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Long Beach State University Athletics
Grady Falls in First Round of NCAAs
5/20/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Grady, the three-time Big West Player of the Year, is ranked 82nd nationally, and finishes her year 26-10. The 26 wins are the second-best win total for a single season, trailing three players who had 28 wins. Grady enters her senior year, 67-25 all-time in two and a half seasons, third all-time at LBSU in career singles wins and within five wins of teammate Stephanie Bengson, who graduated with 73 wins.
Nine of Grady's 10 losses this year were to ranked opponents. Grady along with Bengson went 22-8 as the team's No. 1 doubles team, the sixth 49er doubles team to win at least 21 times in a season. They finished one win short of the single-season record. They entered play this week ranked No. 53 nationally, just missing the doubles championship.
Grady made her second appearance in the NCAA Singles Championships, and first since 2006, each time falling in the first round. In 2006, Grady lost to No. 1-ranked Audra Cohen of Miami (FL) in the first round. Grady is the second player to make the NCAAs for the 49ers, as Jing Chen reached the second round in 1998.
Mouton-Levey, one of eight seeded players nine to 16 of the 64-player draw, is now 30-7 and a veteran of four NCAA Tournaments. Six of Mouton-Levy's seven losses are to players ranked in the top-10. In 2007, she was ranked as high as No. 5 nationally.
Among common opponents, Grady lost 6-2, 5-7, 10-4 in a super tie break with No. 16 Melanie Gloria, while Mouton-Levy beat her in straight sets. Against Kate Kosminskaya, Mouton-Levy also won in straight sets, 6-3, 6-0, while Gradylost in three sets, 3-6, 6-1, 6-3.
The 49ers won their fifth-straight Big West team championship and reached their ensuing fifth-straight NCAA Tournament, finishing 19-7 after falling to Denver in the first round.
