The Long Beach State women’s tennis team will be making its return to the NCAA tournament as it heads north to the Stanford Regional in Palo Alto, Calif., the NCAA Division I Women’s Tennis Subcommittee announced Tuesday.
In a rematch of the regular season, the No. 36-ranked 49ers (20-5) will face No. 27 Pepperdine University (14-7) in the opening round on a date that is to be determined — either May 13 or May 14, according to the NCAA website.
The Waves edged the ‘Niners, 4-3, in Malibu on March 18. Despite winning three points — two singles and one doubles— thanks to the top two players of its lineup, LBSU’s bottom four players couldn’t hold off Pepperdine in singles action.
LBSU, led by Anais Dallara, a two-time All-Big West Conference first-team selection, will be making its eighth NCAA tournament appearance in the last 10 years.
Meanwhile, the Waves are led by Arianna Colffer, who lost to Dallara, 6-3, 2-6, 5-7.
Tournament host No. 1 Stanford (23-0), which will also enter as one of 16 seeded teams in the field, will face the University of Illinois-Chicago (17-4).
The Cardinal, which are carrying a 42-match win-streak, are the only undefeated team in the nation this season.
The winners of both matches will meet in the second round on either May 14 or May 15.
Meanwhile, LBSU’s Big West rival No. 38 Cal Poly (16-6) will face No. 24 Oklahoma (18-6) in Waco, Texas at the Baylor Regional.
The 64 teams in the tournament will play a single-elimination format at 16 first- and second-round sites (four teams at each site) and the final site (16-team bracket) to determine the national champion.
The matches are regulation dual matches with three eight-game, pro-set doubles matches played for one team point. Following doubles action, six singles matches that are each valued at one team point will be played in a best-of-three set series.
Regular scoring will be used and a 12-point tiebreaker will be played at eight games all in doubles and at six games all in singles
Big West awards
LBSU led the Big West Conference in postseason awards as five of its players were named to the all-conference team on Tuesday.
Junior Anais Dallara highlighted LBSU’S honors as she garnered an All-Big West first-team selection for the second straight season after leading the Beach with a 16-7 dual match record.
The honor marked the third time Dallara was selected to the All-Big West singles team in her three seasons at LBSU.
Joining Dallara with a second-team selection was Klaudia Malenovska. Despite only playing in 13 matches, Malenovska earned the honor after amassing an 11-2 record.
The sophomore’s two losses this season came at the hands of a ranked opponent in Notre Dame and by default due to injury against the University of Pacific.
Also earning second-team honors was senior Deborah Armstrong. The selection marked Armstrong’s second All-Big West second-team award after claiming Honorable Mention nods in 2008 and 2010.
In doubles, Dallara and Malenovska also earned first-team All-Big West honors. The duo posted an 8-4 record with only one loss in conference play.
Jaklin Alawi and Rachel Manasse also earned second-team honors after going undefeated in the Big West, including a pair of wins in the conference tournament.
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