Senior netters bid farewell at NCAA Individuals

Tuesday, May 28, 1996

Phebus, Yaroshuk eliminated from singles and doublesBy Hye
Kwon

Daily Bruin Staff

The 1996 season officially came to an end for the UCLA women’s
tennis team, as two of its seniors participating in the NCAA
Individual Championships at Tallahassee, Fla. were prematurely
eliminated last weekend.

Defending NCAA singles and doubles champion Keri Phebus did not
come close to repeating last year’s accomplishments, losing a
three-set match in the quarterfinals against Ania Bleszynski of
Stanford. Prior to Saturday’s loss at the Scott Speicher Tennis
Center on the campus of Florida State University, the second-seeded
Phebus reached the round of eight by easily defeating Jean Okada of
UC Santa Barbara 6-2, 6-1 on Friday morning.

But facing sixth-seeded Bleszynski on Saturday, Phebus did not
have the kind of stuff that enabled her to escape adverse
conditions at Palo Alto earlier this year with a win against the
same opponent. This time, Phebus couldn’t hold off Bleszynski and
lost 6-4, 6-7 (8-6), 6-3.

Fellow Bruin Paige Yaroshuk, who emerged out of the first round
of the NCAA tournament for the first time in her career, simply ran
into too tough of an opponent. After safely reaching the round of
16, Yaroshuk went up against top-seeded Kylie Hunt of Kansas.
Ranked No. 2 in the nation, Hunt cruised to a 7-5, 6-1 victory.

Meanwhile, in the doubles draw, fourth-seeded Phebus and
Yaroshuk were cruising along in the early going and reached the
quarterfinals on Friday. But against Christina Moros and Farley
Taylor of Texas, Phebus and Yaroshuk ran out of gas and defaulted.
While the Bruin duo packed their bags, Moros and Taylor reached the
finals where they lost to Dawn Buth and Stephanie Nickitas of
Florida.

* * *

When the NCAA Individual Tournament began 10 days ago, there
were 64 singles contestants at the Scott Speicher Tennis Center.
But as the tournament came to a conclusion on Sunday, only one
player remained standing.

Playing in front of a huge, enthusiastic crowd that made the
short journey to Tallahassee, fourth-seeded Jill Craybas of Florida
captured the 1996 NCAA singles title as she defeated Hunt 5-7, 6-3,
6-3 in the finals. Craybas reached the finals by garnering an easy
6-2, 6-3 win over Bleszynski in the semifinals.

With Craybas’ win, the Lady Gators of Florida completed an
amazing sweep of the team, singles and doubles titles in this
year’s tournament.

"It is like a storybook ending when you think what the team has
accomplished," Florida head coach Andy Brandi said. "Without a
doubt, this (was) the greatest year for Florida tennis, ever."

FRED HE/Daily Bruin

A drained Keri Phebus, along with partner Paige Yaroshuk,
withdrew from their quarterfinal match on Friday.