LA JOLLA, Calif. - The No. 15 UC San Diego women's tennis team encountered an elevated level of play within the conference this season but after capturing the California Collegiate Athletic Association crown for the seventh-straight year, the Tritons are prepared to battle the nation's best in the NCAA Division II Championships. UCSD will make an island trip for this year's West Regional, as the Tritons will challenge No. 11 Hawaii Pacific on May 6 in Central Oahu.
UCSD and the Vulcans met earlier this season, with HPU recording a narrow 5-4 win despite the Tritons taking two of the three doubles matches.
"We're fully capable of reversing that 5-4 result," UCSD head coach
Liz LaPlante said. "We're playing even better doubles now. Hopefully there will be less wind this time out because I think the calmer conditions will favor us."
The Vulcans, seeded second in the region while the Tritons occupy the third position, hold an overall record of 18-4. The winner of the May 6 matchup will travel to Altamonte Springs, Fla., the following week for the Round of 16.
The Tritons, having gone 13-8 in the regular season, are making the program's 30th-consecutive NCAA postseason appearance combined between the Division II and Division III levels.
UCSD entered the 2010 campaign with 59-straight conference victories but the road to this year's postseason proved to be a bit more difficult than in seasons past. At the midway point in the CCAA schedule, the Tritons' streak of 65 league wins was snapped by Cal Poly Pomona.
The final match of the CCAA slate pitted two 8-1 teams against each other - UCSD and No. 19 Cal State Stanislaus. The Tritons prevailed on their home court, 6-3, and captured yet another conference title.
Leading the way in the UCSD singles ladder is junior
Taskeen Bains and providing plenty of wins while playing mostly out of the No. 5 and No. 6 positions has been sophomore
Samantha Yeung, who is 14-6 overall this season.
The Tritons' doubles pairs have been improving steadily throughout 2010 and the duos of
Cindy Dao and
Valerie Tang as well as the combination of
Anita Athavale and
Jacquelyn Davis have both provided double digit victories, putting together respective records of 11-5 and 12-6.
In 2009, UCSD secured a 5-4 win over HPU in the regular season before the Tritons fell 5-3 to the Vulcans at home in the West Regional.
