The UCSD women’s tennis team has surprised many teams since moving to Division II last year, but after a good showing at the Xenia Anastasiadou Tournament last weekend, it will be hard for the Tritons to sneak up on anyone this year.
In the Pomona Calif., tournament, UCSD defeated No. 40 Northern Colorado and No. 6 Abilene Christian University, but came up short against No. 4 Barry University.
The Tritons opened with a narrow 5-4 win over Northern Colorado. UCSD started strong, winning two of the three doubles matches.
Going into the singles matches, UCSD used its incredible depth as the catalyst for the team victory. No. 4 Hung, No. 5 Jansen and No. 6 Westerman each cruised to their wins.
Though the outcome was already decided, the drama was saved for the top three singles matches. No. 1 Dao, after splitting the first two sets, dropped a first-to-10 tiebreaker 2-10 and No. 2 O’Neil lost 6-10 in a tiebreaker. No. 3 Tadlock played the closest tiebreaker, eventually falling 9-11 after opening 1-6, 6-4.
The victory sent the Tritons into the winner’s bracket with national power Barry University waiting in the wings.
UCSD gave the Miami-based Buccaneers a scare, but in the end Barry’s talent was just too much and overcame UCSD 6-3.
The Tritons opened the match in uninspiring fashion for the first time this season, dropping all three doubles matches. Tadlock and Westerman dropped only on break, losing 6-8 to Barry’s Victoria Courmares and Maria Lopez, who are ranked No. 6 in Division II doubles. O’Neil and Hung lost 5-8 while Jansen and Dao dropped their first doubles match of the season 3-8. It was also the first 2002 lost for Jansen in either singles or doubles.
Going into the singles, UCSD faced an uphill battle. Dao fell to Courmares, ranked as the No. 5 singles player in the nation 6-0, 6-4. O’Neil was on the wrong end of a straight-set decision against No. 17 Gizella Turbock 6-2, 6-2, while Tadlock dropped her match against No. 44 Lopez 6-1, 6-1.
The bottom three singles were different. Hung took her match in the tiebreaker 6-1, 3-6, 10-2. Jansen also got her come-from-behind victory in a tiebreaker 3-6, 6-3, 11-9. Westerman’s victory was the only decisive point for the Tritons when she defeated her opponent 6-4, 6-1.
“”Even though we lost all three doubles, the girls really played well,”” said coach Liz LaPlante.
The 6-3 decision was Barry’s closest decision over a Division II school all season including three other victories against top-10 schools.
The Tritons then headed to the tournament’s third-place game against Abilene Christian.
Last year the Tritons dropped a 5-2 decision to Abilene in the 16th round of the National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament. The Wildcats returned four of the six players from that match, while the Tritons returned five.
Revenge was served on a Sunday afternoon in Pomona with UCSD beating Abilene in an incredible 5-4 comeback.
UCSD continued its struggles in doubles from the day before, dropping all three matches in close, hard-fought decisions. Tadlock and Westerman came up a break short 6-8 and the duos of O’Neil/Hung and Dao/Jansen each dropped 5-8 matches.
Dao, O’Neil and Tadlock each ended their personal three-game skids with straight-set victories. Dao has struggled at the No. 1 spot all season, compiling a 4-8 record, but she turned around with an impressive 7-5, 6-4 victory against Lacy Johnson, the No. 49 player in the nation.
“”[Dao] has had a difficult time at the No. 1 position, and that’s something we talked about in the beginning of the season,”” LaPlante said of the talented freshman. “”We’re hoping she gains the experience and confidence so she will beat these players [at No. 1].””
In 2001, O’Neil lost a 4-6, 4-6 decision to Sara Taweel in the NCAAs, but 2002 was a different story because O’Neil had few problems with Taweel, pulling out a 6-4, 6-2 victory. Tadlock defeated Andrea Wildner, who defeated Tadlock’s doubles partner Westerman in 2001, in a 6-2, 6-1 match.
Mary Hung, a singles winner against Abilene in 2001, repeated her performance with an easy 6-2, 6-2 victory. Now down 4-3, Abilene was in a hole with momentum favoring the Tritons. Jansen lost a chance to clinch the match for the Tritons by dropping the final two sets in a 6-4, 3-6, 1-6 thriller.
All eyes then focused on the No. 6 matchup between two powerful bottom players. Tadlock entered the match with a 17-0 record while Abilenes freshman Summer Beasley came in with a 12-6 record, but was undefeated against non-Division I opponents. Although the first set went to Beasley 3-6, Tadlock, UCSD’s lone senior, evened the match with a 6-3 second set. The two players were even in the third set until a 7-4 tiebreak gave the third set to Tadlock and the victory to the Tritons.
After avenging its 2001 loss, the Tritons now look forward to the California Collegiate Athletic Association conference tournament two weeks ahead in Phoenix, Ariz.. UCSD will open against Cal State Los Angeles or Cal State Bakersfield on April 19.
The Phoenix tournament will help to determine the ranking for the NCAA West Regional in which two teams will go to nationals.
