Upset Run Gives Texas the Title : Women’s tennis: Fifth-seeded Longhorns beat second-seeded Stanford, 5-2, for NCAA championship.

Texas capped a three-day run of upsets over the top three seeded teams with a 5-2 victory over Stanford in the final of the NCAA women’s tennis championship at Gainesville, Fla., on Sunday.

The Longhorns (25-4) won four of the six singles matches, with three of the victories coming from players ranked lower than their Stanford counterparts. Texas clinched the match and its first national title when Susan Gilchrist and Vickie Paynter, college tennis’ top-ranked doubles team, defeated second-ranked Laxmi Poruri and Heather Willens, 6-3, 6-0.

Gilchrist had earlier given the Longhorns a key point in singles, defeating Poruri, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, at No. 1. Poruri, a former Claremont High standout, is ranked second, Gilchrist seventh.

“I personally felt that I had something to prove to myself and my teammates,” Gilchrist said. “In the past, I haven’t been able to come up with the big point at the right time. When I was playing singles, I felt in control the whole match.”

Second-seeded Stanford (25-3) got its points when Willens, a former Palisades High standout ranked fifth, defeated 10th-ranked Kelly Pace, 6-2, 7-6 (7-3) at No. 2 singles and Amy Chiminello topped Ashley Johnson, 6-2, 6-2, at No. 6.

In becoming the lowest-seeded team to win the title, the No. 5 Longhorns defeated No. 3 Duke in Friday’s quarterfinals, top-seeded and defending champion Florida in Saturday’s semifinals after opening the tournament Wednesday with a second-round victory over USC.

It was the Cardinal’s first defeat in an NCAA final.