May 19, 2000

MALIBU, CA - The Wake Forest women's tennis team ended its best season in school history, falling to California 4-5 in the quarterfinals of the 2000 NCAA Women's Tennis Championships in Malibu, CA this weekend. The Deacs, who lost 4-5 to Cal earlier in the season, dropped all three doubles matches after taking a 4-2 lead heading into the doubles competition.

Wake dropped the first two singles matches when freshman Bea Bielik fell 4-6, 0-6 at No. 2 singles to former Wake Forest player Amy Jensen, and fourth-seeded sophomore Maren Haus lost a 1-6, 6-7 decision to Karoline Borgersen. It marked the first dual-team match Bielik lost a singles match this season. The Deacons went on to win the final four singles matches, two of which were three-set victories.

Sophomore Janet Bergman was extended to a 7-6 tie-break in the first set by California's Claire Curran at the No. 3 seed, but came back to easily win the second 6-2. Freshman Adria Engel lost the first set to the No. 1 Bear, Anita Kurimay, 2-6, but won both the second and third sets by a 6-2 margin. Jackie Houston, the Deacs' No. 5 singles player, defeated Christina Fusano 7-6, 6-3. Senior Annemarie Milton took just under two and a half hours to defeat Morisa Yang 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 at No. 6 singles.

The first-seeded doubles team of Bielik and Bergman, ranked No. 15 nationally, fell to the No. 5 ranked Cal team of Curran and Jensen 8-1. Wake's No. 2 doubles squad of Haus and Milton also dropped an 8-1 decision to Borgersen and Kurimay, ranked No. 7 overall. Wake's third-seeded doubles team of Engel and Houston came back from a 0-5 deficit, but lost 8-5 to wrap up the match.

"We should have learned from the last time Cal swept us in doubles, but we are definitely a better singles team than they are," head coach Brian Fleishman said." "We had a very exciting season. For Wake Forest to lose three matches in a year - it's never been done before. You're out here playing with the best teams in the nation. We're definitely going to have to work harder on doubles, starting next year."

Wake Forest, with its best season in school history, finishes with a 24-3 overall mark.