The UCSD women’s tennis team swept Alliant International University of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics to win its 2003-04 season opener with a 9-0 non-conference win on Feb. 4.
“”The girls were very anxious to finally start competition,”” head coach Liz LaPlante said. “”They’ve been practicing all fall season and all through January, so they were eager to play some matches against another team.””
The women had no trouble defeating Alliant; senior Julie Westerman and sophomore Tara Siddiqui were able to quickly defeat their opponents, 8-0, at No. 1 doubles, and junior Jasmin Dao teamed up with freshman Kristin Bronowicki to rout their opponents, 8-2, at the No. 2 doubles position. As for the singles matches, the girls were able to overwhelm Alliant in straight sets, dropping only one set in all six singles positions.
“”Alliant was a good match for us to start off with,”” Dao said. “”They were a decent team and gave us some good practice; we learned what we needed to work on and our strengths. Plus, it was great that we were finally able to start executing some of the techniques that we were learning in practice in a competitive situation.””
The team looked very sharp, allowing Alliant to win only 19 points and one set throughout the entire doubles and singles lineup. The match allowed LaPlante to assess the team’s roster as she tries to narrow down where to place players in the lineup, since it is such a large and talented team.
“”We have a large team this year with many of our big returners coming back and some great talent from the freshmen,”” LaPlante said. “”We have a lot of choices we can use in our lineup but it’s hard because some of our great players don’t get to play as much as they would like to see.””
The team’s strength definitely lies in its experience; the singles lineup is evenly matched, and each player adds some depth to the team. Many of the athletes have played competitively for many years, and the team has many top returning players as well as some solid freshmen to add to the roster.
“”It’s great that we have an evenly matched lineup because some other teams have strong No. 1 and No. 2 singles, but the rest of the team doesn’t match up,”” Dao said. “”But our team is pretty consistent across the board, and that’s what really helps us.””
UCSD’s next home match will be against Western New Mexico on Feb. 20 at Northview Tennis Courts. The match starts at 2 p.m.
