49ers to Play Two Top-10 Opponents This Week
Beach Tennis Coming Off 6-1 Win Over San Diego to Open Season
January 21, 2007 | SEPTEMBER | o | o | | Fri.-Sun. 28-30 | Cal "Nike" Invitational | Day 1
Day 2
Day 3 | | OCTOBER | | | | Fri-Sun. 5-7 | CS Fullerton
Fall Intercollegiates | Day 1
Day 2
Day 3 | | Thr-Mon 18-22 | Wilson/ITA West Regional Championships
| Day 1 •
Day 2
Day 3 | | JANUARY | o | o | | SAT. 19 | SAN DIEGO | W 6-1 | | Wed. 23 | at #10 USC | 1:30 pm | | SAT. 26 | #5 CALIFORNIA | 2 PM | | FEBRUARY | o | o | | FRI. 1 | *CS FULLERTON | 1 PM | | SAT. 2 | LSU | 1:30 PM | | SAT. 9 | SAN DIEGO STATE | 1:30 PM | | Fri. 15 | at Arizona | 1:30 pm | | Sat. 16 | at Arizona State | 12 pm | | Fri. 22 | *at UC Riverside | 2 pm | | MARCH | o | o | | SAT. 1 | SAINT MARY'S | 1:30 PM | | FRI. 7 | *UC DAVIS | 1 PM | | SAT. 8 | *UC IRVINE | 1:30 PM | | WED. 12 | PURDUE | 2 PM | | THR. 13 | PENN | 2 PM | | SAT. 15 | NEVADA | 10 AM | | Fri. 21 | at Pepperdine | 1:30 pm | | Fri. 28 | *at CS Northridge | 2 pm | | APRIL | o | o | | Thr. 3 | at UC Santa Barbara | 1:30 pm | | Fri. 4 | *at Cal Poly | 1:30 pm | | FRI. 11 | LOYOLA MARYMOUNT | 1 PM | | SAT. 12 | *PACIFIC (Gold Game) | 1:30 PM | | Fri. 18 | at Fresno State | 1:30 pm | | Fri-Sun 25-27 | Big West Championships | tba | | MAY | | | | Fri-Sun 9-11 | NCAA 1st/2nd Rounds | tba | Sat-Mon 15-26
| NCAA Championships | |
TWO TOP-10 TEAMS THIS WEEK
Beach Tennis (1-0) will continue its young season with two top-10 matches this week, when they travel to No. 10-ranked USC on Wednesday at 1:30 p.m., before hosting No. 5-ranked California (0-0 prior to playing at Pepperdine on Friday) on Saturday at 2 p.m. The Cal match, originally scheduled for Friday, has been moved to Saturday due to a scheduling conflict. The 49ers opened up their season with a convincing 6-1 victory over San Diego last Saturday in which Hannah Grady swept through straight sets (6-0, 6-0) in singles competition and along with Stephanie Bengson won 8-1 in doubles play at the top positions in the lineup. Bengson also won in straight sets (6-2, 6-0), as did freshman Deborah Armstrong, playing at the No. 2 position, winning 6-2, 6-1. It was also a successful debut for freshman Stephanie Jeanes, who picked up wins in both doubles and singles play. FULL STATISTICS FOR LBSU ABOUT THE OPPONENTS
The University of Southern California (1-0) opened up their season with a 6-1 win over Loyola Marymount and feature two players ranked in the top-100 in No. 51-ranked Amanda Fink, a junior who is 6-3 in singles play and 10-3 in doubles, and No. 78-ranked Gabriela Niculesco, a sophomore who is 11-3 in doubles and 7-2 in singles. Richard Gallien is in his 13th year, leading the Women of Troy to 12-straight NCAA Tournaments. For California, they open their season at Pepperdine on Friday and feature No. 10-ranked Susie Babos, who is 13-5 this season and No. 31-ranked Bojana Bobusic, who is 16-6. Amanda Augustus, an alum of the Golden Bears, is in her first year, taking over for Jan Brocan, who retired after taking the Bears to last season's Final Four. CHANGE IN VENUES
2007-08 Home Matches will be played at El Dorado Park (between Spring and Willow) at 2800 Studebaker Road in Long Beach due to construction on the team's tennis courts. Home matches will move back to the NEW 49er Tennis Complex sometime in the fall. Parking is best found next to the library on Studebaker. RHODES GIVES $1.25 MILLION GIFT
Terry Rhodes, a men's tennis player for the 49ers in the 1960s, pledged $1.25 million for the construction of the new campus tennis facility and the establishment of an endowed scholarship for the tennis team. A retired lawyer, he received his law degree from UCLA after receiving his undergraduate degree from The Beach in 1962. Rhodes, 67, quit playing tennis all together eight years ago to focus on another sport, marathon running, which he has run 25 of since 1995. He simply didn't feel he could do both sports at the level to which he was accustomed. The gift is one of the largest to the 49er Athletics Department. CEMENTED IN THE TOP-10
Veterans Hannah Grady (Coventry, England) and Stephanie Bengson (Albion Park, Australia) will both finish their careers amongst the all-time leaders in wins. Bengson's 117 combined wins, including a 6-5 singles mark and 6-4 doubles mark, is one win away from No. 3 all-time. For Grady, she has 97 career wins, going 17-5 this year, including an impressive 10-2 mark in singles play. Grady is eighth all-time in career wins and should become the eighth woman to surpass the century mark. The top duo of Bengson and Grady are 6-2 this season in doubles play. IN THE RANKINGS
Long Beach State Tennis, is ranked No. 41 in the first ranking of the spring season. The ranking is the second highest in school-history for this time period, behind last year's start of No. 28. Last year's team finished No. 40 nationally. The 49ers have been nationally ranked every year since 2001, ranking as high as No. 18 nationally (in 2006). RE-CAP FROM THE FALL
Junior Hannah Grady (Coventry, England) posted the best record in the fall, going 9-2, with a singles championship at the Fullerton Invite and a doubles title with Stephanie Bengson (Albion Park, Australia) at the same venue. The team of Grady and Bengson finished the fall going 5-2. Freshman Deborah Armstrong (New Castle, England) also had nine wins, going 9-5, reaching the Consolation Finals of the Cal Invite. KEEP RAISING THE BANNERS
Since 2002 the 49ers have won five Big West titles (in six years) and four-straight. Each year as also led to an NCAA Tournament appearance, which included a second round appearance in 2006. The 49ers had never won a Big West title or appeared in the NCAA's post-season prior to the 2002 season. NOW THAT'S SMART
The 49ers also continued their stellar work in the classroom as five of the six players in the fall received 4.0 GPAs. Prior to this semester, the tennis team had had nine of the last 12 highest GPAs amongst athletic teams at LBSU. The program's fall GPA was 3.78. The fall GPA was a program-high. PACKED SCHEDULE
The 49ers' schedule features 16 teams ranked in January, with six of the team's first eight matches against ranked opponents. A number of the opponents are in the top-25, including No. 8-ranked USC, No. 6-ranked Cal, No. 19-ranked Arizona State, No. 18-ranked Pepperdine and No. 14-ranked Fresno State. Another five are ranked in the top-50. LBSU plays the Women of Troy, the Golden Bears and the Sun Devils over the first month of the season during that opening stretch of matches. BRITISH INVASION
The 49ers roster has a very British feel to it, featuring four of its eight players from Great Britain with the edition of freshman Lisa Sutton (Kelsall) in the spring. Hannah Grady (Coventry) is a two-time All-Big West pick, Jessica Weeks (Beckenham) is also an all-conference pick, while Deborah Armstrong (London) is a freshman. Sutton is the seventh British woman to play for the 49ers since 2001. ADDITION FOR 2008-09
Long Beach State Tennis reloaded with two American high school seniors Julie Luzar (Anaheim/El Dorado HS) and Rachel Manasse (Manhattan Beach/Mira Costa HS), who signed National Letters of Intent to play for the 49ers starting in 2008-09. Luzar, from El Dorado High School, won the league singles title this past season, reaching the round of 16 at the CIF Southern Sectional for the second consecutive year. Luzar is ranked No. 15 in California and was rated as high as No. 104 in tennisrecruiting.net. Luzar also polished off the resume with a doubles win over the No. 1-ranked pair in the country this past season. Manasse is the 2006 South Bay Junior 16's Champion out of Mira Costa High School. She is currently ranked No. 14 in the State and has been rated as high as No. 51 nationally by the recruiting database. Manasse also recorded a top-40 singles win as well in the fall. LBSU loses just two seniors this season. |
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