USC women’s tennis team has mixed results


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The ITA/Riviera Women’s All-American Championships ended this weekend, and USC walked away with moderate success.

The doubles pair of junior Alison Ramos and sophomore Valeria Pulido made it to the quarterfinals in the main draw. In singles, although two USC players did make it into the main draw, Ramos and sophomore Danielle Lao did not make it past the round of 32.

Pulido and Ramos won four straight matches to make it to the doubles quarterfinals in the tournament. However, they were defeated by a doubles pair from Cal, 9-7. Ramos said she was pleased with the results of the tournament nonetheless.

“I think Val and I did extremely well. I’m just really proud of our results. We beat some tough teams and made huge improvements in our doubles since last year and were a lot more aggressive,” Ramos said. “This tourney was our coming-out party.”

The Women of Troy did not make it as far into the tournament as they might have hoped, but USC coach Richard Gallien said before the tournament that regardless of their performance the tournament was not anything to overanalyze.

“If we have the winner and the runner up, it means nothing for when we play UCLA later in the year. [This tournament] is just preparation,” Gallien said.

Other USC participants included freshman Kaitlyn Christian and senior Cristala Andrews, both of whom did not make it past the pre-qualifying rounds in singles. The promising freshman, who was ranked No. 9 in the preseason Freshman/Newcomer ITA rankings, won her first two matches in the pre-qualifying round but lost the third against a UNLV player. This stopped her from moving up to the qualifying round and into the main draw. Andrews lost her first match in the pre-qualifying rounds and was also unable to move forward in the tournament.

The doubles pair of Lao and senior Lyndsay Kinstler also did not make it past the pre-qualifying round.

Still, the team is not discouraged by its losses in the tournament.

“Overall, we did okay as a team. The competition was really good and there were just a lot of tough girls,” Ramos said. “We didn’t really post great results in singles and that’s because our No. 1 girl didn’t play.”

Senior Maria Sanchez, who ranked at No. 3, was unable to participate in the tournament because of compliance issues.

The tournament is just one of many the Women of Troy will compete in before Pac-10 play starts later in the season. They are set to play next in the ITA Southwest Regional Championships, which starts Oct. 21 in San Diego.