College Tennis : Upsets Are the Rule for PCAA Women : Two of Top-Seeded Singles Players Lose on 1st Day of Tournament

Upsets were the rule rather than the exception Friday on the first day of the Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. women’s tennis championships at UC Irvine.

Two of the four top-seeded singles players were beaten, as was the No. 4 doubles team in the nation.

Second-seeded Kristi Kern of the University of the Pacific lost to Cindy Lauer of Nevada Las Vegas, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. Fourth-seeded Stephanie Rhorer of Irvine was defeated by Hawaii’s Jeane Gobat, 6-3, 7-5.

San Diego State’s Cathy Berry and Anne Moeller, ranked No. 4 in the country, were stunned by the unseeded Irvine team of Haruko Shigekawa and Dina Trenwith, 6-4, 6-4. Shigekawa and Trenwith took a 3-0 lead in the first set and never looked back.

But despite that unexpected loss, San Diego State, the tournament favorite, is in a three-way tie for first after the first day of the tournament. The No. 8 Aztecs, Pacific and UC Santa Barbara all have 16 points.

Cal State Long Beach is fourth with 10 and the Anteaters fifth with 6.

Their win didn’t come as a surprise to Trenwith or Shigekawa.

“We knew we could beat them,” Trenwith said. “We were aggressive and kept moving in on their second serves.”

One San Diego player who performed as expected was freshman Monique Javer, the nation’s No. 12 player. Javer easily defeated Havaga Frljuckic of Long Beach, 6-1, 6-0.

Play resumes this morning at 9.

In the men’s PCAA tournament at San Jose State, favored Cal State Long Beach swept six singles matches and three doubles matches to take the first-day lead. The 49ers have 18 points, followed by UC Irvine and Fresno State, which have 16. San Jose State is fourth with 10, UC Santa Barbara fifth with 8, Utah State and Nevada Las Vegas sixth with 2, and New Mexico State, Pacific and Cal State Fullerton tied for last with no points.

Bob Hampton of Utah State pulled one of the biggest upsets of the day by beating Irvine’s Darren Yates at No. 2 singles, 2-6, 6-2, 7-6.

The Anteaters’ Bruce Man Son Hing, playing at No. 1 singles, defeated Par Sanquist of New Mexico State, 6-3, 6-3.

Richard Bergh, the No. 5 singles player in the nation, led Long Beach by winning a singles and doubles match. He defeated Pacific’s Tim Hockhelter, 6-0, 6-2, and teamed with Greg Failla to defeated Pacific’s Skip Horan and Jeff Bibler, 6-2, 6-2.

The tournament resumes this morning at 10.