Big West men's and women's teams have reached the home stretch of the regular season with the conference championships well within sight. The Long Beach State and UC Santa Barbara match will finalize the seedings for the women's championship while the UC Irvine women attempt to go undefeated in league play. The Anteaters will accomplish the feat with a win at UC Riverside.
The defending women's champion 49ers will wrap up at least second place and potentially could tie for the regular season crown with a win over UC Santa Barbara. However, the winless-in-league Highlanders would have to shock the undefeated-in-league Anteaters for any chance of that scenario happening. A loss by the 49ers would open the door for Cal State Northridge to sneak in and grab the No. 2 seed. UCI, which is ranked No. 32 in the country according to the latest FILA rankings, has clinched the No. 1 seed at the Big West Championship. Other known seeds are #5 Cal Poly, #6 Pacific, #7 Cal State Fullerton and #8 UC Riverside.
Men's conference play is finished and the five seeds for the men's edition of the tournament are as follows: #1 Cal Poly, #2 UC Irvine, #3 UC Santa Barbara, #4 UC Riverside and #5 Pacific.
A handful of men's non-conference matches remain on the schedule, including UC Irvine taking a trip to Boise, Idaho to battle Eastern Washington and No. 23 Boise State on Friday and Saturday, respectively. UC Santa Barbara tries to end the regular season on a positive note when it faces Sacramento State on Saturday, while Pacific tries to snap a six-match losing streak at UC Davis.
Big West Returns To Indian Wells For Fourth Straight Year
The Big West Men's and Women's Tennis Championships return to the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in Indian Wells, Calif. for the fourth straight year. This year's event will be held from Friday, April 27 through Sunday, April 29. The UC Santa Barbara men and Long Beach State women are the defending tournament champions. Seedings for the tournament are based on the final regular season standings. The action begins with one men's first round match and four women's quarterfinal matches on Friday. Two women's and two men's semifinal matchups are played on Saturday with both championship matches contested on Sunday. Five men's teams and eight women's teams compete for the crown of Big West Tournament champion and the conference's automatic berth to the NCAA Championships.
Anteater And 49er Women Continue Stay In Rankings
The two Big West women's programs that continue to be ranked nationally are UC Irvine and Long Beach State. The Anteaters climbed two spots to No. 32 in the FILA rankings after their win over second place Cal State Northridge on Sunday. UCI has been ranked as high as No. 28 in the country this season. Long Beach State ratcheted up one spot to No. 48 following its convincing 7-0 road win against Pacific. The 49ers have been ranked from No. 48 to No. 51 for six straight weeks. They reached a season-high No. 26 in the poll on Feb. 21.
UC Irvine Attempts To Go Undefeated In League Play
The Big West is in just its second season of using a round robin schedule for tennis, and UC Irvine is one win away from becoming the second team to complete the league schedule undefeated. After Long Beach State went 7-0 against conference opponents last season, UC Irvine needs only to beat UC Riverside on Wednesday to do the same deed. The Highlanders are winless in league play at 0-6 this season. Even if the Anteaters are upset by the Highlanders, UCI still has gained the top seed at next week's tournament.
Koichumanova Keeps Opponents At Bay
Cal State Northridge junior Kanykey Koichumanova continues her lethal assault on the opposition. The No. 2 player on the CSUN ladder has won an impressive 13 consecutive matches. She breezed to a 6-1, 6-2 win over UC Irvine's Inna Agababian on Saturday to pick up one of CSUN's two points on the afternoon. Koichumanova owns a 6-1 record against Big West opponents, with her only setback coming on Feb. 10 against Long Beach State's Katy Williams. Coincidentally, that was Koichumanova's last loss before beginning her impressive streak.
Cal Poly Goes Undefeated To Win Men's Title
After finishing winless in Big West play at 0-3 in 2006, the Cal Poly men's tennis program turned things around in 2007. In fact, the Mustangs did it in a major way. Cal Poly completed the Big West schedule undefeated in four matches after defeating UC Irvine 4-3 in a battle for the title on Sunday. Cal Poly also knocked off UC Santa Barbara 4-3 on Feb. 24. The title gives the Mustangs the No. 1 seed at the Big West Championship.