Leopards win first match since '97
Campus Times
March 12, 1999
The La Verne women's tennis team posted a much needed win Sunday against
Mills College. Its victory not only ended its two year losing skid, but
the team did it with emphasis, winning by a team score of 7-2. Seniors Tracy
MacArthur, above, and Emily Judd teamed up to take on Ann Au and Anya Scholl
of Mills College in the No. 1 doubles match. The match was tight, but the
duo fell short in the tiebreaker and lost, 7-5.
More than two seasons of futility came to an end when the University
of La Verne women's tennis team defeated Mills College on Sunday at La Verne's
Blickenstaff Tennis Pavilion.
"We won! We won!" was the simple expression typically heard
from the players that summarized the feeling of elation among them as well
as the results of the match.
The Leopards won by a score of 7-2, as they recorded their first victory
since they defeated Biola Feb. 28, 1997. With the win over Mills, La Verne
improved its overall record to 1-6.
Despite playing their third match in three days, in addition to the
fact that they were without the services of the only player that won Saturday,
the Leopards produced a dominating performance.
"I was worried that we would be tired," said head coach John
Lawrence. "They made the commitment, hung in there."
Although ULV's No. 1 doubles team lost, La Verne came out on top in
the other two doubles matches to take a 2-1 advantage over Mills.
The No. 2 team of freshmen Tammie Davis and Emily Hofer won by a score
of 8-2 and seniors Sandy Thay and Pauline Duran, notched an 8-1 victory
over their Mills counterparts.
The No. 1 team of seniors Tracy MacArthur and Emily Judd was involved
in a tightly contested match against the Mills duo of Ann Au and Anya Scholl.
The teams were even through eight games, meaning the match would be
decided by a tiebreaker. The tiebreaker was also close, but MacArthur and
Judd eventually lost, 7-5.
With the two doubles victories in hand, La Verne only needed to win
half of the six singles matches to earn the win.
The Leopards did better than that, winning all but the No. 1 singles
match.
Though obviously battling fatigue, ULV's No. 2-6 singles players won
by surprisingly lopsided scores, with Hofer's match being the only exception.
Hofer, involved in one of only two seriously competitive matches, battled
back to beat Rhea Taylor after losing the first set. She won the next two
and the match, 4-6, 6-2, 6-2.
Davis, the No. 2 player, defeated Scholl in two sets (6-2, 6-2). Freshman
Tiffany Yates, who had been the third singles player and the only La Verne
player to win against Caltech the previous day, was absent from Sunday's
match. This meant that several ULV players had to move up one place in singles
competition.
The Leopards, seemingly unfazed, kept on winning. With Thay unavailable
for the singles portion of the match, freshman Laura Quintana took over
the sixth spot and Judd, Hofer and Duran each moved up one.
Quintana and Judd both thoroughly dominated their opponents, winning
by identical 6-0, 6-1 scores. Duran rounded out the scoring for La Verne
with her win, 6-2, 6-0.
MacArthur, however, was unable to defeat Mills' Au in the No. 1 singles
match. She lost the first set, 1-6, understandably tired after having played
in the top doubles match, which had to be decided by a tiebreaker.
With the score tied 5-5 in the second set, MacArthur won the next two
games to win the set, but was forced to play an extra game to do it. She
kept the third set close, trailing 5-4 before eventually losing the set
and the match to Au, 1-6, 7-5, 4-6.
The Leopards began the weekend in search of their first victory on Friday
with a Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) match
at Occidental College.
Lawrence had hoped his team would pull out a victory against the Tigers,
but it was not to be.
"We did play well," he said. "But they [Occidental] were
good and they did better than we thought they would."
The Leopards were outplayed by Occidental and lost 8-1. The only win
for La Verne came in a singles match. Duran was victorious over Reena Hajat,
4-6, 6-4, 7-5.
On Saturday, La Verne was back at home with a SCIAC match against Caltech,
still searching for a win. But Yates was the only winner for the Leopards,
who again lost, 8-1, dropping their conference record to 0-6.
Yates prevailed over Dominika Dytwinska, 6-0, 2-6, 6-0, dominating the
first and third set but faltering somewhat in the second set.
"The first set she [Dytwinska] was kind of cold because she didn't
play any doubles," said Yates of her opponent. "After the first
set was over, she warmed up and the second set she was just on fire."
In the third set, Yates figured out her opponent, capitalizing on her
mistakes to dominate the set.
"The third set I figured out her pattern and started to know her
game," she said. "She made a few mistakes here and there. She's
not very consistent, so I just played off of her non-consistency."
Part of the reason for La Verne's struggles so far this season may lie
in its relative inexperience. The normal six players are comprised of four
freshman and two seniors, so Lawrence is looking for improvement from his
team.
The victory over Mills may have been an important step in that direction.
The Leopards play today against Chapman University and tomorrow against
Colorado College, both at 2 p.m. and at home at the Blickenstaff Tennis
Pavilion.
