The UCSD women’s tennis team finished its fall season on
Nov. 10 and Nov. 11 at the UC Irvine Invitational, where head coach Liz
LaPlante sent nine of her best players to compete in the singles and doubles
tournaments.
The four-time California Collegiate Athletic Association
conference champions had high expectations going into the invitational, but had
a rude awakening after they struggled in doubles play and went a combined 0-7
in the two-day tournament.
The troubles in doubles play began on day one, when the
four-time CCAA Conference Champion Tritons went 0-3, with every loss coming
against a squad from
Senior Justine Ang Fonte and freshman Dalya Perlman lost to the
tandem of Kim Van Ginkle and Leslie Vial 5-8, while UCSD freshmen Taskeen Bains
and Kimmie Dao lost 3-8 to Edit Suhajda and Orsi Golovics. The day’s final loss
came from the Triton doubles team of freshman Valerie Tang and senior Molly
Sullens, who also lost 8-3 to Amiee Oki and Yumi Hasegawa.
The problems continued into the next day where UCSD went
0-4, completing a winless tournament in doubles. Dao and Bains were defeated
3-8 by the UC Irvine doubles team of Heidi Kaloi and Brooke Bartlett, while
junior Tessa Tran and sophomore Pooja Desai lost their only doubles match of
the weekend, a lopsided 1-8 defeat to the UC Riverside duo of Angelique Corpuz
and Erynne Oki. Fonte and Perlman had the most discouraging result of the day,
losing 8-0 to UC Riverside’s Roxanne Plata and Donna McCullough. The weekend’s
final doubles result was an 8-5 loss by Tang and Sullens at the hands of UC
Riverside sisters Yassaman and Nadia Sakhakorn.
If the uninspiring doubles play at Anteater Invitational is
any indication of the Tritons’ ability, they may struggle in the spring season.
However, although LaPlante wasn’t too worried about her
team’s disappointing showing, she knows that the squad has a lot to work on.
“It’s still early,” she said. “We are working toward
improving so that we can hit our stride when the team season begins in
February.”
In singles competition, UCSD was able to turn its luck
around, going 4-3 on the first day of action. Perlman was the first to redeem
herself, winning a 7-6, 6-2 decision over Yassaman Sakhakorn of UC Riverside.
Joining her in the win column were Dao, a 6-0, 6-3 winner over UC Riverside’s
Corpuz, Fonte, who won 6-4, 6-1 over Ali Welliver of UC Irvine, and Tang, who
beat Alexandra Khoury of UC Riverside 6-2, 7-6. Other singles action from Nov.
10 saw Tran lose 6-4, 6-4 to Hasegawa of Northern Arizona University, and Bains
go down 6-4, 6-2 to Regan Newman, also of Northern Arizona University.
If the Tritons hope to have any success this season, they
will certainly look to depend on Desai. She has been an asset to the team in
the past, but is working to recover from a foot injury that has plagued her for
the last month.
“Pooja has been steadily improving her game since the
injury,” LaPlante said. “We expect her to be one of the most important players
on our team this season.”
Although Desai stumbled early and lost her first singles
match of the tournament, 6-1, 6-2 to Nadia Sakhakorn of UC Riverside, she
showed tremendous heart in winning her next match, a 6-7, 7-5, 7-5 marathon
against Oki.
The rest of the team didn’t have as much luck on Nov. 11 as
Bains was the only other Triton to win her match. Her victory was decisive, a
6-2, 6-1 beatdown of Shawnell Russell of Loyola Marymount University. Alexsa
Costa of New Mexico State University defeated Dao 6-2, 6-2, while her teammate
Bianca Discordia beat Tang 6-4, 7-5. Yumi Hasegawa and Stacey Pinchbeck of
Northern Arizona University took out Fonte and Perlman, respectively, with
Hasegawa winning a close battle, 5-7, 6-4, 6-1. Meanwhile, Pinchbeck routed
Perlman, 6-1, 6-2. The final two results of the tournament were a 7-5, 6-3 loss
by Sullens to Yassaman Sakhakorn of UC Riverside, and a 6-4, 6-3 win by UC
Riverside’s Plata over Tran.
LaPlante and the Tritons can now set their sights on the
team’s season, and a bid for a fifth straight conference title. The quest to
make the NCAA tournament begins on Feb. 2 when UCSD travels to battle
Conference play begins a week later when the Tritons host Cal State Bernardino.
