POMONA, Calif. - The UC San Diego women's tennis team jumpstarted its fall season, going a perfect nine-of-nine in winning all of its singles and doubles matches at the ITA West Region Championships held on the campus of Cal Poly Pomona.
Junior Roxanna Pourmirzaie, along with sophomores Krystal Mizuguchi, Katie Mulloy and Samantha Yeung, have entered the third round of the tournament and will look to continue their rapid movement through the singles bracket at 9 a.m. Friday. If the Tritons win their next singles matches they play again at 11:30 a.m. With opening wins on the doubles side, the foursome will play in quarterfinal action beginning at 2 p.m. Friday with the semifinal round to follow at 3:30 p.m.
Mizuguchi opened her tournament with an exciting first-round victory against CPP Broncos' senior Falloon Blattner, 6-0, 3-6 (6). From there she took down Grand Canyon Antelopes' newcomer Kaila Knopf easily, 6-3, 6-0. A tough matchup awaits for Mizuguchi in the third round, where she will face BYU-Hawaii Seasiders' sophomore Yuan Ji, who went 21-0 this past season. Yi, a native of China, is the second seed in the singles bracket.
Pourmirzaie, after earning a bye in the first round, knocked off Cal State Stanislaus Warriors' senior Brianna McClintock, 6-4, 6-2. Up next for Pourmirzaie is CPP's No. 1 singles player from the 2009 spring season, Jackie Trendt.
Mulloy cleaned up in the first round, posting a perfect win over Domincan University junior Tami Tan, 6-0, 6-0. In the second round Mulloy topped Cal State L.A. junior Linda Majzlikova, 6-1, 6-4. Friday morning Mulloy is slated to face the tournament's third seed, CSUS sophomore and Germany native Verena Preikscha.
Yeung found her way to the third round with her first-round opponent, Broncos' junior Michelle Stock, retiring with the score 6-4, 5-1, and a gritty second-round 6-3, 7-5 win over Dixie State College senior Ashley Lafeen. On Friday morning Yeung will play Antelopes' junior Stephanie Haldeman.
In doubles, Yeung and Mizuguchi paired up to defeat the Broncos' duo of Stephanie Griffin and Ali Brackey. At 2 p.m. Friday Yeung and Mizuguchi take on the tournament's top-seeded pair, the Northsiders' Jenny Chin and Yi.
On the other side of the doubles bracket, Pourmirzaie and Mulloy won after their first-round opponent, the Warriors' duo of Heather Cotter and Lexy Harrington, retired. The Tritons' pair will take on CSULA's Dora Kiss and Majzlikova at 2 p.m.