The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
2004-05 Women's Tennis year in review
05.28.2005 | Women's Tennis
Entering this season, it had been 10 years since the Texas women's tennis team last found itself in the NCAA Division I Women's Tennis Championship final match - the last time being 1995. Year in and year out, UT finds itself ranked amongst some of the nation's best, yet it has taken a decade for head coach Jeff Moore to put together the right combination of talented and dedicated players to return the Texas program back to its rightful spot at the top of women's collegiate tennis.
And, in 2005, it was the Longhorns turn once again to shine on the national scene. And, Texas did so, remarkably, with no seniors on the squad. They made their great run to the NCAA title match with an eight-player roster comprised of four juniors, two sophomores and two freshmen, student-athletes from a myriad of backgrounds - ranging from Split, Croatia (sophomore Petra Dizdar and junior Mira Marovic), Virgina (junior Katie Ruckert), Montana (sophomore Ristine Olson), Arizona (junior Kendra Strohm), Pennsylvania (junior Kelly Baritot), along with two Texans (freshmen Courtney Zauft and Erin Keys).
The young Longhorns shocked the tennis world and captured the admiration of many by posting upset victories over the No. 6, No. 3 and No. 2 ranked squads at the NCAA Championships round of 16 play at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex on the University of Georgia campus.
Those three victories in three consecutive days (May 19-21) over Georgia Tech, Kentucky and nemesis second-ranked Florida vaulted the Longhorns into the 2005 NCAA title match against undefeated and top-ranked Stanford.
The Cardinal (27-0) held true to their No. 1 ranking, posting a 4-0 win over Texas on May 22 to win their 14th national crown.
The Longhorns ended the season with a 25-6 record, and along the way, re-captured the attention of those in the NCAA collegiate tennis world with one of the biggest and most surprising runs in NCAA tennis tournament history.
Texas had upset three of the nation's top-ranked teams in three days, and as the No. 11 seed in the NCAA Championships, became the only double-digit seed to reach the NCAA final since the Tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1999.
"The accomplishments of this season are so special because it was a total team effort," Moore declared. "Rarely have I been fortunate enough to be part of something where every person came through at key moments and elevates her game at the opportune time. Our players this year did just that."
"We set our goals high this year, beginning in preseason with our strength and conditioning program which consisted of running the (Memorial) football stadium stairs and really dedicating ourselves to being mentally and physically tough," Moore continued.
"This team has been incredibly focused since day one. And, that focus and determination drove us to the NCAA championship match. I couldn't be prouder of this group. Everyone returns next year, and the challenge now is to build on what we have accomplished in order to reach the big prize."
When you talk to the Texas players or coaches about their experiences in the NCAA title match run, one word is constantly used - team.
Tennis is usually thought of as an individual sport; however, at the collegiate level, tennis is a team sport. There is no one major player, nor is there only one contributor. All the individuals contribute to its success in one way or another.
And that is exactly what happened this season for the Longhorns. They demonstrated the true meaning of what it means to be a TEAM.
"The performances throughout the tournament run were a true display of team effort," Bowes-Hackney continued. "Everyone contributed to this team's success including our walk-on (freshman Erin Keys), volunteer assistant coach Ed Carter, strength coach Angel Spassov, athletic trainer Lisa Stalans and all of the great fans that support us at each and every match."
"Maybe one of the most exciting things for us was the fact that fans from other teams at the NCAAs in Georgia - and other teams - were rallying around us, cheering for us," noted Bowes-Hackney. "They saw how hard we battled, and they appreciated the fight and determination we showed on every point."
"That type of support from other teams and their fans," noted Moore, "is a great testament to the way our team performed. We won over fans and other teams throughout the tournament."
As one Georgia newspaper called them, the "Long-shot Longhorns" were not expected to make as much noise in the Tournament as they ultimately did. Texas was the underdog - a role that the players relish - and there were no expectations to reach other than their own.
"This team's success started with their inner strength," assistant coach Beverly Bowes-Hackney noted. "They had no entourage to encourage them and cheer them on, it was just them and they all had such heart which was truly amazing. Everyone came through for us - a different person at a different time. That was incredible to see."
The entire Texas team would agree that the momentum for its NCAA Tournament run to the title match actually began with their upset of Baylor in the Big 12 Championship title match on May 1, a tourney which was hosted by Texas.
Texas finished the regular-season with a 10-1 conference record and was looking to avenge its lone conference loss against the Bears. UT and Baylor were tied at 3-3 in the match before junior Katie Ruckert clinched the title for UT with her three-set victory at No. 4 singles.
With a conference championship title in hand, the Longhorns set their sights on an even bigger prize - a National Championship.
The Horns received an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament by virtue of their conference tournament title, so there was no question as to whether or not they would make the NCAA's. There was question, however, as to where the team would be seeded and which teams stood in the way of the Longhorns reaching their ultimate goal.
Entering the NCAA National Championship as the No. 11 seed, Texas won its first and second round matches in easy fashion at home in Austin. Texas posted a 4-0 first-round win over Southern University and then extended its winning ways against Big 12 Conference rival Texas A&M, registering a 4-1 second-round victory over the Aggies.
These two wins advanced Texas to the Round of 16 for the first time since 2002.
Not garnering much attention to start NCAA round of 16 action in Athens, Ga., the Longhorns went straight to work, upsetting their first opponent in sixth-seeded Georgia Tech by a 4-3 score.
Longhorn All-Big 12 sophomore standout Petra Dizdar was the "x-factor" in this match as she put together a three-set victory at No. 1 singles to clinch the win for Texas. (This win marked the first of three consecutive singles upsets for Dizdar throughout the entire tournament run.)
"I don't think any one of us thought about how far in the tournament we wanted to go," Dizdar recalled. "This team just wanted to play tennis; we took it match-by-match and never really focused on the final result. We were all excited to get to the Sweet 16. After we won our two matches in Austin, we all said, 'team trip- yea!' This is a team that fights hard and has fun every time we step on the court.
"Once we upset our first top-ranked team, there was tremendous excitement and that made us want to continue to go further in the Tournament. We would just go out there every day, pumped up and would tell ourselves, 'I can do it, I can do it for the team, we can beat anyone', and that's how we approached it," Dizdar added.
The Longhorns then met No. 3 seed Kentucky in the quarterfinals. And the Texas women showed everyone that they belonged in that quarterfinal round as they won a tough match, 4-2, over the Wildcats, highlighted by a clinching victory from freshman Courtney Zauft at No. 5 singles.
"This entire experience was amazing," Zauft said. "We all believed we had a good draw and we knew we had a strong team. We all didn't really expect to make it to this point, but we did have a feeling that we would do well."
Well enough, that is, to reach the semifinals for the seventh time in the program's history. The last obstacle to reaching the NCAA Championship final was No. 2 seed Florida, UT's tough semifinal opponent.
As they had proven over the past two days of play, the Longhorns were not going to go down without a fight. They battled for every point and ultimately came out the victor after another Longhorn player - this time All-Big 12 junior Kendra Strohm - provided the heroics. Strohm recorded a three-set victory with a gritty performance at the third spot in the singles lineup.
"This team enjoyed playing the role of the underdog in the Tournament because it motivated us to go out there and show who Texas is and what we can do," Dizdar explained. "We knew as a team that we were good, we just needed to show others that we could play and compete with the best teams in the nation."
And they certainly competed with the best in the nation as the Longhorns squared off against top-ranked Stanford in the Championship final. The Cardinal was looking to return to Palo Alto with its second consecutive national title and its 14th in the 24-year history of the NCAA Tennis Championships.
Texas, on the other hand, was making it fourth NCAA title match appearance in the program's history and the first since it brought the national title back to Austin in 1995.
Although the Longhorns lost the tough 4-0 decision to the Cardinal, they were in no way disappointed with the final outcome.
This team accomplished things that many did not imagine, and they can now look back and reflect on their tremendous season with pride and anticipation of next year.
"Not many people can say that they have been to a national final and I'm grateful that I got to experience this as a freshman," Zauft admitted. "It will be extremely hard to duplicate this run through the NCAA tournament, but it is a challenge we are willing to take on."
"I'd like to win a national championship before I graduate," Zauft continued. "So this is motivation to work hard so that we can go back to the championship final and win it all."
The 2005 Longhorns are a group of individuals from various backgrounds with different levels of abilities, yet they are one. These tennis players complement each other, they support each other and they fight together in order to achieve a common goal.
Texas' historical run through the 2005 NCAA Tennis Championship is one that will be well- documented and remembered as the triumph of a group of teammates who gave everything they had for each other.
With all eight members of this championship final squad returning next year, it is very possible that Texas will not need to wait another 10 years for its women's tennis team to bring home their third National Championship.
Once again, the Longhorn program has positioned itself on the national tennis map.