After rolling through the first six rounds, the Cal women’s tennis team finally hit a Stanford road block at the USTA/ITA Northwest Regional Championships at Stanford on Tuesday.
Despite a dominating display from Oct. 19 to 23, Cal ultimately fell short of taking first place and securing an automatic bid at the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships in New York.
Anett Schutting, Klara Fabikova and Tayler Davis represented Cal in the singles semifinals. Ultimately, Schutting was defeated in the finals by Stanford’s Krista Hardebeck.
On the doubles side of the draw, the Bears’ doubles teams of Davis and Annie Goransson, Schutting and Zsofi Susanyi, and Lynn Chi and Fabikova all reached the semifinals. In the end though, Davis and Goransson fell to Stanford’s Stacey Tan and Ellen Tsay.
“You have to take it for what it is,” head coach Amanda Augustus said. “Someone has to lose. Unfortunately, it was us.”
In a back and forth match that lasted three hours, No. 22 Schutting was eventually out-dueled by the nation’s No. 1-ranked freshman Hardebeck, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (4). The two players both utilized big groundstrokes while committing very few unforced errors. Winning shots from both players were in abundance.
Tied at 4-4 in the second set, Schutting seized the momentum by winning the next two games. In the deciding third set, Schutting trailed 4-2 and 5-4 but was able to fight back to force a tiebreaker. Unfortunately for her, Hardebeck controlled the tiebreaker to win 7-4. Afterward, Augustus was in awe of the high level of play despite the heartbreaking loss.
“It was a match, let me tell you,” Augustus said. “It was back and forth, three hours long, really high-level tennis. I’m proud of her.”
Playing together for the first time since freshman year, seniors Davis and Goransson managed to re-establish their chemistry throughout the week leading up to the final match. Davis attributed the duo’s success to how well the two communicate during matches.
Much like the singles final, the doubles final also pitted the Bears against the Cardinal. When faced with task of competing against Stanford’s Tan and Tsay, a pair that has been together for multiple seasons, Davis and Goransson only managed to win four games, losing by a final score of 8-4.
“We had a couple of opportunities to really get ahead in the match,” Davis said. “We just didn’t quite take those opportunities. They were all over the net.”
While Cal may have finished second to Stanford in both draws, Augustus emphasized that her team as a whole outperformed every team in the Northwest region.
“Overall, we won more matches than (Stanford) did as a team,” Augustus said. “That’s something to be proud of.”
As Augustus prepares her squad for the last month of the fall campaign, the all around success at the regional championships gave her confidence that the team is starting to hit its stride right before the last grand slam of the fall.
“The team has been starting to gel together nicely,” Augustus said. “We have a good dynamic this year so far. They’re all pushing each other, and it has translated to success on the court.”
Sean Wagner-McGough covers women’s tennis. Contact him at [email protected]
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