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Women's Tennis

Women's Tennis NAIA Nationals

Sea Lions Fall to FPU in NAIA Semifinals

The No. 4-ranked Sea Lions lost to second-ranked Fresno Pacific 5-1 in a NAIA championship semifinal match Friday held at the Mobile Tennis Courts. PLNU ends the year with a 20-4 record. Three of those losses were to the GSAC-rival Sunbirds.

Doubles opened up the match, with the Sea Lions claiming just one point on court one where Kristin Strimple and Ashley Litchfield defeated Katie Sabate and Vanessa Heroux 8-5. FPU duos topped PLNU pairings on two and three.

In order to pull out the team win the Sea Lions would need four singles wins while the Sunbirds needed three. FPU was able to gather in their three points in quick fashion to close the match out. Christina Vallederes topped Rachel Owens 6-1, 6-2 on three; Erika Jenuskova cruised to a 6-0, 6-1 win over Kiersten Steinhauer on five and Yulia Blinkovska won in straight sets, 6-0, 6-4 over Wileen Chiu.

The other three sets were being played out when play was halted. Strimple won her first set on court one 6-3 against Katie Sabate and was in the middle of the second; on court two, Litchfield was knotted 6-6 in the opening set while Jessica Kwan was in set two on court four.

Fresno Pacific (27-1) advances to Saturday's finals where they will meet No. 1 Auburn-Montgomery (21-3). Auburn-Montgomery defeated Concordia (CA) 5-0 in the other semifinal match.

The 2010 Championships was the second time that the Sea Lions have reached the semifinals since the tournament was changed to a team format. With no seniors on the squad PLNU is in great shape for next year.

Singles:
No. 1 – Kristin Strimple (PLNU) vs. Katia Sabate (FPU), 6-3, 2-3, DNF
No. 2 – Ashley Litchfield (PLNU) vs. Sara Celma (FPU), 6-6, DNF
No. 3 – Cristina Vallederes (FPU) def. Rachel Owens (PLNU), 6-1, 6-2
No. 4 – Jessica Kwan (PLNU) def. Vanessa Heroux (FPU), 2-6, 2-2, DNF
No. 5 – Erika Januskova (FPU) def. Kiersten Steinhauer (PLNU), 6-0, 6-1
No. 6 – Yulia Blinovskaya (FPU) def. Wileen Chiu (PLNU), 6-0, 6-4

Doubles:
No. 1 – Kristin Strimple / Ashley Litchfield (PLNU) def. Katia Sabate / Vanessa Heroux (FPU), 8-5
No. 2 – Sara Celma / Cristina Valladares (FPU) def. Rachel Owens / Jessica Kwan (PLNU), 8-3
No. 3 – Erika Januskova / Yulia Blinovskaya (FPU) def. Kiersten Steinhauer / Wileen Chiu (PLNU), 8-2
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