SAN DIEGO – This week, the San Diego State women's tennis team will head up the Five freeway to Los Angeles for the Los Angeles Regional of the NCAA Championships, hosted by UCLA at Los Angeles Tennis Center. The Mountain West Tournament Champion Aztecs will open the postseason against the host No. 8-ranked Bruins. The First-Round match is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Friday afternoon.
No. 62-ranked San Diego State (16-6, 7-2 Mountain West) won the Mountain West tournament title on Saturday after beating Utah State 4-0 in the quarterfinals, Colorado State 4-2 in the semifinals and UNLV 4-2 in Saturday's championship match. The Aztecs are led by Mountain West Player of the Year and All-Mountain West selection No. 97-ranked Yasmine Kabbaj (15-2) and No. 98 Andjela Skrobonja (17-3), another all-conference selection. Both have been extremely reliable at the top of the Aztec lineup. In doubles, Skrobonja and Andreea Velcea were named All-Mountain West and hold a 13-1 record when playing in their regular spot on the second court. Kabbaj and Myah Petchey were also named all-conference and won six of seven Mountain West matches.
The Aztecs are 10-13 all-time in the first round of the NCAA Championships but are just 1-8 in the opening round since joining the Mountain West in 1999-2000.
After beating Utah 4-1 to open the Pac-12 tournament, No. 8-ranked UCLA (18-5, 9-1 Pac-12) fell 4-2 to California in the second round. The Aztecs also won two points against the Golden Bears this season in a 5-2 defeat at Aztec Tennis Center in February. In singles, the Bruins have No. 25 Kimmi Hance, No. 35 Fangran Tian and No. 65 Bianca Jolie Fernandez. In doubles, Tian and Elise Wagle are ranked No. 14 and Hance and Annie-Christine Lutkemeyer are No. 50. San Diego State is just 3-20 against the Bruins all-time.
With a win on Friday morning, SDSU would play the winner of Texas Tech (19-8, 7-1 Big 12) and No. 54 Denver (17-6, 6-0 Summit). In the Big 12 tournament, Texas Tech shut out Cincinnati and Brigham Young to make the Semifinals, where the Red Raiders were blanked by undefeated No. 1-ranked Oklahoma State. Texas Tech is led in singles by No 51-ranked Cristina Tiglea, who is 13-6 this spring. In the teams' only previous matchup, the Aztecs won 4-3 on February 5, 2005, in Eugene, Ore. Denver shutout Oral Roberts and South Dakota to win the Summit League tournament title. Denver also earned shutout wins over a pair of Mountain West opponents, Air Force and Colorado State, this season. The Aztecs beat the Pioneers in their lone meeting in 2011. In the second round of the tournament, the Aztecs are just 1-8 all-time with the win coming in a different format back in 1984 against Texas.
Aztecs to Open NCAAs at No. 8 UCLA
