This season, the UCSD women’s tennis team has played strong, a fact reaffirmed by their record of 17-5. After a repeat of a second-place finish in the California Collegiate Athletic Association, the Tritons headed toward the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s Division II Western Regional Championships, where they finished in first place last season. Last weekend, May 2 and May 3, UCSD competed in Laie, Hawaii, home to the No. 1-ranked Division II team, Brigham Young University-Hawaii.
Guardian file
In this competition, BYU-Hawaii hosted three teams: UCSD, Hawaii-Hilo and Sonoma State. There were two rounds of elimination; the winner would be one of 16 teams to continue on to the NCAA Division II National Championships.
UCSD competed against Hawaii-Hilo in Friday’s first round of competition, and won the match with a score of 5-3. The next day, UCSD faced BYU-Hawaii and was defeated 5-0.
The first game against Hawaii-Hilo was an upset, with No. 20-ranked UCSD defeating the No. 12 Vulcans. Hawaii-Hilo entered with an overall season record of 16-8, slightly worse than that of UCSD. However, the Vulcans proved their mettle by defeating UCSD’s No. 1 and No. 2 doubles teams of Julie Westerman and Jenna Ishii and of Jasmin Dao and Tara Siddiqui, respectively. Kristina Jansen and Allison Ishii won their match at No. 3 doubles. UCSD would enter the singles matches down 2-1.
“”The girls played great and being down 2-1 after doubles forced them to play even tougher,”” said UCSD head coach Liz LaPlante. “”Beating [Hawaii-Hilo] was our goal, since we had beaten them last year in the same round. They had a few new girls at the top of their lineup making them stronger than last year.””
UCSD certainly came back strong to win four singles matches and beat Hawaii-Hilo by a final score of 5-3. UCSD’s Siddiqui, Jansen, Leigh Roberts and Melissa Hilker all won their singles matches in straight sets.
The next day, UCSD took on the reigning champions, BYU-Hawaii, in the second round of competition. After defeating Sonoma State the previous day by a score of 5-0, the Seasiders entered this game with a flawless season record of 33-0. BYU played with dominance from the start, not allowing more than two games to be won by UCSD in doubles matches. All three Triton doubles teams were defeated by a score of 8-2.
UCSD also competed in six singles games; unfortunately, only the sets on the No. 1 and No. 3 courts were able to finish. Westerman playing the No. 1 spot was defeated 6-1, 6-0. Siddiqui at No. 3 was defeated 6-1, 6-1.
“”We played as well as we could but just can’t compete with their top players,”” LaPlante said.
CCAA rivals Cal Poly Pomona hosted the other Western Division Championships at Pomona. In the second round of play, May 4, Hawaii Pacific (11-5), ranked No. 10, defeated Cal Poly (18-5), ranked No. 19. From the Western Division, Hawaii Pacific and BYU-Hawaii will compete in the NCAA Division II Championships in Florida. BYU-Hawaii is going for its fifth consecutive title.
“”Overall I am extremely pleased with how we finished the season,”” LaPlante said. “”The girls really improved and we had such good chemistry that this helped in our success … with all the experience [the team] gained from this year, we’re hoping for even more success next year.””
