May 23, 2002
Palo Alto, Calif. – Different day, same story, as the University of Kentucky women’s tennis doubles team of Carolina Mayorga and Sarah Witten executed another impressive comeback on Thursday, May 23 to advance to the semifinals of the 2002 Doubles Championships. The duo is the first in UK women’s tennis history to advance to the final four.
The tandem’s quarterfinal win came over Stanford’s Lauren Barnikow and Erin Burdette. Mayorga and Witten jumped on the Cardinal duo early to take the first set in exciting fashion with a 6-3 win. The second set was a different story as both teams exchanged games before forcing a tiebreaker. Kentucky missed opportunities on two match points before Barnikow and Burdette won the tiebreaker and claimed the second set, 7-6.
With the home crowd behind them, Stanford used its momentum to reel off two quick wins and take the early advantage in the third set. The Cats then roared back to win three straight games to overtake the lead at 3-2. The Cardinal pair refused to go down without a fight and countered UK’s three-game run with two consecutive wins of its own. Those wins would be the last for Barnikow and Burdette as Mayorga and Witten clinched the match and a semifinal berth with wins in the final three games.
“Once again Carolina and Sarah showed their high quality of play by not playing their best and still defeating a great team,” Assistant Coach Carlos Drada said. “This match was a great sign of things to come in the final two rounds. I am very optimistic about their chances in this tournament.”
The pair will now face fifth-ranked Megan Bradley and Lauren Fisher of UCLA in the quarterfinals on Friday. The match is slated to begin at 1:30 p.m. local time (4:30 p.m. ET) and scoring updates will be available on www.gostanford.com.
