SAN DIEGO - The No. 15 UC San Diego women's tennis team came close to toppling crosstown rival Point Loma Nazarene Thursday but ultimately fell in a 5-4 loss.

The Tritons, with a lineup featuring many of the team's regular starters, faced a 2-1 deficit after the doubles portion of Thursday's match. Despite earning tiebreaker wins at the No. 4 and No. 6 positions, the top Sea Lions' singles players proved to be too strong as PLNU prevailed by the narrow margin.

Facing the third-ranked team in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) on Thursday existed as somewhat of a warmup test for the Tritons, who will take on No. 19 Cal State Stanislaus Saturday. If the Warriors defeat Cal State L.A. on Friday, Saturday's contest between UCSD and CSUS will determine the 2010 California Collegiate Athletic Association crown.

In Thursday's match with the Sea Lions, the UCSD freshmen and sophomores in the lineup collected all four of the team's points.

At No. 4, sophomore Samantha Yeung knocked off PLNU's Kiersten Steinhauer in a 10-5 tiebreaker after going 6-4, 4-6 in the first two sets. Tritons' freshman Jacquelyn Davis topped Wileen Chiu easily at No. 5, 6-1, 6-2. In the No. 6 spot, UCSD freshman Melissa Breisacher secured a 10-3 tiebreaker following a 6-3, 4-6 result in the opening frames.

The lone doubles point for the Tritons on Thursday afternoon came from the pair of Yeung and Breisacher picking up a 9-8 win at the No. 3 position.

The highly-anticipated matchup between UCSD and CSUS will start at 11 a.m. Saturday on the Northview Tennis Courts. The Tritons are aiming for their seventh-straight CCAA title.

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