April 20, 2008

Results

Moraga, CA - The No. 49 Saint Mary's women's tennis team was unable to pull off an upset in the West Coast Conference Championships, falling to No. 18 Pepperdine 4-0. The Gaels were barely edged on the doubles side, and could not come back in the singles matches, losing three straight.

Saint Mary's battled in front of their home crowd all day, as many of their sets carried into tiebreakers. In doubles play the Gaels dropped their match at the No. 2 position, but bounced back after Claire Soper and Alex Poorta posted an 8-6 victory at the three spot.

It all came down to the battle of the ones, as Jessica Hoath and Nienke Strijbis faced No. 8 ranked Sylvia Kosakowski and Bianca Dulgheru. The Gaels' pair started off strong, as they continued to use serving to their advantage. After breaking the Waves serve, Saint Mary's took the lead, but could not hold off the ranked duo, as the match would be forced into a tiebreak. Once into the tiebreak situation, Pepperdine proved why they are ranked eighth in the country, blanking Saint Mary's 7-0.

In the singles match-ups the Gaels held strong at the one through four positions, holding off the Waves for as long as possible. Alex Poorta, Claire Soper, and Nienke Strijbis all forced one of their sets into a tiebreaker, but Saint Mary's could not hold off the Wave squad, falling at the No. 6, 5, and 1 positions. Pepperdine's No. 87 Sylvia Kosakowski clinched the victory at the one spot, topping Jessica Hoath 6-0, 7-6.

The Gaels finished the regular season with a 16-7 overall record, and may be considered for an at large bid to the NCAA tournament.