Sports, Women's Sports, Women's Tennis

49ers face Virginia Tech in NCAA tournament

The Long Beach State women’s tennis team will make its 12th NCAA tournament appearance on Saturday when it takes on Virginia Tech in the first round.

The 49ers are coming off their 12th Big West title after they defeated UC Santa Barbara on April 26. Head coach Jenny Hilt-Costello said the team’s difficult schedule played a major part in getting LBSU ready for the tourney.

“We took a few losses,” Hilt-Costello said. “A few tough losses this year that I think maybe got away from us. But each and every one of those was a learning experience. On our Chicago trip, we went 1-2 on that road trip. It exposed some weaknesses we really needed to focus on.”

A positive turning point for the 49ers came on March 31 when they dropped matches to DePaul and Illinois when they traveled to Chicago. LBSU had to play indoors, which Costello described as a different animal than playing outdoors.

The losses allowed LBSU to identify and fix some of the weaknesses it otherwise wouldn’t have recognized.

“Indoors you’re not dealing with the elements,” Hilt-Costello said. “You’ve got kids who play indoors regularly. Their teeing off on the ball a little bit more freely then we do when we play outdoors. The schools that we played, they came out and played really aggressive, big-ball tennis with us when we were back there and we played a little bit too conservatively. That kind of bit us in the butt.”

Sophomore Hayley Thompson said the team was confident heading in to its matchup with the Hokies, who earned a No. 2 seed in the tournament.

“I’m sure [Virginia Tech is] going to have a strong doubles and singles lineup,” Thompson said. “I heard their doubles lineup was a little weaker. Hopefully we can get that point to get started. I think we have a good singles team that will be presentable.”

Hilt-Costello echoed Thompson’s message on the team’s confidence, saying she thinks the 49ers are better than their current No. 38 ranking and that they are more than capable of knocking off any school.

“We played some doubles [in the Big West Tournament], which was really strong in the final match,” Hilt-Costello said. “That has been a point of contention for us [for most] of the season, trying to get our doubles in shape and I think it finally culminated in the finals against UC Santa Barbara where it’s like, OK, this is where we’ve been working toward; this is the kind of doubles that we can play.”

The 49ers have reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament on three occasions, the last time being last year when they upset No. 21 Tulsa but lost No. 11 Stanford in the following round.

The Hokies (16-9, 7-7) lost to North Carolina in the ACC Tournament, but still managed to secure one of the top seeds. Sophomore Francesca Fusinato and junior Illinca Stoica were named to the All-ACC Second Team.

“[Virginia Tech] plays a tough conference schedule, just like we do,” Hilt-Costello said. “Quite honestly, one through six I think we can compete with anybody. Of course, Virginia Tech isn’t going to hand it to us, so we know we’re going to have to work at it and earn it every point.”

The 49ers will make the short drive to Los Angeles to take on Virginia Tech in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday starting at 9 a.m. at the Marks Tennis Center.

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