NCAA TENNIS: TROJANS' PETERSON PREVAILS.

Byline: Rich Hammond Staff Writer

MALIBU - Jewel Peterson, an excitable freshman on the USC women's tennis team, had to be more patient than she likes to be Tuesday at the NCAA Division I Championships.

Peterson endured a rain delay that pushed back the start of her second- round match more than four hours, then survived a second-set stumble to beat Julie Ditty of Vanderbilt 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 at Pepperdine.

Heavy overnight fog and mist made the courts unplayable in the morning and threw the tournament schedule into flux. Both the second and third rounds were scheduled to be played Tuesday, but the weather forced a change.

The eight third-round and four quarterfinal matches will be played today, beginning at 10 a.m., and will be followed by the doubles quarterfinals.

The delay sent many of the players back to their hotels for a few extra hours of rest, even if it did throw off their timing.

``It's hard, because you don't know what to eat and when things are going to happen,'' Peterson said. ``You just have to be patient and not get too excited, just relax and play things by ear.''

The delay didn't seem to bother Peterson. She went up two service breaks in the first set and cruised 6-2. Ditty sprayed the ball all over the court, trying to make Peterson run, but the strategy mostly failed.

``I try to cut a lot of balls off,'' Peterson said. ``It's important for me to take control of a point early, so I can step up and do what Ido best.''

What Peterson does best is overpower opponents with powerful groundstrokes, and did just that as she went up a break early in the second set. She served for the match at 5-4, but Ditty battled back with a break, then won the next two games to force a third set.

``At the end of the second set I was just getting nervous and a little frustrated,'' Peterson said. ``I was too impatient and I tried to close her out too quickly.''

Coach Richard Gallien talked to Peterson after the second set, urging his player to calm down.

``She's like a thoroughbred in a long horse race, who wants to get out there and run fast the whole time,'' Gallien said. ``I had to reign her in a little bit. She got a little excited in the second set, but she did a good job of righting the ship.''

The third set mirrored the first, as Peterson went up a break early and didn't lose serve once. She is the only remaining local player in the singles tournament, as UCLA's Annica Cooper lost to Arizona State's Karin Palme 6-3, 6-1. Cooper led 3-0 in the first set after two service breaks but dropped the next eight games. Peterson and Palme will meet in the third round.

Stanford's Marissa Irvin, a Harvard-Westlake High graduate and the top- seeded player in the tournament, advanced to the third round with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Georgia's Esther Knox.