April 15, 2009
FULLERTON, CA - The last time these two teams met UC Riverside walked away with a 5-2 victory over Cal State Fullerton on Titan Courts. The next time the Titans (3-19, 0-8) and Highlanders (8-10, 1-7) step on the court to do battle it will be in the first round of the Big West Conference Tournament at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in Indian Wells, CA, Thursday, April 16, at 3 p.m.
The Highlanders win on April 9, guaranteed them the No. 8 seed in the tournament. The loss sent the Titans into the No. 9 seed, and set up a rematch only one week later. The winner will advance to play No. 1 seed Long Beach State on Friday, April 17, at 9 a.m. Because there are an odd number of teams in the Big West Conference the opening round is a play-in game to even out the field.
In their first meeting the Titans picked up two key wins in the No. 4 and No. 5 positions. At No. 4 Karina Akhmedova defeated Angelique Corpuz in marathon tiebreaker. After winning the first set 6-4, Akmedova gave the second set back 4-6. That set up Akhmedova's 14-12 tiebreaker win.
Brandy Andrews cruised through her match in the No. 5 position against Roxanne Plata with a convincing 6-4, 7-6 straight sets victory. That was the first of two wins in a row for Andrews. In the Titans final match of the year against the University at Albany, Andrews got bumped up to the No. 4 position by CSF head coach Bill Reynolds when No. 1 player Leslie Bullock couldn't go because of an ankle injury. The move up seemed to inspire Andrews as she went on to a 6-2, 6-1 straight sets win over Holly Smith.
Reynolds said Tuesday that Bullock's ankle was still bothering her but she would definetly be traveling with the team to Indian Wells and her status was still listed as questionable. If her ankle feels better, Reynolds said she would be out on the court.
The Titans have been battling injuries all season and the loss of Bullock for the Big West Conference Tournament would really hurt the team.
In the conference match a week ago, Bullock and Jaycee Cruz picked up the only doubles win for CSF when they took down Yasaman and Nadi Sakhakorn 8-3. In singles Bullock played through ankle pain to lose in three sets to Erynne Oki in the No. 1 position. After losing the first set 1-6, Bullock turned the score around and beat Oki 6-1. The third set went the same way as the first for Bullock and she lost the set 1-6, giving Oki the match.