49ers Host Aztecs on Saturday
3-1 San Diego State Faces No. 37-ranked 49ers
February 6, 2008 | SEPTEMBER | o | o | | Fri.-Sun. 28-30 | Cal "Nike" Invitational | Day 1
Day 2
Day 3 | | OCTOBER | | | | Fri-Sun. 5-7 | CS Fullerton
Fall Intercollegiate's | 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 | | SAT. 26 | #6 CALIFORNIA | L 0-7 | | Wed. 30 | at #8 USC | L 0-7 | | FEBRUARY | o | o | | FRI. 1 | *CS FULLERTON | W 7-0 | | SAT. 2 | #33 LSU | L 1-6 | | SAT. 9 | #50 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 | |
AZTECS CLOSE OUT FIVE OUT OF SIX AT HOME
The No. 37-ranked 49ers (2-3) will close out a home stretch in which they played five of the first six matches at home, when they host No. 50-ranked San Diego State (3-1) on Saturday starting at 1:30 p.m. at the El Dorado Tennis Courts. Next weekend Beach Tennis will travel to Arizona and Arizona State, before taking on UC Riverside on February 22. They don't return home until they begin a six-game home stand against Saint Mary's on March 1. FULL STATISTICS FOR LBSU 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 in the fall. Parking is best found next to the library on Studebaker.
ABOUT THE OPPONENT
San Diego State is pulling off their third tour stop against the Big West Conference on Saturday, having previously defeated UC Riverside (6-1) and CS Fullerton (7-0). The Aztecs will also play UCI at the end of the month. Their lone blemish is a 6-1 loss at the University of Washington. They play LMU on Wednesday. The Aztecs feature four players with double digit wins this season, led by No. 61-ranked Julia Truck, who is 12-4 this season, and Holly Bagshaw who is 11-4. Olivia Colman, who plays towards the back of the order is 11-5, while Esther Cadua, who plays at No. 3 and No. 4 is 10-4. The doubles team of Cadua and Trunk is 6-2 on the seasons including 3-0 in doubles play. 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. LAST WEEK'S RECAP
Beach Tennis produced its toughest stretch of the season last week, dropping a 7-0 decision to No. 8 USC on Wednesday and a 6-1 loss to No. 33-ranked LSU. Sandwiched in between the 49ers took care of CS Fullerton 7-0. The 49ers match with LSU could have been a lot closer, as the 49ers took the doubles point but could not continue that momentum, losing two matches in three sets. IN THE RANKINGS
Long Beach State Tennis, is moving up the rankings to begin the spring, moving from No. 41 to No. 38 and now to No. 37. The start at No. 41 is the second highest in school-history for the start of spring, 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). DOUBLES ROLLING AT NO. 1
Hannah Grady, who teamed with Jessica Weeks last year to form the top doubles team in the Big West, has a new partner in Stephanie Bengson. The duo has not missed a beat going 5-2 in the fall and 8-4 overall at the top position. The duo won the CS Fullerton Invite in the Fall as well. DOUBLE DIGIT WINNERS
The 49ers have two double digit winners already this year in Hannah Grady (Coventry, England), who leads the pack at 11-5 overall and No. 2 player and freshman Deborah Armstrong (London), who is 11-8 on the year. Both are 2-3 in dual play. Grady has won at least 19 matches in each of her first two seasons, going 52-20 to this point, sixth-best all-time. She is also the fastest to 50 wins in school-history. BENGSON HAS EYES ON SECOND SPOT
After moving into No. 3 all-time in career wins last week, senior Stephanie Bengson enters the weekend 13 combined wins from No. 2 all-time and Havaja Frjuckic (133 total). Bengson has 120 wins in her seven semester career, including a combined 15 wins this year. Bengson is an uncharacteristic 7-8 in singles play this year, after going 52-24 over her first three seasons. Bengson needs 11 more singles wins to tie Frjuckic for first all-time with 70. SUTTON MOVES INTO TOP-SIX
Freshman Lisa Sutton (Kelsall, England) had her first taste of the top-six this past week, splitting her first two collegiate matches of her career. Sutton has teamed with fellow Brit, Deborah Armstrong (London) to go 3-2 in doubles play at the No. 3 position. 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. 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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