LV women finish season with win

by Lori Waters
Staff Writer

The University of La Verne women's tennis team concluded its season last weekend with a seventh-place finish in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament at California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

The Leopards' final match of the weekend was against the host Beavers of Cal Tech for the seventh-place finish in conference. The Leopards showed up for the challenge.

"(The Leopards) were putting themselves in situations where they could win sets," said Brian Harrison, assistant women's tennis coach.

The top competitors in the doubles matches were Lacy Cascadden and Paige Hanawalt, winning 8-4.

ULV's Michelle Tang and Michelle Fontanez beat the Beavers 8-6 in their doubles match.

In her singles contest, Cascadden shut out her Beaver opponent 6-0, 6-0.

Hanawalt also stepped up to the challenge, winning her singles match 6-1, 6-0.

The Leopards finished the match, winning 6-3, which earned them a seventh-place finish in the conference tournament and positive thoughts on the season.

"Every player has improved overall; we all had a great time," Tang said. "We had a really good year, although the record doesn't show it."

In the second round of tournament play: the match that earned the Leopards a spot in the seventh-place match against Cal Tech, the No. 7 Leopards battled against the No. 6 Poets of Whittier College, losing 7-2.

During the first round of tournament play, the No. 7 Leopards played the No. 2 Bulldogs of Redlands, who defeated ULV, 6-0.

Conference champions for the 2003 women's tennis season were the Sagehens of Pomona-Pitzer.