It’s one down and three to go for the San Diego State women’s tennis team (14-12; 3-4 Western Athletic Conference) if they are to come out on top of the crowd in the WAC Tournament this weekend in Tulsa, Okla.
SDSU easily extinguished Colorado State University (15-13; 0-6 WAC) in the first round of the tournament, 9-0, yesterday.
“The team played very well today,” head coach Peter Mattera said. “It was a good first match for us here at the tournament. I’m hoping this win will set us up for a big effort tomorrow.”
The individual singles scores weren’t even close as the Aztecs picked the perfect time to break out of their three-match losing streak.
SDSU singles players Jeanette Bhaguandas and Emma Doyle, playing in the No. 3 and 4 spots, were the only Aztecs to need three sets to beat their opponents.
Bhaguandas went the distance with Christie Blount 6-1, 4-6, 6-1, while Doyle overcame a first set loss to triumph over Heidi Ayvinen 3-6, 6-2, 6-4.
The rest of the singles matches seemed like child’s play as SDSU dominated their foes on the other side of the net.
The Aztecs No. 1 player, Maggie Cole, skunked her opponent Alana Colglazier in their first set and showed no signs of letting up, posting a score of 6-0, 6-1.
SDSU No. 5 and 6 players won impressively as well. No. 5 player Tamara Bridges beat Allison Forrest 6-0, 6-1, and No. 6 player Simone Howard handled Shelly Smith 6-0, 6-3.
The win enables the surging Aztecs to advance to the second round tomorrow against Fresno State University (11-8; 2-2 WAC), a team SDSU comfortably beat earlier this season by a score of 8-1.
“If we play with the same kind of intensity that we played with (against FSU) back in March, then I think we have a good shot,” Mattera said.
FSU, currently ranked 34 in the country, is a better, more solid team than Colorado State. As the Aztecs go through the tournament, the matches will get progressively difficult.
“If we take care of business, we can win it,” Mattera said. “But the first time we let up, we’ll lose.”
Mattera knows this first-round match is not an indication of the type of competition in the tournament.
“From this point forward, everybody’s pretty tough,” Mattera said. “There’s a lot of equality here amongst the last eight teams that are still alive.
