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Tribe Women's Tennis Falls at No. 3 Stanford, 5-2
W&M’s Boomershine and Fuchs Upset Nation’s Top-Ranked Doubles Team
03/04/03
STANFORD, CA - William and Mary’s 11th-ranked women’s tennis team lost on the road to third-ranked Stanford, 5-2, today at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium. The Tribe drops to 9-4 on the season, while the two-time defending NCAA champion Cardinal improves to 8-1.
The big story of the day for the Tribe came at the No. 1 doubles position, where W&M’s 25th-ranked tandem of sophomores Kate Boomershine (Glenwood, MD) and Candice Fuchs (Sarasota, FL) upset the top-ranked and previously undefeated team of Lauren Barnikow and Erin Burdette, by a score of 8-5. It was W&M’s first victory over a No. 1 doubles team since April 11, 1995, when the Tribe’s 16th-ranked duo of Katrin Guenther and Lauren Nikolaus defeated Georgia’s Tina Samara/Stacy Sheppard, 4-6, 7-5, 7-6. That win clinched the Tribe’s 5-4 defeat over Georgia, which was also the top-ranked team in the nation at the time.
After winning the remaining two doubles matches to take the team point, Stanford went up 3-0 with singles wins in the fourth and second matches. W&M scored its first point with a win at No. 3, as freshman Megan Muth (Covington, LA), ranked 72nd in the nation, upset No. 43 Erin Burdette, 7-6, 6-4. The Cardinal clinched the contest with a win at No. 5, and scored its fifth point at the top singles position, where Fuchs, ranked 21st in the nation, lost a close, three-set match to 10th-ranked Amber Liu, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4. Tribe sophomore Amy Wei (Marietta, GA), ranked 102nd, came back after losing the first set at No. 6 to defeat Story Tweedie-Yates, 2-6, 7-5, 6-3.
“As I told the team, we were in every match,” said Tribe head coach Brian Kalbas. “In our first match outdoors, against the defending national champs, we had chances to win more singles and doubles matches. It’s encouraging to know that against a high-caliber team we had an opportunity to win, and that if we keep working hard we will have a chance to win these types of matches down the road.”
W&M returns to action Thursday, March 6, at 16th-ranked Fresno State.
#3 Stanford 5, #11 William and Mary 2
Doubles
1. #25 Boomershine/Fuchs (W&M) d. #1 Barnikow/Burdette; 8-5
2. Barnes/Liu (SU) d. Muth/Sherbakov; 8-4
3. Anderson/Tweedie-Yates (SU) d. Kari Olsen/Lingda Yang; 8-6
Singles
1. #10 Amber Liu (SU) d. #21 Candice Fuchs; 6-2, 4-6, 6-4
2. #26 Lauren Barnikow (SU) d. Nina Kamp; 6-3, 6-1
3. #72 Megan Muth (W&M) d. #43 Erin Burdette; 7-6, 6-4
4. #5 Alice Barnes (SU) d. Kate Boomershine; 6-2, 6-1
5. Emilia Anderson (SU) d. Lena Sherbakov; 3-6, 6-1, 6-1
6. #102 Amy Wei (W&M) d. Story Tweedie-Yates; 2-6, 7-5, 6-3
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