On the weekend of April 2 through April 4, the UCSD women’s tennis team trekked across the nation to play at the University of West Florida Invitational in Pensacola, Fla. The ladies faced some tough competition from across the country, including top-ranked BYU-Hawaii and fourth-ranked West Florida. Despite the tough competition, the Tritons managed to pull a win out of the tournament, making their tournament record 1-2.
On April 4, the Tritons lost a close match to fourth-ranked West Florida, 3-6. The Tritons lost all three doubles matches, with sophomore Tara Siddiqui and freshman Katie Bronowicki losing a close 9-7 match at No. 2 doubles. Despite the initial setback, the ladies were able to put three points on the board, with big wins by freshman Katie McKee at No. 6 singles, Siddiqui at No. 3 singles and sophomore Leigh Roberts at No. 4 singles.
Siddiqui highlighted the match with a great win, holding off a close comeback in the second set, defeating her opponent 6-4, 7-6.
“Tara [Siddiqui] was injured for the most part of the year, but she’s making it back to the top of her game,” head coach Liz LaPlante said. “She really peaked at the tournament and had great games against both Delta State and West Florida.”
McKee was also able to pull out a win for the Tritons, winning her match in a decisive third-set tiebreaker. McKee lost the first set, 6-4, but won the second, 7-5, and then beat her opponent, 10-6, in the tiebreaker.
On April 3, the Tritons beat 13th-ranked Delta State for their only win of the tournament. Senior Julie Westerman had perhaps her best showing of the season, beating her opponent in a quick 6-1, 6-0 match at No. 1 singles. Westerman also teamed up with junior Jasmin Dao to defeat their opponents, 8-5, at No. 1 doubles. Roberts and McKee defeated their opponents in relatively easy straight sets to seal the victory for the Tritons.
The tournament brings the Tritons’ overall season record to 13-8. The Tritons have only two more matches — against Cal State San Bernardino and Point Loma Nazarene — before they begin regional qualifier matches for NCAA Division II Nationals.
“We’re just working on fine-tuning everyone’s game right now,” LaPlante said. “The Florida tournament showed us what we needed to work on to compete against tougher teams.”
With UCSD’s loss against Hawaii-Hilo on March 31, the Tritons are now third in their conference and will have to play the sixth-ranked team in their region, either Grand Canyon or Cal State Los Angeles, in the first round of conference play beginning April 16. The winner of that match will then face Hawaii-Hilo to see who will move on to Nationals.
