University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
Harrison, McPhillips Fall in Semis
May 30, 2016 | Women's Tennis
TULSA, Okla. – The seventh-ranked duo of Catherine Harrison and Kyle McPhillips saw their run for the NCAA doubles title come to an end when they fell to third-ranked Brooke Austin and Kourtney Keegan of Florida on Sunday afternoon. In a match that was neck and neck, the Bruin seniors dropped the semifinal in the super tiebreaker.
The duos traded two holds apiece to kick off the opening set. At 40-30 in the fifth game, UCLA broke Florida to take a 3-2 lead. Extending the margin to 5-2, Harrison held and the Bruins broke again. The Gator pair held and broke right back to come within one, but Harrison held at love to put away the first set for UCLA.
The second set was more of the same, as the pairs traded hold for hold to knot the score at 3-3. Austin and Keegan held and then broke McPhillips to take a 5-3 led. Florida held to send the semifinal match into the super tiebreaker.
It was a back-and-forth battle early in the breaker. But at 3-3, Florida won two straight points to go ahead 5-3. The teams traded points from there, but the Bruins were unable to keep pace with Gators. Austin and Keegan sealed the deal with a 10-5 win in the breaker to take the match, 4-6, 6-3, 1-0(5), over Harrison and McPhillips.
Congrats to Cat/Kyle on being NCAA semifinalists and for historic careers at UCLA; true Bruins on and off the court pic.twitter.com/LYgDj6LZ7B
— UCLA Women's Tennis (@uclawtennis) May 29, 2016
Harrison and McPhillips close out their senior season with a 19-5 overall doubles record, which included a 10-3 mark against ranked opponents. During the regular season, the pair downed Pepperdine's third-ranked Matea Cutura and Christine Maddox (Feb. 18), Cal's second-ranked Maegan Manasse and Denise Starr (Feb. 20), and USC's eighth-ranked Giuliana Olmos and Gabby Smith (Feb. 25). The seniors earned All-Pac-12 honors for the 2016 season—Harrison was selected to the First Team and McPhillips received a Second Team nod. Harrison was also named the ITA Southwest Region Senior Player of the Year.
2016 NCAA Singles & Doubles Championship
May 25-30
Tulsa, Oklahoma (Michael D. Case Tennis Center)
Singles
Round of 64
No. 17 Catherine Harrison (UCLA) def. No. 58 Caroline Dailey (South Carolina), 6-0, 6-3
Round of 32
No. 1 Hayley Carter (UNC) def. No. 17 Harrison (UCLA), 6-1, 7-5
Doubles
Round of 32
No. 7 Harrison/McPhillips (UCLA) def. No. 57 Ip/Smith (Rice), 7-5, 5-7, 1-0(4)
Round of 16
No. 7 Harrison/McPhillips (UCLA) def. No. 20 Generette/Shankle (Baylor), 6-1, 7-6(2)
Quarterfinals
No. 7 Harrison/McPhillips (UCLA) def. No. 1 Adachi/Sutjiadi (Kentucky), 6-0, 6-2
Semifinals
No. 3 Austin/Keegan (Florida) def. No. 7 Harrison/McPhillips (UCLA), 4-6, 6-3, 1-0(5)
