Guardian
The women’s tennis team was beginning to think that it was jinxed. After the Tritons headed into this weekend with two consecutive rainouts, and when their match against Western New Mexico University was rained out on Friday morning, they were beginning to think that they would never again grace the UCSD north courts for a match.
This fear ended on Saturday when the heavens finally sealed their leaks and the team went into battle against California State University San Bernardino.
The team took out it’s aggressions on an out-classed Coyote squad, rolling to a 9-0 victory.
No. 3 doubles was over before it began. Freshmen Ashley O’Neil and Mary Hung put the wood to Daniele Quistgard and Kimberly Terrill of San Bernardino. It was rare when O’Neil and Hung lost a point on their way to an 8-0 whipping of their opponents.
At No. 2 doubles, sophomore Melisa Liao and freshman Julie Westerman looked impressive on their way to an 8-2 victory. The proset was tied at one when Liao smacked a return winner to give her team the break of serve that it needed. They then went on to win the next four games and build up an insurmountable 6-1 lead.
No. 1 doubles provided the most drama of the day. Junior Lyndsay Tadlock and freshman Stephanie Moriarity locked up with Coral Conley and Cassie Sumroe of the Coyotes.
The match was on serve until an overhead put away by Conley gave the Coyotes a break of serve and a 5-4 lead. The duo extended that lead to 4-6, but after Tadlock held serve, Moriarity hit a huge backhand return to set up double break point and then put away a volley to get the Tritons back on serve at 6-6. The Coyotes broke Tadlock again and eventually they stood at set point. Tadlock hit a solid volley winner to get back to deuce.
UCSD eventually won the game and sent the match to a tie-breaker, where it shut down the Coyotes on it’s way to a 7-1 victory.
“”It shouldn’t have been that close, but anything can happen in doubles when you just play a proset,”” said head coach Liz Laplante. “”I was pleased with how they were able to get their focus back and fight off a match point to win 7-1 in the tie-breaker.””
After doubles, the Tritons had a 3-0 lead and the margin would only get bigger as the match went along.
At No. 1 singles, O’Neil shellacked Conley and showed no mercy on the way to a 6-1, 6-0 victory.
The same was true for Tadlock, who achieved the rare double-bagel at No. 2 doubles, cruising to a 6-0, 6-0 victory.
Liao had no problems at No. 3, winning the match handily 6-0, 6-1. Freshman Kristina Jansen stepped in after not playing doubles and showed no signs of rust during her 6-1, 6-1 skunking of her opponent.
At No. 3 singles, Westerman looked dominant from the baseline in her 6-0, 6-1 triumph.
The most interesting of the singles matches was the No. 6 singles between Moriarity and Terrill. Moriarity looked to be running away with the match early and cruised to a 6-2 victory in the first set. The second set was much more interesting as Terrill managed to knot the set at five and threatened to bring the match to a third and deciding set. Moriarity didn’t allow her to do this as she won the next two games and took the set 7-5.
“”I think we played very well considering we haven’t had a match since the beginning of February,”” LaPlante said. “”Our opponents were not too strong so we didn’t really have to play our best tennis to win, but overall I was pleased by how the team played.””
This win brought the Tritons’ record to 2-0 in the CCAA, but they haven’t really been tested yet. The Tritons will find out what they are made of next week when they play Sonoma State University and UC Davis on the road.
“”We will really know how strong we are after this coming weekend against UC Davis and Sonoma State,”” LaPlante said. “”Currently we are ranked No. 2 in the conference behind Davis.””
This weekend should be an interesting one for the Tritons. Look for coverage of the matches in next Monday’s edition of the Guardian.
