49ers The No. 3 Seed at Big West Meet
Long Beach Tangles With UCSB In Quarterfinals Friday
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April 20, 2004 The Record: Long Beach State finished the regular season at 15-8 overall and are ranked No. 63 in the country this week in the latest ITA Rankings. The Beach begins play at the Big West Conference Championships as the No. 3 seed, taking on No. 6 seed UC Santa Barbara at 2 pm on Friday. If the 49ers win, they play on Saturday at 2 pm in the semifinals, with the likely opponent being Cal Poly, the No. 2 seed. Pacific is the No. 1 seed and plays the first round winner of CS Fullerton and CS Northridge on Friday at 11 am.
The Coach: Jenny Hilt-Costello (UCLA, 1994) is 98-64 (.605) 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 lead in their series with UCSB by a 10-9 count. Long Beach has won the last six meetings vs. the Gauchos, including a 4-3 win at UCSB on April 9. The 49ers are 2-2 vs. UCSB at the Big West Tournament, winning the last two matches, 4-2 in the semifinals in 2001 and 4-1 in the quarterfinals in 2002.
Playing The Best: Of the 22 NCAA Division I programs on the 2004 49er spring schedule, 11 are currently ranked in the Top 75 in the latest ITA Tennis rankings,, making this the toughest 49er schedule in school history. Listed in order are: USC (5), Michigan (29), Oregon (30), Sacramento State (33), Pepperdine (37), Marshall (53), Boston College (56), Pacific (58), Cal Poly (60), San Diego State (69) and UC Irvine (75).
49ers At The Big West Tournament: The 49ers are 19-19 all-time at the Big West Conference Tournament, beginning with the first tournament in 1990. The 49ers have qualified for 13 of the 14 tournaments, missing out only in 1992. Long Beach has advanced to the tournament championship three years in a row. In 2001 the 49ers fell to Boise State, 4-3. In 2002 they defeated UC Irvine 4-2 to win the league title and last season the 49ers fell 4-1 to Cal Poly. In the last three years the 49ers are 7-2 at the Big West Championships.
Chan No. 1 In Doubles: Thanks to an 13-4 record at No. 2 doubles with Alanah Carroll this spring, senior Kelly Chan has recorded 21 doubles wins this year (spring and fall) and has moved into first all-time at LBSU with 66 doubles victories. The previous record-holder is Havaja Frljuckic's 63 wins from 1984-87. In overall wins (both singles and doubles) Chan has accumulated 104 career wins (38 singles/66 doubles) to rank fourth all-time and her overall winning percentage of .581 (104-75) in all singles and doubles matches is No. 10 all-time at Long Beach State.
Bouffler With 24 Doubles Wins: Junior Nicole Bouffler is 24-7 this season at the No. 1 doubles position. She is 17-6 with Sandra Rocha and went 7-1 in the Fall with Tammy Day. The 24 doubles wins is the third-most in a single season by a 49er, as the record is 27 set by Lindsey Marvel in 2002 (27-8).
Bouffler Ranked: Nicole Bouffler also found her way into the national rankings, thanks in a large part to her 6-3, 6-3 win over Oregon's Daria Panova on April 16. Panova was ranked No. 9 in the nation at the time. Bouffler is currently ranked No. 91 nationally. Bouffler also has a win over No. 46 ranked Emma Murphy (USD) in the Fall.
11-Match Win Streak: The 11-match win streak the 49ers recorded this season (Feb. 29-Apr. 2) was the third longest in 49er women's tennis history. The school record is 17 in a row set during the 2001 season.
20-Plus Singles Wins: The 49ers have two players who have hit 20 singles wins this year (fall and spring). Junior Nicole Bouffler is 24-10 in singles action this year, while sophomore Alanah Carroll is 22-12. The 24 victories is sixth all-time in school history. The record is 28 singles wins set by Alena and Anastasia Dvornikova in 2002.
Fourth Straight Winning Season: The 49ers record this year of 15-8 marks the fourth straight year the 49ers have finished above the .500 mark. In 2001 LBSU was 22-3, 21-3 in 2002 and in 2003 they finished at 15-8 as well. This is the first time in school history that the women's tennis team has strung together four consecutive winning seasons. They have had three straight winning seasons two different times (1984-1986 and 1996-1998).
Looking For No. 100: Head Coach Jenny Hilt will be looking to win her 100th career match while at Long Beach State. Hilt is 98-64 in her seventh season.
2004 Schedule & Results (15-8)
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 W, 5-2
Sat. 20 Nebraska (70) W, 7-0
Fri. 26 *at CS Northridge W, 6-1
Sat. 27 *Idaho W, 5-2
APRIL
Fri. 2 Brown W, 6-1
Sat. 3 *Pacific (70) L, 3-4
Thr. 8 *at Cal Poly (62) L, 2-5
Fri. 9 *at UCSB W, 4-3
Thr. 15 Hawai'i W, 5-2
Fri. 16 Oregon (34) L, 3-4
Fri. 23 &UCSB, 2 pm
Sat. 24 & tba
Sun. 25 & tba
& 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 9 | #64 | 64 | | March 16 | #55 | 130 | | March 23 | #59 | 6.91 | | March 30 | #49 | 8.52 | | April 6 | #51 | 10.10 | | April 13 | T#59 | 8.22 | | April 20 | #63 | 7.72 |
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