By snoadmin
The Long Beach State women’s tennis team had its season end Saturday afternoon, as the 49ers lost to Pepperdine, 4-2, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at the Spalding G. Wathen Tennis Center in Fresno.
The 49ers lost the doubles point, and could only win two of the five singles matches in the loss.
The Waves picked up the first point of the match, with the duo of Bianca Dulgheru and Sylvia Kosakowski defeating LBSU’s Stephanie Bengson and Katy Williams, 8-6. The Waves clinched the doubles point, with Jillian Braverman and Katie Sabte beating Rachel Porsz and Denise Liebschner, 8-5.
In singles, LBSU’s Hannah Grady beat Dulgheru 6-2, 6-4 and the 49ers got their second point from Williams, who beat Kosakowski 7-5, 7-6.
But Pepperdine proved to be the deeper squad, with Sabte beating Bengson 6-4, 2-6 and 6-0, Caroline Raba defeating Jessica Weeks 6-0, 6-1 and Anete Bandere cruising by the freshman Liebschner, 6-2, 6-0.
The 49ers were without their all-time match winner, Sandra Rocha, who had shoulder surgery last week.
LBSU, which won the Big West Conference for the fourth consecutive year this season, finished the season with a 17-9 record.
Pepperdine (20-10) had its season end Sunday, losing to Fresno State 4-0 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Track and Field
The men’s and women’s track and field teams had some strong individual performances, but didn’t do enough to win a conference championship at the Big West Championships in Northridge this weekend.
The 49er women finished in third place, with Cal State Northridge taking home the title. The men, who were the reigning conference champions, finished in fourth place, with CSUN completing the sweep 5-1, winning the men’s title.
For the women, Jennifer Onyeagbako won the discus event on Saturday after finishing third in the hammer on Friday. In one of the biggest upsets of the meet, LBSU’s Alex Shaw beat out two-time defending champion Kim Heinz to win the javelin event.
For the men, Brent Gray proved to be the fastest man in the conference, winning the 100- and 200-meter races. LBSU also won the men’s discus event, with Robert Jennings winning the title.
A total of 22 49ers were named All-Big West after their performances at the Big West Championships.
LBSU finished ahead of UC Irvine in both the men’s and women’s championships, and in doing so won the Black and Blue Rivalry Trophy for the second consecutive year.
Women’s Golf
Long Beach State’s Kay Hoey recovered from a bad opening round to finish in a tie for 10th place in the NCAA West Regional at St. George, Utah, this weekend.
With her 10th place finish, Hoey qualified for the NCAA Championship finals, which will take place between May 22-25 in Daytona Beach, Fla.
Hoey, who is ranked No. 15 in the country by Golfstat, struggled in the first round on Thursday, shooting a six-over-par 77. But she slowly made her way up the leaderboard, shooting a 73 on day two and a one-under-par 70 on the final round Saturday.
Oklahoma State’s Pernilla Lindberg won the individual title by an impressive seven strokes, shooting seven-under-par (68-68-70) over the three-day tournament.
