UCSD women’s tennis hosted Emory on March 12. Two days later, UCSD played against University of Redlands. UCSD lost a close game against Emory 5-4. However, the Tritons came back strongly to beat Redlands 7-2. The winning momentum continued on their next match March 29 against Azusa Pacific, which the Tritons won 9-0.

“”[The] match against Emory should be very tough,”” said head coach Liz LaPlante before the match. “”They are number two in the nation in [National Collegiate Athletic Association] Division III and are one of our former competitors when we were DIII. They will have a lot of depth and be very competitive. It should be a close match.””

It was indeed a close match when Emory edged out UCSD during the singles games to win. At No. 1 doubles, UCSD’s Julie Westerman and Jenna Ishii were defeated by Mary Ellen Gordon and Jolyn Taylor 8-4. Two subsequent wins from the Tritons kept UCSD as a strong contender going into the singles matches. At No. 2, Jasmin Dao and Tara Siddiqui defeated Margaret Moscato and Emily Warburg 8-3, and Kristina Jansen and Allison Ishii at No. 3 doubles defeated Jamie Chan and Carina Alberelli.

“”[We lost] a heart wrenching match to Cal Poly that left everyone hungry for revenge,”” Taylor said.

Emory came back to win four of the singles matches. At No. 1 singles, Gordon defeated Westerman 7-6, 7-6. Taylor at No. 2 defeated Dao. Chan defeated Jansen at No. 4. Katherine Powell of Emory defeated Sarah Bahlert at No. 6 singles, 6-2, 3-6, 6-4, to win the match.

Giving UCSD its two singles wins, Siddiqui defeated Moscato at No. 3 and Leigh Roberts defeated Alberelli at the No. 5 position.

On that same day Westerman was named the conference’s Women’s Tennis Player of the Week. Westerman plays No. 1 doubles and No. 1 singles. Westerman lost both matches to strong Emory opponents, but would win two against Redlands.

Two days after Emory’s comebacks, the Tritons came back strongly against Redlands.

At No. 1 doubles, Westerman and Jenna Ishii paired to defeat Tatiana Steinberg and Molly Shih 8-3. At No. 2 Erin Hiranaga and Jenna Umeno of Redlands defeated Dao and Siddiqui, and at No. 3 Jansen and Allison Ishii defeated Melissa Gorey and Kerri Hatfield.

Westerman at the No. 1 singles spot defeated Steinberg 1-6, 7-5, 6-2. Dao defeated Hiranga; Jansen defeated Gorey; and Roberts defeated Shih at No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4, respectively. At No. 5, Andrea Dunlop of Redlands defeated Bahlert. Jenna Ishii at No. 6 defeated Hatfield. The final score was 7-2 in favor of UCSD.

“”[The games against Emory and Redlands was] a good way to close out the first half of our season,”” LaPlante said.

The match against Azusa Pacific was a clear win for the Tritons, who did not allow Azusa to win one point. At No. 1 doubles, Westerman and J. Ishii defeated Christina Earnest and Andrea Yorkey. Dao and Siddiqui defeated Miyu Sato and Brianna Hahn at No. 2. Jansen and A. Ishii at No. 3 doubles defeated Marilyn Wise and Hepzi Segura.

In singles play, Westerman defeated Sato; Dao defeated Earnest; Siddiqui defeated Segura; Jansen defeated Hahn; Roberts defeated Yorkey; and Marissa Hilker defeated Wise at the No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, No. 4, No. 5 and No. 6 positions, respectively.

The Tritons are now 13-2 overall and 7-1 in the conference. The Tritons hosted a game against Pomona-Pitzer on March 30. Those results were not available at press time.