FromFastLanes to Dusty Plains : CSUN’s No. 2 Player Campbell Is Leaving for Oklahoma and Division I Opponents

Like their Texas neighbors, Oklahomans are reputed to follow only two sports: football and spring football. For them, watching college tennis rates slightly below watching tumbleweeds blow by.

Tom Peck, the women’s tennis coach at Oklahoma, said the largest crowd his team draws might be 100.

Despite all of that, Susan Campbell, the No. 2 singles player on the Cal State Northridge women’s tennis team, will transfer to Oklahoma with a scholarship in the fall. And she’s excited about her decision.

“It’s time to leave the nest,” said Campbell, a 5-11 sophomore from Woodland Hills. “I’ve been in the Valley too long.”

Perhaps, but it is hard to accept someone leaving the fast lanes of Southern California for the flat, dusty plains of Norman, Okla. Especially a Division II All-American who had opportunities to go to Santa Clara or the University of San Diego.

“I didn’t have a preference of where I wanted to go,” Campbell said. “I just knew that I wanted to leave California. I’m looking forward to the experience of playing Division I and the team travels quite a bit.

“I was looking for a coach and a program that really wanted me. I didn’t want to have to prove myself because I think my record speaks for itself.”

She learned about the Sooners’ program from her juniors circuit doubles partner, Karen Waterman, who transferred to Oklahoma last year.

Because she was apprehensive about leaving home, Campbell accepted a scholarship to CSUN when she graduated from Louisville High two years ago.

This season, she helped CSUN to a 26-1 record and the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. championship. The Lady Matadors are the No. 1 seed in the national team championships, which will be held Monday and Tuesday at CSUN. The singles and doubles championships will be played there Wednesday through Saturday.

Campbell plays a serve-and-volley style and has not lost to a Division II opponent outside of the national championships in her two seasons for CSUN. This season, she is 26-1 in singles and 28-1 in doubles. Both of her losses were to players from USC in last week’s Ojai Invitational. She has beaten nine players from Division I schools.

“I hate to lose her, but in the long run it’s the best thing for her,” said CSUN Coach Tony Davila. “It’s a good opportunity for her to move on and do some other things.”

Campbell and her partner, Missy Conn, are the West’s No. 1 doubles team, as ranked by the Intercollegiate Tennis Coaches Assn. Last month, they beat the defending Division II champions, Sandra Elliot and Nancy Roe of Northern Colorado.

Campbell said that she is happy at CSUN and the team’s success made her decision to transfer difficult.

“Playing Division II and being on top is the greatest feeling in the world,” she said. “To give myself the opportunity to feel that way gave me a lot of confidence in my game. Oklahoma is not a real strong Division I team, but I’ll still get the experience of playing against the top players.”

Oklahoma finished fifth in the Big Eight this season with an 11-17 record. When Campbell arrives, she is expected to make an immediate impact.

Peck said that he anticipates Campbell playing anywhere from No. 2 to No. 4 in the singles rotation. But he is most impressed with her doubles ability.

“In college tennis, with the players putting so much emphasis on singles, you look for someone who has ability in doubles,” Peck said. “Two-thirds of the time, a close match is decided by doubles.

“To be good in doubles, you have to have the ability to play under pressure. Susan’s doubles are at the advanced level for college play.”

Davila said that he expected Campbell and Conn to be a strong doubles team, but Campbell’s singles play at the start of the season surprised him since she was suffering from a shoulder ailment.

But Campbell, who began the season as the No. 3 singles player, has had her toughest matches since moving to No. 2, where she is 8-0.

Her most difficult win was in last month’s Cal Poly Pomona Bronco Invitational against Roe, who is ranked among the nation’s top 32 Division II players. Campbell trailed in the second set, 5-2, but rallied for a 5-7, 7-6, 7-5 win.

Campbell is not the first member of her family to be successful at tennis. Her late grandfather, Lucio Villegas, was a tennis champion in Chile. Her brother Brian was an All-American at Northeast Missouri State.

When not playing tennis, Campbell is family-oriented. She and other members of her family have sung in their church’s choir for the last six years.

“She’s kind of the girl-next-door type of kid,” Davila said.

That girl has grown up and will be leaving home in a few months.

It was bound to happen, Sooner or later.