Sunday, April 26, 2015

USC men rally to beat Stanford for Pac-12 title

   The Stanford men twice were on the verge of winning the Pac-12 Championships but couldn't prevail.
    Leading 3-2, the 26th-ranked Cardinal dropped the last two matches to No. 8 USC on Saturday in Ojai.
   No. 67 Nick Crystal got the Trojans, coming off their fifth NCAA team title in six years, even with a 7-6 (tiebreaker score not available), 6-4 victory over Maciek Romanwicz on Court 6.
   In the deciding match on Court 2, No. 100 Eric Johnson defeated No. 69 John Morrissey 6-4, 4-6, 6-2.
   USC (22-4) earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, which begins on May 8 at sites around the country. Stanford (17-6) likely will receive an at-large berth when the field is announced on Tuesday.
   In the women's (individual) tournament, fourth-seeded Klara Fabikova of Cal routed top-seeded Giuliana Olmos of USC 6-1, 6-2 to reach the final. Olmos, a junior, is from Fremont in the San Francisco Bay Area.
   Fabikova, a junior from the Czech Republic, will meet unseeded Catherine Harrison of UCLA. Harrison advanced when Zoe Scandalis of USC pulled out with an undisclosed injury.
   None of the top three women in the country -- No. 1 Robin Anderson of UCLA, No. 2 Carol Zhao of Stanford or No. 3 Maegan Manasse of Cal -- played singles. Nor did No. 17 Taylor Davidson of Stanford. Anderson didn't play doubles, either.
   In an all-Stanford doubles final, top-seeded Davidson and Zhao will play fourth-seeded Caroline Doyle and Ellen Tsay.
   Mountain West Conference Championships in Albuquerque, N.M. -- Top-seeded Fresno State and third-seeded San Jose State lost heartbreakers in the women's semifinals.
   The Bulldogs fell to fifth-seeded Wyoming 4-3, and the Spartans succumbed to second-seeded New Mexico by the same score.
   Fresno State trailed 3-0, but Sophie Watts, the Mountain West Player of the Year, saved two match points on Court 1 and pulled the Bulldogs even at 3-3. Then Wyoming's Silviya Zhelyazkova edged Anne Susdorf 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (3) on Court 6. Susdorf had two match points serving at 6-5 in the third set.   
   San Jose State squandered a 3-1 lead. In the deciding match, Sharon Coone topped Abbie Pahz 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 on Court 6.
   Big Sky Conference Championships in Gold River -- The top-seeded Sacramento State women trounced fourth-seeded Northern Arizona 4-0 to reach the final at the Gold River Racquet Club in the Sacramento region.
   The Hornets (17-10), seeking their 14th consecutive Big Sky tournament title, will face No. 2 Idaho today at 2 p.m. Admission is free. The Vandals outclassed No. 3 Montana 4-1.

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