Women's Tennis Wins First-Ever NCAA Tournament Match

May 16, 1999

The Marquette women's tennis team, ranked 26th in the country, defeated #30 San Diego State 5-1 on Sat., May 15, in Berkeley, Calif., in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. It was the Golden Eagles' first-ever NCAA victory. The next day, Sunday, MU lost to host California, the sixth-seeded team in the tournament, 5-1. Marquette ends the season 19-6, its most victories since going 19-2 in 1989.

San Diego State Recap

In its third consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance, Marquette won its first-ever NCAA match with a 5-1 victory over San Diego State. It was the Golden Eagles' 10th consecutive victory, tying the school record, and put them one win away from the NCAA Finals in Gainesville, Fla. MU improved to 19-5 with the win while San Diego State ended the season 16-10.

This was the second meeting between Marquette and SDSU, with the Golden Eagles prevailing 6-3 in the first match-up. MU got wins from four out of their top five singles players in that victory, something they improved upon this time around. Ana Fernandez (Betera, Valencia, Spain), who lost her only dual singles match in the first meeting, gained a measure of revenge, defeating Sarah Donovan 6-1, 7-6. Elisa Penalvo (Godella, Valencia, Spain), Laura Garcia (Zargoza, Spain), Julia Sapozhnikova (Minsk, Belarus) and Sara Fernandez (Betera, Valencia, Spain) all won in straight sets as well, with Sapozhnikova defeating Laura Aguero 6-4, 7-5 to clinch the win for Marquette. With that victory, the junior became only the fourth player in MU history to record 30 or more singles wins in a season.

#26 Marquette - 5, #30 San Diego State - 1 (5/15)

Singles
No. 1 - #46 Elisa Penalvo (MU) def. Maggie Cole (SDSU) 6-3, 6-4
No. 2 - #42 Ana Fernandez (MU) def. #72 Sarah Donovan (SDSU) 6-1, 7-6
No. 3 - Laura Garcia (MU) def. Dorota Wozniak (SDSU) 6-0, 6-2
No. 4 - Julia Sapozhnikova (MU) def. Laura Aguero (SDSU) 6-4, 7-5
No. 5 - Sara Fernandez (MU) def. Julie Chidley (SDSU) 6-4, 6-0
No. 6 - Katey Becker (SDSU) def. Megan Berman (MU) 6-3, 6-1

California Recap

Marquette, looking for its school-record 11th consecutive victory and a trip to Gainesville, came up just short of those goals, losing to #6 California 5-1 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The Golden Eagles finish the season 19-6 while Cal advanced to the 16-team NCAA Finals with a record of 18-4.

All six players in California's singles line-up were ranked in the top 100, but MU still came close to pushing the match to doubles. Garcia recorded Marquette's only victory, defeating #26 Anita Kurimay 6-1, 7-6 at No. 3. For Garcia, it was her 11th win in a row. Sara Fernandez had her school-record 28-set winning streak snapped, losing to #77 Francesca La'O 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 at No. 5, the point that clinched the match for Cal. Ana Fernandez, battled back after dropping the first set 6-0 in her match against #35 Amy Jensen to almost force a third set, losing 8-6 in a second set tiebreaker. The loss broke Ana's eight-match winning streak.

#6 California - 5, #26 Marquette - 1 (5/16)

Singles
No. 1 - #17 Amanda Augustus (Cal.) def. #46 Elisa Penalvo (MU) 6-2, 6-2
No. 2 - #35 Amy Jensen (Cal.) def. #42 Ana Fernandez (MU) 6-0, 7-6 (6)
No. 3 - Laura Garcia (MU) def. #26 Anita Kurimay (Cal.) 6-3, 6-2
No. 4 - #98 Claire Curran (Cal.) def. Julia Sapozhnikova (MU) 6-3, 6-2
No. 5 - #77 Francesca La'O (Cal.) def. Sara Fernandez (MU) 6-4, 4-6, 6-3
No. 6 - #65 Karoline Borgerson (Cal.) def. Megan Berman (MU) 6-0, 6-0

NOT DONE YET

While Marquette will not be making the trip to Gainesville as a team, two Golden Eagles will. Penalvo and Ana Fernandez have been selected to play in the individual portion of the NCAA championship. Both players have qualified for the 64-person singles field and will team up to participate in the 32-team doubles draw. Both the singles and doubles tournaments get underway on Mon., May 24, in Gainesville Fla.

STIFF COMPETITION

The Golden Eagles' success this season came against one of the toughest schedules in their history. Nineteen of their 25 matches were against teams ranked in the top 75 and 12 of the 22 teams they faced qualified for the NCAA Championships. MU was 13-6 against teams in the top 75 and 10-4 in matches against teams in the 64-team NCAA field.