Multiple representatives to the NCAA Tournament and a combined nine ranked men's and women's squads highlighted a solid 2011 performance by Big West tennis programs.
NOTEWORTHY
Men’s Tennis Earns Multiple NCAA Bids For First Time Since 2000
UC Irvine and Cal Poly reached the postseason to give the Big West multiple representatives in the NCAA Men’s Tennis Championship for the first time since the 2000 season. The Anteaters secured their second straight NCAA appearance and 11th overall to highlight a highly successful 19-8 season which included wins against five ranked opponents. UCI, the Big West’s automatic qualifier, lost a close 4-1 encounter versus No. 28 Mississippi in the NCAA first round to cap the season.
Cal Poly qualified for the 64-team bracket as an at-large selection, making the NCAA field for the first time in program history. The Mustangs won 12 of 14 matches at one juncture and knocked off three ranked non-conference teams. Cal Poly fell 4-0 to No. 25 Washington in the NCAA first round to finish the campaign with a 14-7 record.
Two Schools Represent Big West In NCAA Women’s Championship
The 2011 women’s tennis season culminated in two schools representing the Big West at the NCAA Championships. Long Beach State and Cal Poly turned in solid performances to give the conference two postseason clubs for the second time in history, alongside LBSU and UC Irvine in 2007. The 49ers claimed their seventh trip to the NCAA’s in the last eight years and eighth overall appearance. LBSU, which finished 20-6 for the fifth 20-win season in head coach Jenny Hilt-Costello’s 14-year tenure, lost a heartbreaking 4-2 match to Pepperdine in the NCAA first round.
Meanwhile, Cal Poly ushered 11th-year head coach Hugh Bream into retirement with an exceptional going away present - a trip to the NCAA Tournament. Six victories against ranked opponents and a national ranking as high as No. 36 propelled the Mustangs into the postseason as an at-large selection. Cal Poly traveled to Waco, Tex. for NCAA first round competition and ran into a formidable No. 24 Oklahoma squad, losing 4-0 in the program’s second overall postseason appearance.
UC Irvine Individual, Cal Poly Duo Qualify For NCAA Championships
The success of the 2011 season also was punctuated by Big West participation in the NCAA Men’s Tennis Singles and Doubles Championships. UC Irvine junior Chris Kearney, a transfer from North Carolina, helped his team immensely at No. 1 singles as he sported a 16-7 record in dual matches and climbed all the way to No. 32 in the Campbell’s Intercollegiate Tennis Association national rankings. Kearney took on Mississippi’s Marcel Thiemann of Ole Miss in the first round of the singles draw and fell by a score of 7-6, 6-1. He was the first Anteater player to compete in the singles championship since Victor Lamm in 2008.
Cal Poly’s duo of Andre Dome and Alexander Sonesson displayed their talents in the 32-team NCAA doubles tournament as the highest ranked team from the Big West. Dome and Sonesson posted a 15-6 dual match record playing at the No. 1 position for the Mustangs and carried a No. 45 national ranking going into their match against ninth-ranked Jean Andersen and Ed Corrie from Texas. They put up a good fight but dropped a 6-3, 6-3 decision versus their Longhorn counterparts.
UC Irvine Wins Back-To-Back Men's Tournament Titles
Top-seeded UC Irvine coasted through the 2011 Big West Tournament to claim its second consecutive men's tennis championship. The Anteaters knocked off UC Santa Barbara (4-1) in the semifinals and Pacific (4-0) in the title match to hoist the tournament trophy for their 14th championship overall, most in conference history.
The Anteaters gained the top seed by virtue of sweeping through regular season play with a 5-0 record. They became the first Big West program to navigate through league action unblemished, including an impressive 5-2 win at rival Cal Poly in a winner-take-all battle. In taking home the regular season crown for the third time in the last four seasons, UCI also finished the season with a No. 40 national ranking.
Long Beach State Reclaims Mountaintop Roost
After seeing its run of six straight Big West Tournament titles end in 2010, Long Beach State resumed its championship magic with a dominating performance at the 2011 event.
The 49ers captured their seventh tourney crown in eight years, and the program's eighth overall, with victories over Cal State Fullerton (4-0), Pacific (4-1) and UC Irvine (4-1) at Indian Wells Tennis Garden. It improved LBSU's record in eight tournaments at Indian Wells to an astonishing 23-1.
LBSU earned the tournament's No. 1 seed by winning a head-to-head match against fellow regular season co-champion Cal Poly and gaining the tiebreaker. Both teams finished 7-1 in league play. It was the fourth straight and fifth regular season title in the last six seasons for the 49ers, but the first shared title during that span. On the other hand, Cal Poly won its first women's title in school history.
UC Santa Barbara Halts 49er Conference Win Streak
UC Santa Barbara defeated Long Beach State, 4-3, in a regular season women's tennis match on March 5 to halt a 49er streak of 31 straight wins against conference opponents that lasted over four years. Prior to that defeat, LBSU had not lost a regular season match since March 1, 2007. The Gauchos were emblematic of a much improved conference in 2011, as a record six schools finished among the top 75 in the final Campbell's Intercollegiate Tennis Association poll.
Long Beach State (No. 36) and Cal Poly (No. 39) were tops among Big West ranked teams, folowed by UC Irvine (55), UC Davis (60), UC Santa Barbara (62) and Cal State Northridge (73).