NCAA WOMEN’S TENNIS : Florida Sweeps Past Georgia, Will Face Texas Today for Title

The top-seeded Florida women’s tennis team completed its third-consecutive sweep in the NCAA tournament Monday at Pepperdine, defeating fourth-seeded Georgia, 5-0, in the semifinals.

The Gators (27-2) will play Texas (25-3) in the final today at noon. The second-seeded Longhorns defeated third-seeded Stanford, 5-1.

After a bye in the first round, Florida swept Louisiana State (17-8) in the second round and Cal (15-6) in the quarterfinals before sweeping Georgia (23-4), becoming the first team to go unbeaten en route to an NCAA final.

The Gators were longing to play the Southeastern Conference rival Bulldogs, who were the defending national champions.

At No. 1 singles, Florida’s Jill Craybas and Georgia’s Stacy Sheppard were eager to settle the score after splitting two matches during the regular season. Craybas prevailed, 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-4).

But it was later, at No. 6 singles, that Bonnie Bleecker clinched the match for Florida. Bleecker broke Nadine van de Walle in the final game, winning, 6-1, 6-3.

In the other semifinal, Nomena Rasolomalala defeated Amy Chiminello, 6-4, 6-3, at No. 6 singles to clinch the match for Texas, setting up a rematch of the 1992 final, which Florida won.

The Stanford-Texas match was delayed three hours because of rain.