April 26, 2008

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. - Avenging a loss in its regular season finale, No. 5 seed UC Santa Barbara toppled No. 4 seed Cal Poly, 4-2, in a Big West Women's Tennis Championship quarterfinal match at Indian Wells Tennis Garden on Friday.

The Mustangs handed the Gauchos a 7-0 defeat on April 13, but UCSB was not to be outplayed on this day.

Cal Poly had a solid start to the match by winning the doubles point. Although UCSB won the No. 3 match, Cal Poly rebounded with wins at the No. 1 and No. 2 spots. The No. 47-ranked tandem of Brittany Blalock and Steffi Wong eked out a 9-7 win over Marta Simic and Charlotte Scatliffe to clinch the point.

But the deficit did not befuddle the Gauchos, responding with success especially at the top of the order. Simic overcame her setback in doubles, defeating Blalock 6-3, 6-4 at No. 1 to tie the match at 1-1. Tova Hausman was next at No. 3, as the Gaucho sophomore won a hard fought, 6-4, 7-6 (3) match against the Mustangs' Whitney Peterson. Cal Poly tied the match up again when Diane Filip earned a 6-2, 6-2 win against Asagi Onaga at No. 4.

The Gauchos closed out the match with a pair of three-set victories. Leading 4-2 in the third set at No. 5, Scatliffe picked up point No. 3 for UCSB when her opponent, Amy Markhoff, retired due to injury. The match-clinching point came at No. 2 when Jill Damion came back from a one-set deficit to win 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 against Wong.

UC Santa Barbara improved to 10-13 on the year while Cal Poly's season ended at 12-12. The Gaucho women take the courts once again on Saturday, squaring off against top-seeded Long Beach State at 9:00 a.m. in a semifinal contest.

DOUBLES
1.    Blalock/Wong (CP) def. Simic/Scatliffe (UCSB) - 9-7
2.    Malec/Brady (CP) def. Damion/Onaga (UCSB) - 8-3
3.    Hausman/Kausen (UCSB) def. Filip/Markhoff (CP) - 8-2
SINGLES
1.    Marta Simic (UCSB) def. Brittany Blalock (CP) - 6-3, 6-4
2.    Jill Damion (UCSB) def. Steffi Wong (CP) - 4-6, 6-4, 6-1
3.    Tova Hausman (UCSB) def. Whitney Peterson (CP) - 6-4, 7-6 (3)
4.    Diane Filip (CP) def. Asagi Onaga (UCSB) - 6-2, 6-2
5.    Charlotte Scatliffe (UCSB) def. Amy Markhoff (CP) - 4-6, 6-3, 4-2 (ret.)
6.    Shannon Brady (CP) vs. Brittany Kausen (UCSB) - DNF