49ers Host Two Ranked Teams
Beach Takes On Utah and Nebraska
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March 15, 2004 The Records: The Long Beach State women's tennis team will be at home this week hosting two nationally-ranked teams at the 49er Campus Courts. The 49ers are 8-5 overall, riding a six-match winning streak and are ranked No. 64 in the nation. On Friday No. 75-ranked Utah (5-6) comes to town and on Saturday the 49ers tangle with No. 70-ranked Nebraska (6-4).
The Coach: Jenny Hilt-Costello (UCLA, 1994) is 91-61 (.599) in her seventh year as the head coach at Long Beach State. Hilt-Costello has led the 49ers to three consecutive appearances in the Big West Tournament Championship match, winning the crown in 2002.
The Series: The 49ers and Utah are tied 2-2 in their series. The 49ers and the Utes have not met since the 1997 season when LBSU claimed a 5-4 win in Long Beach. Nebraska leads its series with the 49ers by a 3-1 margin. The last meeting between the two came in the 1994 campaign, a 9-0 Husker win in Long Beach.
Playing The Best: Of the 22 NCAA Division I programs on the 2004 49er spring schedule, 13 are currently ranked in the Top 75 by ITA Tennis. Listed in order of the latest rankings are: USC (11), Michigan (17), Oregon (23), Pepperdine (26), Marshall (51), Sacramento State (54), San Diego State (57), Cal Poly (62), UC Irvine (65), Boston College (66), Nebraska (70), Brown (T75), and Utah (T75).
Six In A Row: Since losing 6-1 on February 28 to the University of Michigan in Hawai'i, the 49ers have reeled off six wins in a row, including three wins over nationally-ranked squads. Boston College (64), UC Riverside (T75) and Marshall (51) were all ranked when the 49ers played them, and beat them. LBSU also earned wins over Hawai'i, Charlotte and Loyola Marymount, who was ranked the previous week. The win over No. 51 Marshall was the highest-ranked opponent the 49ers have ever beaten. Last season the 49ers won six consecutive matches and in 1992 and 1996 the 49ers won seven straight. The school record is 17 consecutive wins set in 2001.
Bouffler On A Host Streak: Junior Nicole Bouffler has won her last six matches at No. 1 singles this spring, improving her overall record to 17-7, 8-5 in the spring. Bouffler began the streak with a 7-6, 2-6, 6-3 win over Hawai'i Lauren Fitzgerald. Four of the six wins have come in straight sets. Bouffler is 2-1 vs. Big West foes this spring, with her only loss coming to UC Irvine's Tiffany Chang, 4-6, 6-2, 4-6.
Carroll Hot As Well: Sophomore Alanah Carroll has been riding a hot streak herself having won her last five matches and eight of her last 10. Carroll won three matches this past weekend on consecutive days playing at the No. 5 spot. She has shown the ability to fight back as in two of the matches this weekend she lost the first set, but came back to win the next two to capture the match. Carroll is 9-4 this spring in singles and 15-9 overall on the year.
Tabatruong Fitting In: Freshman Emmanuelle Tabatruong has moved in to the starting singles lineup and is 5-2 thus far. Tabatruong is 2-1 at the No. 5 spot and 3-1 at No. 6 singles. Four of her five wins have come in straight sets. Her last victory though, went three sets. She was able to defeat Marshall's Danielle Hock l6-4, 6-7, 6-4 this past Sunday. Tabatruong entered the school at the semester break, so she didn't compete in the fall.
Chan On Doubles Chart: Thanks to a 6-1 record at No. 2 doubles with Alanah Carroll this spring, senior Kelly Chan has recorded 14 doubles wins this year (spring and fall) and currently ranks second all-time at LBSU with 59 doubles victories. The current record-holder is Havaja Frljuckic's 63 wins from 1984-87. In overall wins (both singles and doubles) Chan has accumulated 91 career wins (32 singles/59 doubles) to rank sixth all-time. Frljuckic holds the record with 133 career wins.
2004 Schedule & Results (8-5)
JANUARY
Thr. 22 at USC (6) L, 0-7
Sat. 24 at Pepperdine (42) L, 1-6
Sat. 31 at San Diego State (28) L, 2-5
FEBRUARY
Sat. 14 *CS Fullerton W, 7-0
Sun. 15 *UC Irvine (65) W, 5-2
Fri. 20 Sacramento State (53) L, 2-5
Sat. 28 vs. Michigan (19) L, 1-6
Sun. 29at Hawai'i W, 6-1
MARCH
Thr. 4 Boston College (64) W, 4-3
Fri. 5 *at UC Riverside (T75) W, 6-1
Fri. 12 Charlotte W, 6-1
Sat. 13 LMU W, 4-3
Sun. 14 Marshall (51) W, 4-3
Fri. 19 Utah (T75) 2 pm
Sat. 20 Nebraska (70) 11 am
Fri. 26 *at CS Northridge 2 pm
Sat. 27 *Idaho 11 am
APRIL
Fri. 2 Brown (T75) 2 pm
Sat. 3 *Pacific 11 am
Thr. 8 *at Cal Poly (62) 1:30 pm
Fri. 9 *at UCSB 1:30 pm
Fri. 16 Oregon (23) 2 pm
Th.-Su. 22-25 at Big West Championships
(Indian Wells, California)
*Big West Match Home Matches In Bold
(Rankings at time LBSU played each team)
49ERS IN THE ITA RANKINGS | Date | Ranking | Points | | January 13 | #58 | 414 | | January 27 | #60 | 119 | | February 10 | #61 | 96 | | February 24 | #65 | 55 | | March 2 | #63 | 72 | | March 16 | #64 | 64 | | March 23 | | |
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