May 23, 2003
Live Scoring of the Championship Match
GAINSVILLE, Fla. – For the second year in a row, a member of the Witten family is in the NCAA Tennis Finals. This time, it’s Sarah that has advanced all the way to the title match. A day after upsetting the #1 doubles team in the country (Stanford’s Erin Burdette and Lauren Barnikow), Witten and fellow senior Amy Trefethen defeated the Florida tandem of Jennifer Magley and Zerene Reyes, 7-6(3), 6-2 to earn a spot in Saturday’s NCAA Doubles Finals. The match will come a year after Sarah’s brother Jesse, a member of the UK men’s team, advanced to the 2002 NCAA Singles Finals.
The match will make history as Witten and Trefethen become the first pair in Kentucky women’s history to advance to the title match.
“It’s a reflection of everyone that’s been through this program for the past seven years,” Coach Mark Guilbeau said. “It’s a lot more than just two kids out there. I know they’re the ones getting it done, working their brains out, but none of this happens if you don’t have a big group of solid people that are willing to work hard every day.”
Witten and Trefethen found themselves down a break to the hometown Gators in the first set. Magley and Reyes were up 5-3 serving for the set. But the UK pair battled back to break serve and then held to tie up the score, 5-5. The teams would hold serves to force a tiebreaker. The Wildcats took over in the tiebreaker, taking it 7-3 for the first set win.
In the second set, Kentucky jumped out to a quick lead and never looked back, taking the second set and the match, 6-2.
“We didn’t have a great start,” Trefethen said. “We went down 5-3 but just kept fighting and battling back. We were able to force a tiebreaker and played awesome to close out the set. We got an early lead in the second set and they weren’t able to come back.”
No matter what happens on the court on Saturday, Trefethen and Witten will walk away after four great years at Kentucky.
“It’s the greatest feeling ever,” Witten said. “You couldn’t ask for a better ending to a great career. We’re excited and we’re ready to play. It’s what we’ve been working so hard for.”
“It speaks of the development and progress that we’ve made and it speaks of the work ethic the girls are willing to put out there to get it done,” Guilbeau said.In the other semifinals match, the California duo of Christina Fusano and Raquel Kops-Jones had an easy time with their opponents, Silvia Urickova and Barbora Zahnova from Virginia Commonwealth. Fusano and Jones become the second Cal pair to reach the finals in four years with their 6-1, 6-1 victory.
Witten has faced the Golden Bear team already this year. Witten was paired with freshman Nathalie Roels when they defeated Fusano and Kops-Jones, 8-3, in the third round of qualifying at the ITA/Riviera All-American Tournament last fall.
Saturday’s championship match will begin following the singles finals, which is scheduled for 11 a.m. ET at the Ring Tennis Complex. Live scoring will be available at www.gatorzone.com.
NCAA Doubles Semifinals
#9 Amy Trefethen/Sarah Witten (UK) def. #26 Jennifer Magely/Zerene Reyes (UF) – 7-6(3), 6-2
