The UCSD women’s tennis team took a penultimate step toward its first-ever regular season California Collegiate Athletic Association title by knocking off Cal Poly Pomona 6-3 on Tuesday at UCSD’s North Courts.
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The Tritons entered the match knowing they needed to defeat the16th-ranked Broncos to clinch at least a share of the title. As soon as the first five matches were decided, victory was assured.
However, although the first five matches were decisive, by no means did UCSD cruise to the win.
The Tritons opened the match sweeping all three doubles matches in a less-than-convincing fashion.
In the No. 1 doubles match, the UCSD duo of Lyndsey Tadlock and Julie Westerman knocked off Pomona’s Anne Claire Luis-Ortiz and Michelle Hammond 8-6. In a match containing more unbroken serves than not, the UCSD pair found themselves trailing 4-5, down two breaks. Tadlock and Westerman stormed back to take four of the next five games, capturing the match and bringing their record to10-1 on the season.
At No. 2 doubles, Ashley O’Neil and Mary Hung split break points with Pomona’s Lisa Jones and Dehlia Feliz but easily won the tiebreaker 6-2, giving the Tritons their second doubles win.
No. 3 doubles saw Kristina Jansen and Jasmin Dao walk all over Julie Manning and Priscilla De Vera 8-1. Jansen and Dao are the lone regular Triton duo still undefeated, pushing their mark to 10-0 on the season and 7-0 in CCAA play.
Going into the singles matches only needing two for the win, UCSD knew it had to keep up the pressure. Within an hour of starting the singles matches, the Tritons had assured victory.
Julie Westerman, undefeated in singles play this season, dominated Jennie Burggraf at No. 6 singles 6-0, 6-1. At No. 5, Jansen remained the only UCSD player to not lose a match — singles or doubles — easily disposing of De Vera 6-1, 6-1. Jansen is now 10-0 on the season in singles and 11-0 in doubles.
Just as quickly, however, Dao lost her No. 1 singles match 1-6, 0-6 to Luis-Ortiz. Dao, the only freshman who sees regular playing time, has been improving all season but has yet to turn her improvement into victories. With her loss on Tuesday, she is now 3-7 on the season, 3-4 in CCAA play.
Mary Hung picked up the sixth point for the Tritons, knocking off Lisa Jones at No. 4 singles 6-4, 6-4, but it would be the last victory for the Tritons.
Ashley O’Neil fought hard but eventually lost to Feliz, 4-6, 4-6 in the No. 2 match.
But the best tennis of the evening was saved for the No. 3 singles match between Tadlock and Hammond. The match did not start out well for Tadlock because she lost the first set 1-6. After falling behind a break early in the second set, it appeared Tadlock wouldn’t put up much of a fight. But the team’s lone senior didn’t give up so easily. Tadlock came back to win the set 6-4, breaking serve in the third and seventh games. But it was the dramatic third set that would bring out the best in both players. Tadlock seemed to have control of the match at 5-3, but Hammond won the next four sets to take the 5-7 victory. Nearly every game went to deuce in this set, but Tadlock just didn’t have enough to edge out the victory.
“”Our depth was key,”” head coach Liz LaPlante said. “”We’d obviously like to win more games up top, but there aren’t too many teams that can compete with our depth.””
Illustrating this depth, UCSD is now 41-3 in No. 3 to No. 6 singles and 11-0 at No. 3 doubles.
With the 6-3 triumph the Tritons took their record to 11-0 on the season and 7-0 in the CCAA. Pomona falls 8-2, 5-2 in the CCAA, and drops to third place behind UC Davis. The Tritons have the opportunity to win the CCAA regular season with a victory March 29 at Grand Canyon University.
The eighth-ranked Tritons took on Division III Vassar Wednesday with results unavailable at press time. UCSD will take on Division III Bowodin College Friday afternoon at UCSD’s North Courts before taking time off for finals.
