Angeles completed her collegiate tennis career by winning the singles title and sharing the doubles title at the NCAA Divison II women’s championships at Rancho Cordova.

Olivarez beat Julie Slattery of Cal Poly Pomona in a three-hour match, 6-4, 1-6, 6-4. One hour later, Olivarez and Jennifer Choi won the doubles title with a 7-5, 7-5 victory over Christy Murphy and Vicki Kanter of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.