By Long Beach State women’s tennis team will try and make it a four-peat this weekend, as the team heads to Indian Wells, Calif., to compete in the Big West Tennis Championships.
LBSU (14-8), which has won three consecutive conference tournaments, is the No. 2 seed in the tournament and will meet No. 7-seeded Cal State Fullerton (6-15) in the quarterfinals at 9 a.m on Friday. The semifinals will be at 3 p.m. Saturday, and the final will be at 9 a.m. Sunday.
When LBSU and CS Fullerton met in the regular season, the 49ers defeated the Titans 7-0 on Feb. 2. LBSU has won its lasts 13 meetings with CS Fullerton.
This year, LBSU has won four straight matches leading into the tournament and nine of its last 12 matches.
Hannah Grady has been the No. 1 singles player for most of this season for the 49ers, compiling a 15-7 record. Grady is ranked as the No. 114 player in the latest ITA NCAA Division I Women’s Tennis Individual Rankings.
The other five singles players are Stephanie Bengson (17-5), Katy Williams (11-10), Sandra Rocha (13-6), Jessica Weeks (14-8) and Rachel Porsz (9-3).
In doubles, the Grady-Weeks partnership is leading the team, winning their last four matches in a row and nine of their last 10.
The 49ers have advanced to six consecutive conference championship games, and if they do it again this season, there is a good chance LBSU will be up against the No. 1 seed, and the only Big West team to beat them this season, UC Irvine (15-10).
On March 1, the Anteaters beat the 49ers 4-3, but the team is still feeling confident going into the conference tournament.
“Ever since I have been here, we have always done well in the conference tournament,” Rocha told the Daily Forty-Niner last week. “It’s our turf, and I think I we can win it again.”
