Women's tennis beats Hawaii, 4-2, in opening-round WAC Championship match

Women's tennis beats Hawaii, 4-2, in opening-round WAC Championship match

Tulsa, Okla.-----For the first time in its six-year Western Athletic Conference history, the San Jose State University women's tennis team won a match at the conference championship. The Spartans defeated the

Ana Lukner raised her singles record
to 13-11 with a three-set win in
San Jose State's first
victory at a WAC Championship.
Tulsa, Okla.-----For the first time in its six-year Western Athletic Conference history, the San Jose State University women’s tennis team won a match at the conference championship. The Spartans defeated the University of Hawaii, 4-2, to advance to a quarterfinal round meeting with top-seeded Fresno State.

San Jose State (8-14) avenged a 6-1 loss to Hawaii (6-16) on April 13 through the strength of its singles performance. The Spartans won at numbers one, three, four and six singles. Since a match stops when a team scores four out of a possible seven points, none of the three doubles competitions took place.

Freshman Noelle Lee raised her season singles record to 22-8 by defeating Hawaii’s Lauren Fitzgerald in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3. Lee extended her singles winning streak to five in a row. Helen Van, at number four singles, was the Spartans’ other straight set winner by scores of 6-1, 6-3 over Paige Mainor.

Ana Lukner, at number three singles, and Anna Nordell, playing number six singles, needed three sets for a victory. Nordell was extended to a third-set tiebreaker winning 7-2 for a 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 triumph that took over three hours to complete.

"The highlight of our win was Anna Nordell coming back from being gone nearly the whole semester. She was tired from not having played, but she fought and fought throughout the entire match," said San Jose State coach Anh-Dao Nguyen.

Western Athletic Conference women’s tennis championships
Michael D. Case Tennis Center, Tulsa, Okla.
Final Score - San Jose State 4 Hawaii 2
Singles
Noelle Lee (SJSU) def. Lauren Fitzgerald (UH), 6-4, 6-3
Stacy Hakikawa (UH) def. Coral Silverstone (SJSU), 6-2, 6-2
Ana Lukner (SJSU) def. Birgitte Brubakken (UH), 2-6, 6-3, 6-1
Helen Van (SJSU) def. Paige Mainor (UH), 6-1, 6-3
Justine Bouter (UH) def. Whitney Vasu (SJSU), 6-0, 6-1
Anna Nordell (SJSU) def. Kimberly Curtis (UH), 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (7-2 tiebreaker)

Records: San Jose State 8-14
Hawaii 6-16