For the second straight year, and in as many seasons as the new women's tennis program has been in existence, the Cal State Stanislaus Warriors are heading back to the NCAA West Regionals.
Once again, the Warriors earned the No. 4 seed in the West Region and will face top seed and No. 3 ranked BYU Hawaii in Oahu. The first round match is scheduled for 2 p.m. Hawaii Time on Thursday, May 6 in Laie, Hawaii, on the campus of BYUH.
The 19th ranked Warriors, led by
Verena Preikschas,
Vanesa Reibstein and
Katie Eng, hope the outcome would be a little different. An upset win would mean a trip to the 16-team NCAA Championship tournament in Altamonte Springs, Florida, May 12-15.
Last year, the Warriors lost to BYUH, 5-0. BYUH was ranked No. 1 a year ago.
In 2010, the Seasiders are 28-0 and are coming off another Pacific West Conference championship. They are led by Elwin Li and Yuan Jia, the No. 1 and No. 3 ranked singles player in the country, respectively. The duo is also the nation's top ranked doubles team.
The Warriors are 8-5 going into the postseason with three losses to Division I programs and the other two to UC San Diego in closely contested matches. Cal State Stanislaus had an opportunity to win the conference with a win at La Jolla in the season finale before dropping a 6-3 decision to the Tritons.
CCAA champion UC San Diego is the No. 3 seed in the region and will travel to Oahu to face Hawaii Pacific. Earlier this season BYU Hawaii defeated UC San Diego, 9-0.