University of San Francisco Athletics

STOCKTON, Calif. – Riding a four-win streak into the West Coast Conference Championships, the San Francisco women's tennis team handled Pacific 6-1 to close out its regular season slate at the Hal Nelson Tennis Courts Friday afternoon.

The Dons finish the year with a 15-7 mark, and a 4-5 record in the WCC. Newest conference member Pacific falls to 8-13 (1-7 WCC) with one more conference match to play.

With four league wins, USF pulls even with Santa Clara and San Diego as the Dons wait to see where the final conference standings will play out. But with 15 total wins, USF has the second-most total wins in the WCC only trailing league-leaders No. 23 Pepperdine. The Dons are one of four conference teams to reach a double-digit win tally.

USF opened the dual with the Tigers by claiming the doubles point, as top tandem of Andrea Ka and Marina Nikolic recorded their impressive 11th consecutive victory. The twosome closes the regular season with a 17-3 dual match record. After Ka and Nikolic downed Cristina Saenz de Buruaga Ruiz and Hana Ritterova, 8-4, USF's pair of Brooke Irish and Milica Hadzi-Tanovic added an 8-6 victory over Daria Labintseva and Regina Suarez 8-6 as the Dons opened with the upper hand.

In singles action, each match stretched just two sets, with USF taking five of the six available points. Ka, ranked No. 104 by ITA Tennis took down Ritterova, 6-3, 6-3. USF's top player, a sophomore from Paris, France, finishes the spring with a 16-4 record and stands at 19-9 on the year.

Thyra Taune added a 6-2, 6-3 win over de Buruaga Ruiz from the No. 2 position, and Sofia Holmberg took down Gergana Boncheva, 6-3, 6-3. Dons Marina Nikolic and Genevieve McCloskey also earned easy victories in the match as USF cruised to their fourth straight match win.

Both Nikolic and Taune close the 2013-14 regular season after eclipsing the 20-win mark, including fall action. For McCloskey, the 6-2, 6-1 victory over Labintseva marks her first WCC win for the freshman from Perth, Australia.

USF awaits its final championship seeding, and the Dons will take the court Wednesday afternoon in San Diego, Calif. The tournament will conclude next Saturday afternoon with a championship match at 12:30 p.m.
 

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San Francisco 6, Pacific 1
April 18 | Hal Nelson Tennis Courts | Stockton, Calif.

Singles | Order of finish: unknown
No. 1 – #104 Andrea Ka (USF) def. Hana Ritterova (PAC); 6-3, 6-3
No. 2 – Thyra Taune (USF) def.  Cristina Saenz de Buruaga Ruiz (PAC); 6-2, 6-3
No. 3 – Sofia Holmberg (USF) def. Gergana Boncheva (PAC); 6-3, 6-3
No. 4 – Marina Nikolic (USF) def. Francis Dean (PAC); 6-4, 6-2
No. 5 – Christiana Ferrari (PAC) def. Brooke Irish (USF); 6-4, 1-6, 10-3
No. 6 – Genevieve McCloskey (USF) def. Daria Labintseva (PAC); 6-2, 6-1

Doubles | Order of finish: unknown
No. 1 – Ka/Nikolic (USF) def. Saenz de Buruaga Ruiz/Ritterova (PAC); 8-4
No. 2 – Dean/Ferrari (PAC) def. Taune/Holmberg (USF); 8-5
No. 3 – Irish/Milica Hadzi-Tanovic (USF) def. Labintseva/Regina Suarez (PAC); 8-6