Amber Liu continued her quest for an NCAA singles championship with unwavering play over the last two days.

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Darren Bechtel

Freshman Amber Liu fought a 2-hour-long match to victory yesterday and will advance to the Championship semi-finals. Liu ended the regular season with a 31-10 record, and was undefeated in the team competition singles.

Yesterday at the University of Florida in Gainesville, the fifth-seeded freshman advanced to the semifinals of the tournament by pulling out a 1-6, 6-1, 6-1 victory over Pennsylvania’s Alice Pirsu in the quarterfinal face-off.

The three-set match was long and hard fought — it lasted over two hours — which was a factor for the battle-weary Liu, who has now played eight matches in as many days.

“My legs just weren’t moving like they usually do,” Liu said. “She’s a grinder and couldn’t put [my usual game] together.

“Mentally I was more aggressive and put more pressure on her, and came to the net more than I usually do.”

Liu will meet No. 8 seed Jewel Peterson of Southern California tomorrow in the semifinals. Although she has defeated Peterson twice this year with scores of 6-2, 6-2, and 6-1, 5-7, 6-4, she does not expect a walkover.

“It’s a whole new tournament, and every place we play has new circumstances,” Liu said. “I know how she plays and I know what I need to do to win, but I’m not going in thinking I’m going to win.”

In the other semifinal, top-seeded Vilmarie Castellvi of Tennessee will compete with Georgia’s No. 4 Agata Cioroch for a spot in the final.

Liu reached the quarterfinals by beating Sarah Witten of Kentucky, 6-2, 6-4 on Wednesday.

In Thursday’s doubles match, however, Witten and partner Amy Trefethen turned the tables on the Cardinal, upsetting the top-seeded juniors Lauren Barnikow and Erin Burdette, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 in a nearly three hour slugfest.

The loss eliminated the only Cardinal doubles team entered in the tournament. It also concluded a successful campaign for both players, as they nearly guided the Stanford squad to a national team title last Sunday before it fell to Florida, 4-3.

Liu now stands as the only remaining Cardinal competitor in the NCAA competition and is attempting to push the team losses from her mind.

“I watched the doubles match and I was definitely unhappy that they lost, but I have to still stay in it emotionally,” Liu said. “The team event was a really tough loss, but I’m going to try not to let it affect my play.”

The Cardinal freshman may have an advantage over Peterson in today’s match.

In addition to finishing the year 31-10 during her first year of collegiate competition, Liu has been extremely strong of late and finished the NCAA team competition undefeated in singles.

“I just try to take it one match at a time and try to stay mentally tough,” Liu said. “I really haven’t thought about how matches I’ve played, but it’s the end of the season so it’s kind of the final push.

“I worked really hard before I came out [to Florida] so hopefully that will pay off.”