WACO, Texas -- For just the second time in the history of NCAA women's tennis, a doubles team has won back-to-back national titles. On Monday, reigning NCAA Doubles Champions, Alabama's Maya Jansen and Erin Routliffe, stamped their names in the record books, defeating Cal's Klara Fabikova and Zsofi Susanyi by a final score of 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-3. The Crimson Tide's No. 1 duo for the entire 2014-15 campaign, Jansen and Routliffe defeated doubles pairing from Texas-Arlington, UCLA, Baylor and Stanford to reach their second title match in as many seasons, and finish the 2014-15 campaign with a commanding 32-4 overall record.
"I've talked about an overwhelming feeling of excitement throughout this entire tournament, and what a truly amazing feeling it is to say that we are back-to-back national champions," said Routliffe. "We stuck to our game plan at crucial times, and played extremely aggressive which helped us to take advantage of a lot of opportunities."
Jansen added, "It's an amazing feeling to know that you're a national champion. We are so thankful to be playing for the University of Alabama, and to win a national title for your university is amazing. We are absolutely ecstatic to be bringing a trophy back to Tuscaloosa. None of this would have been possible without all of the support from our teammates, coaches and entire program -- this is a really special feeling."
Alabama got off to a blazing start, taking six consecutive games to erase an early 0-2 deficit to win the opening set by a final score of 6-2. Cal would regain momentum, however, as it reeled off four consecutive games in the second set to build a 5-2 lead. Alabama made things interesting, winning three straight games of its own to tie the score at 5-5, and eventually 6-6 to force a first-to-seven tiebreaker. Despite falling behind 4-1 to begin the tiebreaker, it was the Golden Bears duo that would take the match's second set, winning six of the next seven points to earn a 7-5 decision.
A highly competitive final set saw the Tide jump out to an early 3-0 lead, only to see the Bears rally back to knot the score at 3-3. With the score deadlocked and a national title on the line, it was the reigning champions who rallied for three consecutive games and inked a 6-3 winning decision in the third and final set.
After capturing the Alabama women's tennis program's first national title a season ago, Jansen and Routliffe become just the second duo in the history of NCAA women's tennis to win back-to-back doubles titles. The only other pairing to ever accomplish the feat was Florida's Dawn Buth and Stephanie Nickitas in 1996-97.
The Crimson Tide's No. 1 duo for the entire 2014-15 season, Routliffe and Jansen ended the dual match season with a commanding 19-2 (9-1 SEC) record and ranked atop the ITA Division I Doubles Rankings. The pairing defeated three Top 10 teams throughout the campaign, and carried a perfect 15-0 record into week nine of the conference season. The ITA All Americans conclude the 2014-15 season with an overall record of 32-4.
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