April 30, 2010
Indian Springs, Calif. - As it had been all season, the doubles point was the deciding factor for the Pacific women's tennis team as they dropped their quarterfinal match to No. 3 seed UC Irvine (UCI), 4-2, Friday afternoon at the Big West Conference Tennis Championships. The Tigers end their 2010 season with an 8-14 overall record.
"We knew coming in that everyone would have to play their best tennis for us to beat them and we came close to that," said Head Coach Bob Chiene.
The only doubles win for Pacific came at the No. 1 position. Senior Sasha Fisher (Southampton, Bermuda) and junior Jenifer Widjaja (Sao Roque, Brazil) defeated Hannah Holladay and Rebecca Kwan, 8-3, for their eighth win in seven contests.
Freshman Julia Hansen (Hamburg, Germany) dominated Stephanie Hammel at the No. 3 position and pulled away with an easy 6-1, 6-1 win to tie the match.
After a loss at the No. 5 position put UCI back ahead 2-1, No. 79 Widjaja earned her 13th straight singles victory with a win over Courtney Byron (6-3, 6-3) in the No. 1 position.
At the No. 6 position, Fisher's loss to Kristina Smith (6-3, 6-4) pushed UCI into the lead, 3-2. The Anteaters would find their necessary fourth win at the No. 2 position. Freshman Christina Goehl (Karlsruhe, Germany) lost steam after failing to fend off a tie-break run by April Bisharat, falling 7-6 (2), 6-1 to end the competition.
Because the match had been decided from the other positions, junior Olga Gumenyuk (Kiev, Ukraine) could not finish her match with Brooke Bartlett in the No. 4 spot.
Though the season has ended for the team, as the highest ranking singles player in the conference, Widjaja may be tapped to enter the NCAA Singles Tournament. It would mark her second NCAA Tournament appearance since joining the Tigers last season. Despite bowing out of the tournament in the first round to the No. 3 seed, Widjaja finished her season with an 18-4 record.
"Last year she wasn't really ready," said Chiene. "She didn't play until January last spring after taking a year off, so I think she will do better."
Individual selections will be announced on Wednesday, May 5. Tiger fans can check back at www.pacifictigers.com for more news on their favorite teams.
Click here for complete results of match.
