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Palo Alto Online

Freshman wins NCAA net title

by Rick Eymer

Stanford freshman Amber Liu won her first five matches as a collegiate, competing against some of the top players in the nation, including Tennessee senior Vilmarie Castellvi.

Castellvi, whom Liu beat, 7-6 (5), 6-2, to win the NCAA women's singles final at the University of Florida in Gainesville on Saturday, was the top seed at the ITA All-American Champions in October when Liu beat her for the first time, 6-2, 6-1, in October.

Stanford coach Lele Forood knew she had something special. She placed Liu at the top of the ladder for their match in Hawaii in November. That was only the beginning, as Liu went from unseeded in the ITA to No. 1 in the nation in seven short months.

Before reaching Stanford, Liu knew what it meant to be No. 1. She was the top-ranked player in the U.S. national rankings in the girls' 18 division after winning the Super National Hard Courts title in 2001.

She took a year off to play on the WTA tour, earning a ranking of 367 before coming to Stanford.

"She had the opportunity to take the year off and really work on her tennis," said Forood. "She has the physical and mental skills to be a dominant player."

Liu had to win three qualifying matches just to reach the main draw at the Riviera ITA All-American championships. Playing a lot of tennis within a short period didn't seem to bother her.

Castellvi was the top seed at the NCAA tournament when Liu, as the No. 5 seed, beat her for the second time.

"I figured that I might as well go all out because it was the last match," said Liu, ranked 67th in the preseason. "I would have time after this match to rest. I just kept pushing myself. My game is to go for it and not to sit back and wait for the other player to set the tempo."

Liu (33-10) completed her first season by winning her final eight matches. She last lost against California's Raquel Kops-Jones, 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-0, on April 22.

Liu defeated Castellvi as part of her season-opening five-match winning streak. Her first loss was to Mississippi's Mira Radu, whom Castellvi beat in the quarterfinals of the NCAA.

In the final, both players made mistakes at the beginning of the match, but Liu settled down first, controlling the points with hard, flat ground strokes. Castellvi had six double faults in the first set and eight overall.

"There were definitely some nerves that came into play today," Liu said. "I just had to fight through them the first couple of minutes of the match. I did and I relaxed after that."

Liu had lost twice to Castellvi during the year.

"She played a lot better today. I didn't play as well," said Castellvi. "That didn't match up well."

Liu is the 11th Stanford player to win the singles title in the 22-year history of the NCAA Championships. Castellvi, of Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, became the first Tennessee player to reach the final.

Liu raced through her six matches in the singles draw with the loss of only one set.

"She made me miss basically. I was trying to finish the points early," said Castellvi. "In the first set I didn't do that and she won the set. I tried to change my game a little bit. I tried to go for too much and started making errors. (Liu) played really consistent. I didn't try to do much, she just made me miss. She did that the whole match. During certain games it was always the same thing. I should have played smarter."

Counting singles and doubles play, Liu had 14 matches in 10 days in Gainesville. Stanford lost to Florida in the team final.

"It was a huge grind playing all those matches in that many days," she said. "It was a tough loss to handle last week when we lost the team title. I didn't just do it for me, but for the entire team. My teammates were a big part of this win. They supported me all year and they really supported me throughout this week as I moved along."

Liu is Stanford's third national champion in the last four years, as Laura Granville captured back-to-back titles in 2000 and 2001. She won Stanford's 13th national singles title, and the sixth since 1990.

Castellvi came back to beat Liu, 6-7 (1), 6-1, 7-6 (4), in the consolation quarterfinals of the Omni Hotels Championship on Nov. 8 and 6-4, 6-3 in the final of the Collegiate Kickoff Classic on Jan. 19.

Liu, who turns 19 in July, reached the finals with a 7-5, 6-0 victory over USC's Jewel Peterson on Friday. morning at the University of Florida.

Liu defeated Peterson for the third time in as many tries this season. The fifth-seeded Liu and eighth-seeded Peterson were tied 5-5 in the first set before Liu won the next eight games to close out the match.

"We are both in the Pac-10 and have played each other a lot," Liu said. "It definitely helps to know players for tactical reasons. It was a really good match. She came out firing in the first set and it was really close. It could have gone either way. I'm happy I came through."
Men's tennis

Stanford seniors Scott Lipsky and David Martin advanced to the semifinals of the NCAA doubles championship with a 6-1, 6-7, 6-1 victory over Pepperdine's Diego Acuna and Calle Hansen at the University of Georgia on Saturday.

It's the third straight year that Lipsky and Martin have reached at least the semifinals, and the fifth time in the last six years that Stanford has had a doubles team advance to the semis.

It was also Lipsky and Martin's second win in as many tries this season against the Pepperdine team, including an 8-4 triumph on April 15 at Stanford.

In Sunday's semifinals, Lipsky and Martin lost to second-ranked and second-seeded Oliver Maiberger and Ryan Redondo of San Diego State, 6-4, 6-4.

"I think we gave it our best shot," Martin said. "We took it one match at a time and sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn't."

The loss ended both collegiate careers for Lipsky and Martin, who finished as three-time All-Americans. Lipsky and Martin also advanced to the final in 2002 and the semifinals in 2001.

"Getting to the semifinals for the third year in a row is a great accomplishment," Martin said. "It could have been better, but I was pretty happy about what we did."

Martin was named ITA National Senior Co-Player of the Year. He's the only player in Division I to be ranked in the top 10 in singles and doubles.

Lipsky and Martin beat Georgia's Nicholas Boeker and Bo Hodge in the second round.

"Getting off to a quick start during the match was key for us. We were able to get momentum, then we were serving and returning well," said Martin. "I'm just glad we're outside now, it feels more like Athens and the NCAA's now."

"We served well today -- and it's always good when you're serving well. We were able to keep (Georgia's Hodge and Boeker) from getting into a real rhythm to hold on for the win," said Lipsky. "We're happy with how we did out here."

In the singles tournament, Cardinal freshman KC Corkery dropped a 6-4, 7-6 third round decision to second-seeded and second-ranked Benedikt Dorsch of Baylor.

The 49th-ranked Corkery, who finishes the season with a 31-5 singles mark, entered the day with a 23-match singles winning streak. Corkery, who upset No. 9-16 seed Jesse Witten of Kentucky on Thursday, earned All-America honors for advancing to the third round.
Women's golf

Stanford shot a 301 on the final day of competition at the NCAA championships to finish 16th overall with a four-round score of 1,245.

USC won the tournament with a score of 1,197.

Senior Kim Rowton closed out her collegiate career with a tie for 28th individually after shooting a four-day total of 305.

Medalist Mikaela Parmlid of USC won in a playoff against Florida's Andrea Vander Lende. Both finished with 72-hole scores of 297, before Parmlid won on the first-hole playoff.
Women's basketball

Stanford's Nicole Powell was one of 12 players selected for the USA women's Pan American team following four days of trials in Colorado Springs.

"It is such a great honor to even be invited in the USA trials in the first place," said Powell. "There was just such a great amount of talent here. I want to look back and see this Pan Am team won a gold medal for our country. I am just glad to be on the team."

One of her teammates is Texas' Jamie Carey, who started her career at Stanford. She was forced to retire because of recurring concussions, but two years later, she transferred to Texas and was cleared to play.

Powell has played internationally previously with the United States at the Junior World Championships in 2001 and at the Junior World Championship Qualifying tournament in 2000.

The U.S. Pan Am team begins training in Boston on July 17. The Pan Am games will be held between Aug. 1-17 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
Women's crew

Stanford coach Aimee Baker was named West Coast Region Coach of the Year by the Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association.

The stern five of Stanford's Varsity Eight were also recognized. Named to the first team from the West Region were Sabrina Kolker, Sam Magee, Missy Fiesler, and Wendy Hoeveler.

Melissa Haury was selected to the region's second team, and Melissa Haury was also selected as a National Scholar Athlete.
General

Seven Stanford athletes were named to the Verizon Academic All-District VIII At-Large Team.

Seniors Nick Ellis (water polo) and David Martin (tennis) were selected to the first team and will be on the national ballot for All-America consideration.

Jackie Frank (water polo), Tara Kirk (swimming) and Dan Westcott (swimming) were selected to the second team.

Lauren Barnikow (tennis) and Lindsay Wing (gymnastics) were named to the third team.