UCSD men’s and women’s tennis teams, preparing for their first competitions of the year, are both looking to improve on last year’s seasons when both squads made waves in the California Collegiate Athletic Association and advanced to postseason play.
The women’s team finished 16-6 overall and 7-1 in the CCAA last year. At the CCAA Team Conference Championships, the Tritons defeated California State University, Los Angeles 7-2 and Grand Canyon University 5-0 before falling to defending CCAA champions UC Davis 6-3 in the finals. The Aggies handed the Tritons their only league loss 7-2 earlier in the season.
“”Our goal is to win the CCAA,”” head coach Liz LaPlante said. “”Last year, we came in second to UC Davis. We had to play indoors because it was raining, so it wasn’t really a great day for us. This year, our match is at home and we think we have a good chance to beat them. But our goal is to be No. 1 in the conference and to qualify for nationals.””
However, UCSD’s second-place CCAA finish last year put the Tritons in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Championships-West Region tournament, where they defeated Hawaii Pacific University 5-3 to earn a berth in the National California Athletic Association Division II National Championship Finals in Pensacola, Fla. There, the Tritons were knocked out of the first round by Abilene Christian University of Texas 5-2.
UCSD returns a team that lost only one senior and was predominately made up of freshmen. Another asset to the team is the addition of freshman Jasmin Dao, who LaPlante said will be one of the team’s top players this season.
“”Last year we struggled in doubles, but this year we’re definitely going to be better there,”” returning player said Kristina Jansen. “”Jasmin is a really good addition to the team, so the top of our singles lineup is going to be pretty strong, and our team is pretty deep. I think we have a pretty strong team this year, and we can do a good job and reach nationals and hopefully do well. Last year we were kind of injured when we got there.””
Though the team returns virtually intact and has the home-field advantage against rival UC Davis, not every factor is in its favor.
“”We don’t really have a tough schedule, so that could hurt us when we get into a regional tournament and possibly nationals,”” Jansen said.
Despite the weaker schedule, the Tritons have two players who were voted to the All-CCAA First Team last year: Jansen and Julie Westerman. Lyndsey Tadlock, the team’s lone senior this season, was an All-CCAA Second-Team selection.
“”We did really well last year,”” LaPlante said. “”We had a lot of freshmen, so they’ve gained a lot of experience and confidence from last year. It’s that experience that’s going to help us, so now it won’t be new to everybody and they know how hard to have to work to win.””
UCSD had previously captured four national titles and four runner-up titles at the Division III level under LaPlante, the winningest coach in Division III history.
“”I expect to finish as strong as we did last year — we finished 11th in the country,”” LaPlante said. “”I hope to finish anywhere from eighth to 12th in the country, so if we did that, I’d be really happy.””
The men’s team looks to improve on its 10-10 overall, 7-4 league record from last season. The Tritons, who hosted the first round of the NCAA playoffs, advanced with a 5-0 win over Cal Poly Pomona before falling 6-1 to the second-ranked team in the nation at the time, Brigham Young University-Hawaii.
“”One of our goals is to make the playoffs, but this time to make nationals,”” said men’s head coach Erik Steidlmayer. “”Last year we made it to the playoffs in our first year of Division II, but I know our guys want to make it to nationals this year.””
This year’s squad brings a lot of experience, with 10 players returning from last year’s team, and all of them are expected to help.
“”Our top two, Michael Meyer and Jeff Wilson, are key, but I think everyone’s going to have some sort of contribution this year,”” Steidlmayer said.
Rounding out the squad are three new players: Bryan Swatt, Emil Novak and Doug Hofmann.
“”[Those] three guys are going to have an impact,”” Steidlmayer said. “”They look good. We haven’t had any matches, but I think that a couple of them will probably start in the top six, and we’ll see from there.””
The team is optimistic so far, and as long as they can all gain experience and improve, everything else will take care of itself, according to Swatt.
“”We have three strengths,”” Steidlmayer said. “”One is our depth. I think we can really do well with anyone playing in there. Another strength is our condition. Physical fitness will be a big strength for us. The third is our willingness to win; we’re going to play a lot of long rallies and try to wear opponents down a little bit.””
Swatt agrees that having more quality players will definitely be an advantage in competition.
“”We’ll have about eight deep for six spots and not lose too much toward the bottom of the lineup, so our depth is definitely a strength,”” Swatt said.
Still, the team needs to be able to attack more than they are doing now, a weakness they need to address, according to Steidlmayer.
“”We’re playing the best we can with our style, but we don’t have a lot of attacking players,”” Steidlmayer said. “”We have good defensive, counter-punching players. That’s good, but that might be a weakness if we go up against a team that does well against a counter-punching or a defensive style.””
Things will be competitive for the Tritons, since they compete in a CCAA division that features several improved teams.
“”We’re going to stack up fine,”” Steidlmayer said. “”Cal State-L.A. and Cal Poly Pomona are greatly improved, and UC Davis will be as strong as they’ve been, but I like our chances against all those teams. It just depends on how well we come to practice and work from there. If we can do that, I think we’ll do really well against those teams.””
The women begin their season Saturday with an away match against CSU San Bernadino, which is also their first CCAA meeting of the season. The men’s team plays at the Cal Poly Pomona Individual Tournament Feb. 1 to Feb. 3 in Pomona.