The ITA tournament, held at the Billie Jean Tennis Complex on the campus of Cal State Los Angeles from Sept. 30 to Oct. 2., was the first of the season for both teams. The competition does not affect season standings and each took only partial squads.
Senior Erik Elliot and sophomore Austin West took home the doubles title this year, beating out the team of Rong Ma and Agnel Peter from perennial powerhouse Brigham Young University–Hawaii.
The win earns the pairing a chance to compete at the ITA Small College National Championships, held from Oct. 14 to Oct. 17 in Mobile, Ala.
Senior Vincent Nguyen, junior Sam Ling and West also competed in singles play, but each failed to advance in the tournament.
The women’s doubles squad of seniors Taskeen Bains and Natalie Varnay also made it to the finals, but lost to the top-seeded pairing of Yuan Jia and Elwen Li of BYU–Hawaii by an 8–3 decision.
“It was great that they got to the finals,” head coach Liz LaPlante said. “We were very happy to see them get all the way there.”
Despite their finals appearance, LaPlante said she feels the pairing can do better once the season starts.
“They didn’t play as well as they could have today,” LaPlante said. “BYU–H is a very good team. … [Bains and Varnay] definitely can beat them, but they’ll have to play better.”
The tournament is held well before the start of the regular season, so players generally enter with only the preparation from summer training and year-round play.
“We had had three days of practice,” LaPlante said. “The girls tried to play on their own as much as they could, but no one was really ready for this type of competition. It tells us we have a lot of hard work ahead of us, and it’s a good way for us to gauge where we are.”
UCSD had four players competing in the singles competition, but none was able to advance past the first round.
The pairings of sophomores Jacquelyn Davis and Melissa Breisacher as well as junior Samantha Yeung and sophomore Lisa Hardebeck were advanced to the second round in the doubles competition.
The Tritons will open their regular season by hosting Point Loma Nazarene on Feb. 8. The men’s team will compete in the San Diego State Tournament next week, beginning Friday, Oct. 8.