Beach Bounces Cal Poly From Tournament, 4-2
April 24, 2004 PALM DESERT, CA-- Behind an inspiring comeback at the No. 1 doubles position, the No. 3 seeded Long Beach State women's tennis team came up with a 4-2 win over No. 2 seeded Cal Poly in the semifinals of the Big West Conference Women's Tennis Championships on Saturday at the Indian Wells Tennis Gardens. The victory by The Beach (17-8) set up a showdown against UC Irvine for the league title on Sunday. UC Irvine upset the No. 1 seed Pacific, 4-3 earlier in the day.
The victory was the 100th career win (100-64/7 years) for 49er Head Coach Jenny Hilt-Costello and sent the No. 63-ranked 49ers to the championship match of the Big West Tournament for the fourth consecutive year. The Beach won the title in 2002, but lost in 2001 (Boise State) and 2003 (Cal Poly).
The turning point of the match came early at the No. 1 doubles position. The 49ers had won at No. 3 doubles as Krystina Katayama and Emmanuelle Tabatroung won 8-4 over Sheila Lewis and Carol Erickson. Cal Poly tied the doubles at 1-1 as Noelle Lee and Chelsy Thompson won 8-5 at the No. 2 spot over Kelly Chan and Alanah Carroll. The Cal Poly pair of Samantha Waller and Kristen Grady jumped to a 7-1 lead at the No. 1 spot and looked to finish the rout and give the Mustangs the doubles point. But, Nicole Bouffler and Sandra Rocha had something else in mind as the pair won eight straight games to win the match 9-7 and give Long Beach the advantage.
"Number one doubles coming back down 7-1 to win gave us huge momentum heading into the singles," said Hilt-Costello. "They made some line-up changes today, but we adjusted really well to those changes. For both Kelly Chan and Nicole Bouffler to come back to win their singles matches was huge. I'm very proud of the way we responded to some big challenges today."
In singles play the 49ers won at the Nos. 1, 2 and 3 spots to clinch the win. At No. 1 singles, Bouffler came back from a 5-4 first set to deficit to Waller to win the match 7-5, 6-1. Kelly Chan won at No. 2 singles 6-3, 6-0 over Thompson. Chan trailed 3-2 in the first set and then proceeded to win 10 consecutive games. Carroll also prevailed in straight sets at the No. 3 spot, winning 6-1, 6-4 over Lewis.
The victory revenged a regular season 5-2 defeat at Cal Poly on April 8 and also snapped a three-game losing skid to the Mustangs, including a 4-1 loss in the 2003 Big West Conference Championship match.
The 49ers will take on UC Irvine in Sunday's championship match, which is scheduled to begin at 12 pm.
SINGLES
1-Nicole Bouffler (LBSU) def. Samantha Waller (Cal Poly), 7-5, 6-1
2-Kelly Chan (LBSU) def. Chelsy Thompson (Cal Poly), 6-3, 6-0
3-Alanah Carroll (LBSU) def. Sheila Lewis (Cal Poly), 6-1, 6-4
4-Emmanuelle Tabatruong (LBSU) vs. Kristen Grady (Cal Poly), DNF
5-Noelle Lee (Cal Poly) def. Sandra Rocha (LBSU), 6-4, 6-0
6-Carol Erickson (Cal Poly) def. Claudia Argumedo (LBSU), 6-4, 6-1
DOUBLES
1-Bouffler/Rocha (LBSU) def. Waller/Grady (Cal Poly), 9-7
2-Lee/Thompson (LBSU) def. Chan/Carroll (LBSU), 8-5
3-Katayama/Tabatruong (LBSU) def. Lewis/Erickson (Cal Poly), 8-4 |
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