Sanchez takes singles title for second year in a row

For the second year in a row, USC junior Maria Sanchez captured the Wilson/ITA Southwest Regional championship Monday in San Diego.

Sanchez, who totaled six straight victories during the six-day tournament, posted a 6-7 (8), 7-5, 6-4 win over UCLA’s Yasmin Schnack in the finals. Schnack had defeated USC’s sophomore Alison Ramos in the semifinal round on Saturday.

In Monday’s long-fought final match, the No. 2-seeded Sanchez came back to win the last two sets after slipping to Schnack in a tiebreaker in the first set.

“I was really close to winning the first set, so I just needed to start the second set strong. I wanted to show her it wouldn’t be easy for her to beat me,” Sanchez said.

With the score tied 5-5 in the second set, Sanchez was able to do just that. She held her ground and broke Schnack to win the second set, providing her with enough momentum to finish off her opponent in the third set.

“It feels really good right now,” Sanchez said. “All of my matches were tough, so I was relieved to have pulled them out.”

Sanchez met some familiar faces along the way. First, she had to defeat her own teammate, freshman Danielle Lao, in the quarterfinals on Saturday.

“It’s never easy to play against a teammate because you want them to succeed just as much as you,” Lao said. “Although I’m disappointed that I lost, I wouldn’t want to go down to anyone else but my teammate.”

The next day, Sanchez faced off against UCLA’s Andrea Remynse in the semifinal round. In a close three-set match on Sunday, Sanchez won 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. Sanchez ousted Remynse last year in the ITA Regional semifinals as well.

In the preseason, Sanchez is ranked No. 17 in the nation and now holds a 6-2 overall singles record.

Sanchez also kept busy this weekend with doubles play. She is ranked No. 47 in doubles alongside her partner freshman Valeria Pulido. She and Pulido were the tournament’s No. 2 doubles seed. They had a tight match with No. 5 Ashlee Brown and Micaela Hein of Arizona State, but they came up short of a semifinal bid, losing 9-7 Friday.

“She’s definitely one of the best doubles partners in the country,” Pulido said.

Pulido said Sanchez certainly deserved to win the singles title.

“She has a great attitude all the time, especially through practices and workouts,” Pulido said.

“No one knows better than me and the other girls on the team how hard Sanchez works,” Lao added.

With this singles title in her pocket, Sanchez earned the main draw acceptance into next month’s ITA National Collegiate Indoor Championship, where she will travel to Yale University for singles play Nov. 5-8.

Sanchez played in the same national tournament last year and made it to the quarterfinal round.

“It will be a tough tournament so I’m hoping to just go out there and play well. I hope to improve on everything I have been working on,” Sanchez said.

USC assistant coach West Nott said it was an impressive week for Sanchez.

“It was nice to see her grind through so many tough matches and get some confidence under her belt,” Nott said.

Nott is confident that Sanchez has a great shot at this upcoming national tournament.

“She will build on her experience from last year, and do even better. She can definitely compete for the title,” he said.