College Review / Rick Hazeltine : SDSU Tennis May Be Idle in May

For the first time in 10 years, San Diego State women’s tennis Coach Carol Plunkett may be looking for something to do around the second week of May.

For the past nine seasons, Plunkett was watching her Aztec tennis team compete in the NCAA tournament this time of the year.

But this season things may be different.

The Aztecs are ranked No. 19 in the nation, but have an 11-13 record with all their losses coming to teams ranked in the top 20.

The Aztecs appeared to have put themselves in good position for their 10th NCAA bid with a recent victory over USC, but SDSU suffered a 6-3 loss to Brigham Young last week. The Aztecs play No. 3 UCLA today at Los Angeles.

“I think we have less than a 50-50 chance of going unless we beat UCLA,” Plunkett said. “It’s really been a disappointing year. We just didn’t have the depth.”

Plunkett, in her 11th year as SDSU coach, has been happy about this year’s recruiting.

Plunkett said she has received national letters of intent from Julie Tullberg of Nordoff High School in Ojai and Dorey Brandt of Brea-Olinda High School. Tullberg and Brandt recently won the doubles competition in the Girls’ 18-and-under division of the prestigious Ojai Invitational.

“I think they’re as good as any freshmen we’ve ever had,” Plunkett said.

That’s saying something considering SDSU has produced such collegiate All-Americans as Cynthia McGregor, Micki Schillig and Linda Howell.

The Aztecs finish the regular season by trying to defend their Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. title Friday through Sunday at San Jose State.

Singles player Jim McNamee and the doubles team of Dave Stewart and Scott Patridge led the University of San Diego to a second-place finish in the West Coast Athletic Conference tennis championships Sunday at Santa Clara.

Pepperdine won the team title with 93 points. The Toreros were second with 75 points and St. Mary’s third with 35.

McNamee, seeded fourth, upset second-seeded Robbie Weiss of Pepperdine, 6-3, 7-6, in the semifinals. McNamee lost to the Waves’ Andrew Sznaidjer in the final, 6-3, 6-2.

Stewart and Patridge defeated Grant Sacks and David Klenbith of Pepperdine, 6-1, 6-0, in the doubles semifinals but lost to Sznaidjer and Weiss in the final, 6-4, 6-2.

Cassie Macias, United States International University women’s basketball coach, recently received national letters of intent from two California first-team all-state players--Amy Hilenbrand and Vanessa Johnson.

MiraCosta College’s Hilenbrand, who attended El Cajon Valley High School, was named the Pacific Coast Conference’s MVP. Hilenbrand, a 6-foot 2-inch forward/center, averaged 26 points and 10.5 rebounds this season, leading MiraCosta to a 21-4 record and the conference title.

Johnson, of Riverside Community College, is a 6-1 forward/center who led Riverside to a 22-8 record and the Orange Empire Conference championship. Johnson finished her two-year career at Riverside as the school’s second all-time scorer and rebounder. She scored 879 points (14.4 average) and had 684 rebounds (11.2 average).

This season, Johnson averaged 17.2 points and 12.8 rebounds, shooting 64% from the field and 75% from the line. She was named the Orange Empire Conference MVP.

The Gulls return all of their roster players from a team that went 16-10 overall and finished second in the West Coast Athletic Conference with an 8-4 mark.

The San Diego State lacrosse team has advanced to Friday’s semifinals of the Western Collegiate Lacrosse League championships at Whittier College.

The Aztecs, who compete on a club level, have made it to the playoffs five straight seasons. In that stretch, SDSU has a 75-12 record.

The Aztecs (15-2) will play UC Santa Barbara, the north’s top seed, in the semifinals. Whittier, seeded No. 1 in the south, will play a team yet to be determined from the north.

The winner of the WCLL championship will play the Rocky Mountain champion, with that winner possibly advancing to the NCAA tournament. Most teams competing in the WCLL, however, are club programs, and would not be allowed to participate in the NCAA tournament.

Normally, a coach of a college team ranked No. 16 in the country by a computer would have little worry about his team making an NCAA tournament that invites 17 teams. But Gordon Severson, USIU women’s golf coach, isn’t taking anything for granted. He learned that last season.

Last year, the Gulls also were ranked No. 16, but when the NCAA invitations came out, the No. 1 through 15 teams and Nos. 17 and 18 were chosen. The unofficial reason was that too many West Coast teams already had been invited.

The Gulls made a strong case for invitation when they recently finished third in the Lady Sun Devil Invitational at Arizona State. The tournament featured seven of the country’s top nine teams. Only No. 1 Arizona State and No. 3 Oklahoma State finished ahead of USIU.