Quest for Title #109: Tennis Teams' NCAA Semifinals Open Thread

Yes, it's Monday morning and for most of us, we'll be getting back to the grind sometime this morning. For our tennis teams, they're way ahead of the game, having been in the grind that is the NCAA tournament. For both the #1-seeded and #1-ranked women's team and the #4-seeded men's team, Sunday brought tough quarterfinal opponents, in the form of the #9-seeded California Golden Bears who had played the women tough all year long, and the #5-seeded Ohio State Buckeyes for the men.

And for both teams, victory would take them to the semi-final where hated cross-town rival U$C waited. And once again, both Bruin squads will take on the Trojans, this time with a spot in the national championship game at stake.

For the women, they will take on #5-seeded U$C today at 10:00 a.m. PST at the University of Georgia. You can track the women's action live via the Bulldogs' GameTracker here. As for the men's team, they'll take the #1-ranked Trojans, playing the underdog role, at 2:00 p.m. PST, also in Athens. You can keep track of the men's live statistics here.

Follow after the jump for a recap on how both squads made it out of the quarterfinal.

Starting with the women's team, they faced a Cal squad that was one of only two teams to beat them the entire season, giving them a tough 4-3 match in Berkeley, while also giving the Bruins a scare in Westwood, leading to a narrow 4-3 UCLA win. So, given the way the year played out, one would expect a tight match. Not so. The Bruins had revenge on their minds, coming out strong to put down the Bears when it counted most, 4-1. UCLA started strong on the doubles front to pick up two matches (8-4, 8-4) to take the opening point. The Bruins then proceeded to get to work in singles action, with Pamela Montez (6-3, 6-4), Skylar Morton (6-1, 6-4), and Carling Seguso (6-2, 6-4) got the three wins needed to put the Bruins into the semi-final. Only McCall Jones came up short (2-6, 1-6), while Robin Anderson was behind (4-6, 2-5) and Chanelle Van Nguyen up (6-1, 5-2) when Montez grabbed the final point needed for a UCLA win.

Turning to the men's team, UCLA needed a bit of work, but pulled out a tough 4-2 win over Ohio State to set up a match-up with rival U$C in the NCAA semi-final. The Bruins had a daunting task out of the gate, with UCLA doubles pair Alex Brigham and Adrien Puget facing off against the top-ranked doubles pair in the nation, in Ohio State's Chase Buchanan and Blaz Rola. In a tough win, Brigham and Puget pulled out a 8-6 win, which coupled with Nick Meister and Dennis Novikov's doubles win (8-1), gave UCLA a strong start by clinching the doubles point. With the doubles point in hand, the Bruins ran off three singles wins to take home the victory, with Novikov (6-4, 6-0), Marcos Giron (6-4, 6-4), and Puget (6-3, 7-6 (0)) getting it done for UCLA.

This is your NCAA tennis semi-final open thread. Fire away with your thoughts, comments, and observations as our Bruins push for spots in the NCAA national title games on Tuesday.

GO BRUINS