Continuing a Cinderella run with its third consecutive upset, No. 12 UCLA ended No. 1 Stanford’s season in shocking style with a 4-2 win in the semifinal match of the NCAA Championships on May 21. The Bruins’ victory snapped the Cardinal’s own streak of three straight NCAA titles and eight straight championship match appearances.

“They played probably their best tennis of the year,” said assistant coach Frankie Brennan, talking about UCLA in a telephone interview from Athens, Ga. “They [the Bruins] had nothing to lose.”

UCLA stunned Stanford from the beginning by winning the doubles point. It was only the second time this entire season that the Cardinal lost the doubles point. And ironically enough, the last time Stanford lost the doubles point was in its 4-3 loss to Georgia Tech at the National Team Indoors on Feb. 3, breaking the Cardinal’s 89-match winning streak.

Losing the doubles point proved to be a huge pitfall for the Cardinal. The Bruins’ momentum from their doubles victory carried into singles play, where they saw victories from Tracy Lin over Cardinal senior Anne Yelsey and Yasmin Schnack over junior Celia Durkin.

Down 3-2 to UCLA, the Cardinal had its last chance with junior Whitney Deason and freshman Lindsay Burdette still out on the courts. Stanford needed victories from both players to win the match.

While Burdette held the Bruins’ Elizabeth Lumpkin at match point, Deason suffered a 6-7, 6-1, 6-3 loss to Ashley Joelsen that ended the Cardinal’s season. The final score stood at 4-2 — Burdette’s impending victory against Lumpkin was never recorded.

Burdette praised the Bruins in their victory.

“More than anything else, UCLA played absolutely unbelievable,” Burdette said. “They put their best tennis on the court. They got to us.”

The target that No. 1 Stanford had on its back also played a factor in the 4-2 loss. UCLA, having already pulled off upsets over No. 5 Northwestern and No. 4 Florida, was loose and ready to take chances, while the Cardinal had the pressure of winning a fourth straight national title.

“We were a little tight,” Brennan said. “I still feel in my heart of hearts that if we played any team 10 times, we’d be up on them. I think we have the best team in the country, but it’s hard to do it day-in and day-out every day.”

Just a few days before, the Cardinal was confident after a 4-0 “pounding” (according to Yelsey) of Vanderbilt and 4-1 win over Miami. Yelsey also described “a really, really cool and calm mood” among the team in Athens.

“We’re having a good time; people aren’t stressed out and it’s a fun atmosphere,” she added.

But the Bruins’ victory broke that serenity, as UCLA move into the following day’s final, in which it lost 4-2 to the Cardinal’s old foe, Georgia Tech.

The loss was particularly hard on seniors Theresa Logar and Yelsey, who both played their final team collegiate matches. The co-captain duo only lost two games in its four-year dual career, amassing an astonishing record of 110-2.

Logar and Yelsey also starred at the No. 1 and No. 2 positions for the Cardinal this year, giving instant credibility to Stanford’s lineup. The loss was naturally harder on the two seniors.

By the time she was able to speak over phone at 9:30 p.m. EST, Burdette said that she and most of the team were over the loss.

“We came up short,” she said. “It’s not the end of the world.”

The Cardinal couldn’t spend too much time dwelling on the day’s loss, either. The individual championships began two days later, and in the end, Logar and Durkin survived to the Round of 16, while Burdette made it all the way to the NCAA quarterfinals. The freshman also paired with Yelsey to advance into the doubles quarterfinals.

Despite the premature end to the team’s season, the women had plenty to be proud of. Battling injuries and illness at nearly every juncture this year, Stanford finished with an impressive 24-2 record and was ranked No. 1 in the country for most of the season. The team also captured a Pacific-10 Conference title, going undefeated in conference play, and earned the No. 1 seed for the NCAA Championships.

“We have been through so much adversity with injuries,” Burdette said. “This season was amazing regardless of how we finished up. We all have that outlook now. Just because we didn’t win NCAAs doesn’t mean we didn’t accomplish an unbelievable amount during the season.”

Brennan also gushed over the Cardinal women and their actions both on and off the court, regardless of the semifinal result.

“I think all of Stanford University should be so proud of how this team represents this University,” Brennan said. “We compete well, we fight hard and we handle winning well ... I couldn’t be more proud of how they handled themselves this year. In defeat, they held their heads high and they were graceful.”