Whipperman backhands lone victory

photo by Peter Schupmann

University of La Verne's top-seeded singles player, Lacy Cascadden, lost in straight sets to Cal Lutheran's Becca Hunau. The Leopards failed to win any of their matches letting their record fall to 1-4, and 0-3 in conference play.

by Nate Silva
Staff Writer

A season of disappointment and struggle continued for the University of La Verne's women's tennis team this past weekend as they dropped another two Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference matches.

The Leopard's record now stands at 1-6, 0-4 in conference after losses to Whittier and Cal Lutheran on Friday and Saturday, respectively.

Friday's action, which took place at the Nancy Blickenstaff Tennis Pavilion, saw La Verne drop all three of its doubles matches to the Poets and come away with just one win in singles play. The final score on the day was a one-sided 8-1.

The lone bright spot on the Leopards team was first year player sophomore Desiree Whipperman who defeated Carolyn Trapp, 6-3, 6-0, to earn La Verne's only win.

Whipperman credits the team with a lot of talent, but feels that if everybody concentrated on their strengths instead of their weaknesses, the team would be much more successful.

"Our practices have been much more focused these past couple weeks," said Whipperman. "That will help."

In doubles action the team of Lacy Cascadden and Michelle Fontanez came the closest to knocking off the Poets, losing their match 9-8, being decided in an 8-6 tiebreaker.

Just hours after being pummeled by the Poets, La Verne took their home court again. A new day would yield old results for the Leopards.

La Verne dropped every match to the Regals, to remain winless in SCIAC.

The Regals took all three doubles matches and each of the six singles matches from La Verne, in route to improving their SCIAC record to 3-1.

The Leopards were dominated to the point that their top three singles seeds only managed to take one game off of their opponents combined.

Cascadden, who is a freshman and the team's captain, said, "It's great to see the girls so eager to succeed. Although we have only won a single match, I think we are strong."

This year's squad has already surpassed the success of numerous teams in the past.

The Leopards' lone win, which came against Caltech in mid-February, was the program's first in five years.

As practices have picked up, and the Leopard's face more SCIAC competition in the second half of the season, players are optimistic.

"It will be interesting to see the outcome of the season," Cascadden said.

The Leopards will try to turn their season around tomorrow as they travel to Redlands for a 9:30 a.m. start, and return home to face the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Stags on Wednesday, March 6, at the Nancy Blickenstaff Pavillon at 2 p.m.