May 1, 2010
LAS VEGAS - Fifth-seeded San Diego State and No. 6 seed TCU competed for nearly five hours for the right to hold the Mountain West Conference Championship trophy and the Horned Frogs outlasted the Aztecs, 4-3, Saturday afternoon at Fertitta Tennis Complex on the campus of UNLV. The loss snapped SDSU's five-match winning streak and drops them to 15-11 on the season.
For the second consecutive match, Julia Trunk and Julia Wais were the first doubles tandem off the court as they posted their second straight 8-0 decision, this time beating Nina Munch-Soegaard and Idunn Hertzberg at No. 2. TCU leveled the doubles score when Roxanne Ellison and Sierra Ellison were downed 8-2 by 47th-ranked Kayla Duncan and Katarina Tuohimaa at No. 1, leaving the doubles point up to the outcome of the match at No. 3. At the final position, Alicia Aguilar and Olivia Colman pulled through and posted the 8-4 victory to send the Aztecs into singles play with a 1-0 advantage.
TCU tied the match in singles play when Hertzberg defeated Roxanne Ellison in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2, at No. 4. San Diego State, however, regained the lead at 2-1, when Sierra Ellison beat Shalini Sahoo, 6-0, 7-5, at the fifth position.
The bottom half of the singles lineup was completed and in the books when Mastromarino overcame a 6-3 first-set loss to Emma Cioffi and went on to rally for the 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 win at the sixth slot. The TCU decision tied the match at 2-2 with matches still in progress at Nos. 1-3.
The Horned Frogs took their first lead late in the afternoon at 3-2, when No. 56 Munch-Soegaard downed fellow nationally ranked player Trunk at the top of the ladder. Munch-Soegaard provided TCU with the lead as a result of her 6-3, 7-6 win over Division I's 61st-ranked player.
The Frogs' lead was short-lived as San Diego State battled back to knot the score at 3-3 when 96th-ranked Aguilar won at No. 2. The Mountain West Conference Freshman of the Year was extended to a third set, but Aguilar ultimately prevailed, as she defeated Tuohmiaa, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5. The victory marked Aguilar's seventh in a row.
With a NCAA Championship berth on the line, all eyes shifted to the third position, which featured SDSU freshman Julia Wais and Duncan, the 113th-ranked singles player in the nation. Wais dropped the first set to Duncan, 1-6, but stormed back to earn a hard-fought 7-5 second-set win, which forced a third set. In the final frame, both players matched one another and found themselves tied at 6-6. In the tiebreaker, Duncan outlasted Wais and went on to win the set, 7-6, to give the Frogs the victory.
2010 Mountain West Conference Women's Tennis Championship
(6) No. 64 TCU 4, (5) No. 67 San Diego State 3
Finals - Fertitta Tennis Complex (Las Vegas, Nev.)
Doubles
1. No. 47 Kayla Duncan/Katarina Tuohimaa (TCU) def. Roxanne Ellison/Sierra Ellison (SDSU), 8-2
2. Julia Trunk/Julia Wais (SDSU) def. Nina Munch-Soegaard/Idunn Hertzberg (TCU), 8-0
3. Alicia Aguilar/Olivia Colman (SDSU) def. Gaby Mastromarino/Maria Babanova (TCU), 8-4
San Diego State wins doubles point.
Singles
1. No. 56 Nina Munch-Soegaard (TCU) def. No. 61 Julia Trunk (SDSU), 6-3, 7-6
2. No. 96 Alicia Aguilar (SDSU) def. Katarina Tuohimaa (TCU), 6-4, 3-6, 7-5
3. No. 113 Kayla Duncan (TCU) def. Julia Wais (SDSU), 6-1, 5-7, 7-6
4. Idunn Hertzberg (TCU) def. Roxanne Ellison (SDSU), 6-2, 6-2
5. Sierra Ellison (SDSU) def. Shalini Sahoo (TCU), 6-0, 7-5
6. Gaby Mastromarino (TCU) def. Emma Cioffi (SDSU), 3-6, 6-4, 6-1
Order of Finish
Doubles: 2, 1, 3
Singles: 4, 5, 6, 1, 2, 3*
*Clinching match