OJAI TENNIS : SDSU Women Keep Place in Big West

As Nicole Storto stood within a set of clinching San Diego State’s fifth consecutive Big West Conference women’s tennis title, Coach Carol Plunkett thought it might be an appropriate time to give her freshman a history lesson.

“I kept reminding her that it’s a tradition that we win here,” Plunkett said. “And that we intended to keep it that way.”

Storto didn’t disappoint her coach or team, winning the second-set tiebreaker, 7-2, after capturing the first set, 6-3, against Christy Pohl of UC Santa Barbara.

The Aztecs (18-11) defeated Santa Barbara, 5-1, Saturday at the Ojai Valley Racquet Club to close out their domination of the Big West. The SDSU women will join the Western Athletic Conference next year.

Freshman Paige Hammond, who did not play Saturday but compiled a 12-5 singles record, said winning the conference was a point of emphasis all year.

“The NCAA was always our main goal, but we knew if we lost here, it would be a big letdown.”

The 13th-ranked Aztecs have all but clinched their third consecutive NCAA berth.

In the junior portion of the 91st Ojai Tennis Tournament, James Conda, 15, won his second consecutive Ojai title by teaming with 15-year-old La Jolla High teammate Jonathon Elsberry for a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Ramsey Gerber and Simon Kurth of Apple Valley in the boys’ 16 doubles final.

Conda, the boys’ 14 singles champion last year, opted to play with Elsberry, his doubles partner for four years, rather than compete in the boys’ 16 singles.

“I thought we would have a better chance of winning the doubles,” Conda said.

Said Elsberry: “We were looking forward to this tournament all year.”

Ditta Huber fought off her second match point in two days to defeat Nicole London of Rolling Hills, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), in the girls’ 18 singles semifinals. But Huber, 14, was defeated by a motivated Natasha Pospich of Calabasas, 6-1, 6-4, in the final.

“I never played her before, but I always wanted to,” said Pospich, a junior at Calabasas High. “(Huber’s) been knocking off a lot of good people in our section.”

After winning what she called one of the biggest matches of her life against London, Huber said she was physically and emotionally drained.

“It’s been a really tough week,” said Huber, an eighth-grader at Calvary Christian Junior High. “I’ve had to play two matches a day against really good players. I was really tired.”

So, too, was Leeann Rostovsky of La Jolla, who played six sets in six hours.

Rostovsky, a junior at La Jolla High, finally tired and lost to Lindsay Davenport of Palos Verdes, 6-1, 6-7 (3-7), 6-4, in the girls’ 16 final.

Rostovsky, seeded second, led, 4-2, in the third set before Davenport, 14, won the last four games.

“I was confident (in the last set), but I stopped being aggressive,” Rostovsky said. “She started playing really well.”

Earlier, Rostovsky defeated Regina Garcia of Napa Valley, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1, in a match that lasted nearly three hours.

“It’s pretty stupid to have the semifinals and the finals in the same day,” said Rostovsky, who lost in the semifinals of 1989 section championships to Brooke Galardi of Bishop’s.

As Rostovsky began to tire and make unforced errors, Davenport became more aggressive, especially with her backhand volleys.

“It was just hard to keep anything deep in the third set,” Rostovsky said.

In the girls’ 14 semifinals, Vanessa Rooks of Spring Valley lost to Ania Bleszinski of Los Angeles, 6-2, 6-3. Taryn Burgk of Del Mar lost to Cecil Mamiit of Los Angeles, 6-3, 6-3 in the boys’ 14 semifinals.

Ojai Notes

Second-seeded Zarina Galvin of Grossmont College defeated Iliana Adame of Orange Coast, 6-3, 7-6, to advance to the women’s community college singles semifinals. Galvin and teammate Kristi Douglas also advanced to the doubles semifinals with a 7-6, 7-5 victory over Monica Castro and Jennifer Saulsbury of Cuesta College. . . . Grossmont brothers Kelly and Mike Askvig fell to Alvaro Martinez and Jason Gary of Los Angeles Pierce, 6-4, 6-2, in the men’s community college doubles semifinals. . . . In the men’s independent collegiate doubles draw, Point Loma Nazarene’s John Norton and Robert Pearson lost to Chapman’s Darren Capik and David Seline, 6-2, 6-2. In women’s independent collegiate doubles, Monse Naboa and Mona Zatestam of Cal State Bakersfield defeated Shannon Anderson and Kim Wright of PLNC, 7-6, 6-3, in the quarterfinals.