Lady Vols fall in tennis semifinals

COLLEGE STATION, Texas — It took a tiebreaker in the third set to knock out the Tennessee doubles team of Natalie Pluskota and Caitlin Whoriskey at the NCAA Tennis Championships.

Stanford’s Hillary Barte and Lindsey Burdette ousted the unseeded Lady Vols 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (4) on Sunday at the Mitchell Tennis Center on the campus of Texas A&M.

“It so hard to be mad about a match like that because we put everything into it,” said Pluskota, a freshman. “Props to Stanford, they came up with some good shots at good times. We had chances, but they came up with the goods.”

One of those points came with Whoriskey serving up 3-2 in the tiebreaker.

Whoriskey sent the left-handed Barte wide with a first serve and she responded with a clean winner in the opposite alley.

“We were just saying after we got off the court there were so many times we could have cracked,” Burdette said. “More than giving us confidence, I feel it (Barte’s backhand return) kind of took the wind out of their sails. The fact we were even with them after they were playing so well took the wind out of their sails.”

Pluskota won the next point after the crossover with an overhead winner, but that was it for the Lady Vols. Stanford won the next four points.

“Both sets came down to one break of serve and even going into the tiebreaker it was whoever came up with the better return that was going to set up the point for their team,” Whoriskey said. “We tried to go in with big serves, and they got in a groove on their returns, but it was pretty well played on both sides.”

The Lady Vols came back from one set down with great play at the net, often times winning points in which the four players stood toe-to-toe hitting volleys. Whoriskey and Pluskota also were true with their overheads.

Stanford did a great job of getting to many of the smashes but were just able to lob it back up for the Lady Vols to get a second and third chance at the point before putting it away.

“We definitely did not expect them to be able to come up with the volleys they did. They played unbelievable, we had to play really, really solid,” said Burdette. “I never thought in this tournament we would play a more aggressive team than we were and they were.”

The Lady Vols defeated the Stanford No. 2 team in the first round and ousted Notre Dame in straight sets and then moved into the semifinals with a three-set victory over Clemson.

“We had a great season as a team but we came in here to redeem ourselves after getting upset at home (by South Carolina in the team competition),” Pluskota said. “We just wanted to come out and represent our team the best we could and we knew we had the potential to be one of the greatest teams in the country, so we went after it and did well.”

The pair was the first women's duo since 1992 to reach the semifinals, which didn't escape the junior Whoriskey.

“Me and Natalie finished top four in doubles and you can¹t ask for anything better,” Whoriskey said. “Our goal was all-American and we got past that by a round. We'll be back.”

Richard Croome is a freelance contributor.