SHUHEI MATSUO
Assistant Sports Editor
The Pepperdine women’s tennis team traveled to San Diego Oct. 19-22 to compete in the Wilson/ITA West Regional Women’s Championships. While four Waves lost in the first round of singles matches, juniors Bianca Dulgheru and Sylvia Koakowski advanced to the semifinals and fourth round in singles, respectively.
After receiving first-round byes, Dulgheru and Kosakowski posted second-round victories in singles Oct. 19.
In doubles, the No.-2 seed duo of Dulgheru and Kosakowski dominated San Diego’s Justine Perl and Alexandra Demidova 8-1 in the first round Friday. The Waves’ pair easily defeated UCLA’s Anna-Vikotoria Lind and Stefanie Wetmore in the second round but was upset in the quarterfinals by USC’s eighth-seeded Sarah Fasler and Dianne Matias, 3-8.
In singles, Koakowski reached the fourth round with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Monica Weisner, but fell to Lin 7-5, 7-5.
Dulgheru had no trouble reaching the semifinals with four straight wins, but was upset by No.-12 Sarah Fansler of USC 7-6 (5), 6-2 in Sunday’s match.
Despite a loss to a lower-ranked player, Dulgheru said she feels good about her performances last week.
“I’m pretty happy about (how I played) because I haven’t played a lot of matches lately, you know, coming after the summer when everybody was taking a break,” she said.
Although the team has nearly three months left before the start of the spring season, Dulgheru’s focus is already on the next semester, when the Waves play as a team.
“We are having a good team this year,” she said. “The freshmen have been playing good, and I’m pretty confident about the upcoming spring season.”
The Waves finished last season solidly, earning a national ranking of 14 for this season. But Dulgheru sets the upcoming season’s target higher.
“This year, the main goal for us is to make it to the NCAA, which means we have to qualify for the Top 15,” she said. “We want to be like Top 10.”
Asked what the team has to do to achieve that goal, Dulgheru talked about the Pepperdine men’s tennis team, the 2006 national champions.
“(Like the men’s team) we have to work as a team, and we have to have a desire to win,” she said.
The women’s tennis team is back in action on Nov. 3 at the Arizona Invitational.
10-26-2006
