Maybe Northwestern should aim for a lower seed next year.

For the second year in a row the Wildcats (28-2, 10-0 Big Ten) entered the NCAA Women's Tennis Championships as the No. 1 seed, and for the second year in a row, they were knocked out in the quarterfinals by the eighth-seeded Cal women's tennis team (21-4, 7-1 Pac-10).

Handing it only its second loss of the season, the Bears defeated Northwestern by a score of 4-2 and advanced to its third straight NCAA semifinals appearance.

"They pretty much have the same lineup as last year, so we knew what to expect from each of their players," Cal coach Amanda Augustus said. "It was a matter of if we played aggressive enough and if we could execute our game plan."

The Bears certainly came out with a lot of fire. After splitting courts one and three in doubles, Cal took the second court to take a 1-0 lead.

The doubles point energized the team in singles as three Bears players cruised to easy first set victories.

Ironically, it was Cal's court one player who seemed to struggle the most.

Freshman Jana Juricova found herself in a hole early on against the top-ranked singles player in the nation in Maria Mosolova.

Eleventh-seeded Juricova trailed by as much as 4-1 in the first set of her match. Despite the skill level of Juricova's opponent, Augustus was a little taken aback by her player's slow start.

"It's funny because she started the match making all these mistakes, and I pulled her aside and was like, 'What are you doing?'," Augustus said. "I just told her to take the ball early and stay down, and she just relaxed after that and focused on what she needed to do."

Juricova managed to not only come back and take that first set but was also the first Bears player to register a point in singles after an impressive second set in which she held the nation's top ranked player to only one game.

But as well as some Cal players performed in the first set of their matches, the second sets marked a shift in momentum.

After winning the first sets on courts three, five and six by a combined score of 18-3, the Bears dropped the second set in those three respective matches.

On courts five and six, senior Bojana Bobusic and freshman Stephany Chang were unable to stop the comebacks in the third sets and allowed the Wildcats to tie the match up.

"Have to give Northwestern credit, because they fought really, really hard," Augustus said. "We won some easy first sets, and it would have been easy for them to lay down, but they fought and never really gave up."

Soon after the Wildcats squared the match, the Bears seized the lead once again as Mari Andersson defeated Samantha Murray 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.

It would be up to either Marina Cossou or Claire Ilcinkas to clinch the victory for Cal. Having disposed of her opponent in the second set by the score of 6-3, Cossou continued her strong play in the third set and sealed the win when Georgia Rose's shot went into the net.

The match lasted for almost five hours and was one of the longest all year for the Bears.

Cal will have to recover quickly though as it faces Notre Dame in a 2 p.m. semifinal match today.

"It's unreal, but at the same time, I knew we had such a good team, and I know we have a deep lineup to go all the way," Juricova said.

Tags: CAL WOMEN'S TENNIS, JANA JURNICOVA, AMANDA AUGUSTUS