Women’s Tennis set to begin home slate


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The No. 19 women’s tennis team takes on Cal State Long Beach on Friday in its second dual meet of the season at 1:30 p.m. at Marks Stadium.

With its recent 6-1 drubbing of Cal State Northridge on Tuesday and two tournament wins last weekend, the Women of Troy are certainly surging with confidence.

At the Freeman Memorial Women’s Tennis Championships in Las Vegas, senior Maria Sanchez won the singles competition and the doubles competition with freshman Kaitlyn Christian.

Meanwhile, at the National Collegiate Tennis Classic in La Quinta, Calif., sophomore Danielle Lao made it to the singles semifinals and two Trojan teams made it to the doubles semis.

“We certainly did okay as a team [at the NCTC],” said junior Alison Ramos. “The competition was really tough, so we didn’t post the results that we exactly wanted, but we got a few good wins under our belt and that was just really good preparation for the season.”

Even with a handful of wins, USC is not approaching its weekend slate with any signs of complacency.

“Long Beach State is always under the radar,” Ramos said. “They’ve got a lot of good foreign players. They are definitely not ranked as high as they should be, and we are definitely not expecting an easy match.”

USC coach Richard Gallien essentially reiterated Ramos’ forecast: The Women of Troy will not be underestimating the competition they face Friday.

“Long Beach State is a superior team to Northridge and we will still need to be very diligent and intense,” Gallien said.

When the team faced off against Cal State Northridge, on Tuesday, it swept the doubles and lost one singles match. Sanchez and senior Cristala Andrews, however, did not participate.

The team’s high ranking might not be enough to inspire some people to come out and watch the dual meet, but the Women of Troy’s winning ways are enough incentive for fans to watch.

After today’s dual meet against Long Beach State the team will next compete at its ITA Kickoff Weekend in Ann Arbor, Mich., a tournament where they will face host Michigan, NC State and Auburn.