Big West Championship

Long Beach State’s women’s tennis team comes up short in their quest for a 7th straight conference tournament championship.

In a very eventful weekend, the young ladies on Long Beach State’s women’s tennis team battled through some adversity and came up a wee bit short in their title quest.  The regular season champs lost to the UCI Anteaters 4-1 in the conference tournament final.  The 49ers return everyone for next season and look to start a new winning streak in what many expect to be their best team ever.

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From Long Beach State reports

May 2, 2010

Indian Wells, Calif. – Long Beach State won two matches to grab the doubles point, but lost four matches in singles as the tennis team’s bid to win a seventh straight championship came up short as the 49ers fell to UC Irvine 4-1 in the Big West Championships.

Long Beach State had beaten the Anteaters in the last two seasons in the finals, and got off to a good start on Sunday with two wins in doubles. Jaklin Alawi and Rachel Manasse beat Holladay/Kwan at No. 1 doubles 8-2, while Sarah Cantlay and Julie Luzar picked up their third win of the tournament in doubles, beating Bartlett/Bisharat 8-2.

In singles, however, it was UC Irvine that earned the big victories. April Bisharat defeated Anais Dallara at No. 2 singles 6-0, 6-3 to tie the score in the match, and wins at No. 5 and 6 by the Anteaters made the score 3-1 in favor of UC Irvine.

Both Deborah Armstrong and Rachel Manasse led their matches at No. 3 and No. 4, but Jaklin Alawi dropped the first set to Courtney Byron 7-5, and a second set loss by a 6-4 margin allowed UC Irvine to clinch the match prior to the end of the other matches.

The 49ers, coming into the week ranked No. 45 in the nation, finish the season at 19-6 in dual matches, barring an at-large selection into the NCAA Tournament, beginning on May 14. The NCAA announcement for the tournament pairings will be on May 4.