May 22, 2003
Gainesville, Fla. – In a scene strikingly familiar to both Kentucky and Stanford women’s tennis fans, seniors Sarah Witten and Amy Trefethen pulled off a tremendous upset Thursday, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, over Stanford, to catapult themselves into the semifinals of the NCAA Women’s Division-I Doubles Championships at Florida’s Ring Tennis Complex.
“This was a great match,” Guilbeau said. “These girls have played so well this year and to work so hard to win a match like this just makes everything so special.”
After dropping the first set to the top-ranked Cardinal duo of Erin Burdette and Lauren Barnikow, 6-4, the ninth-ranked Cats bounced back to take the second, 6-3, setting the stage for a dramatic third-set contest.
UK jumped out to a quick 2-1 lead before the Cardinal broke the Cats’ service game to tie the set at 2-2 on the way to taking a 3-2 lead. The Kentucky duo would not relent, however, and fought back to take the lead in the set, 5-4. With Witten serving for the match, the Stanford tandem broke serve again to tie the set at 5-5. Kentucky then broke back to take a 6-5 lead and an opportunity to serve for the match. With Trefethen serving the Cats fell to Love-30. The Cardinal then seemed to be in control when Trefethen was serving down 15-40, but the first-time All-American stepped up and faced the pressure head on. Then, ust as fast as the Cats seemed to be out of the match, they found themselves headed to the semifinals after winning four-straight points to win the third set, 7-5, securing the victory.
“This is just so awesome,” Trefethen said. “To win the match that way was incredible. I knew all I had to do was get my first serves in and Sarah and I would be able to win the match.”
In last year’s quarterfinal match, Witten and then partner Carolina Mayorga also defeated Barnikow and Burdette to advance to the semifinals. At the time the Stanford duo was ranked No. 1 in the country. She and former freshman partner Nathalie Roels also dispatched the Cardinal tandem in last fall’s Omni Hotels/ITA All-American Tournament.
“This is amazing,” Witten said. “To beat a team for a third time is extremely hard to do. It makes it even more special with a new partner and of course anytime we can beat Stanford it’s a great feeling.”
The Cats will face off against Florida’s 26th-ranked Jennifer Magley and Zerene Reyes at noon on Friday. Despite being a Southeastern Conference opponent, Witten and Trefethen, who play No. 1 doubles, never faced off against the Gator duo, which played No. 3 doubles for Florida.In the other semifinal, also at noon, Virginia Commonwealth’s 20th-ranked Silvia Urickova and Barbora Zahnova will face No. 4 Racquel Kops-Jones and Christina Fusano of California.
