PACWEST CHAMPIONSHIPS:The second annual Pacific West Conference Tennis Championships await the Point Loma men's and women's teams in Surprise, Ariz. The eight-team tournaments will start on Thursday, Apr. 17 and run through Saturday, Apr. 19. The seeds and draws for the tournament a yet to be announced.
FOLLOW ALONG:The games will be available for fans to follow through the tournament central webpage at
http://www.apu.edu/athletics/stories/21782/. The results will be updated throughout the matches and will feature the schedule as well. The seeding will also be released on the website after the coaches meeting on Wednesday.
A LOOK AT THE MEN:The PLNU men are ranked No. 7 in the West Region with a 6-15 record. Last week they earned a 6-3 upset victory over No. 11 ranked UC San Diego on the road. However, this was the Sea Lions only victory in its last five matches.
The doubles combination of
Michael Zablan and
Brooks Baldinger is the No. 2 ranked duo in the West and No. 13 in the country. They have posted a 12-6 record while playing all 18 matches at the No.1 doubles position. Both student-athletes, along with
Martin Blaho, are also ranked individually in the region's top 20.
Baldinger is sixth in the West as individual. He has a 15-4 record, which included a 14-1 record to open the season. He has played all but four matches as the Sea Lions' No. 1 singles player. Blaho is ranked No. 9 in the West with a 9-5 record. He has gone 2-0 as the Sea Lions' No. 1 and 7-5 in the No. 2 and 3 spots. Zablan is the 12th ranked student-athlete in the West.
A LOOK AT THE WOMEN:The Sea Lions are the No. 7 ranked team in the West and the No. 25 team in the ITA national rankings. PLNU has earned three wins against top 25 teams in NCAA Division II and one against the No. 4 team in the NAIA (Vanguard).
Preethika Venugopal leads PLNU in wins with 14 and a .777 winning percentage (14-4). Kirsty Mountain (10-5), Hope Penner (10-13) and Regina von Koch (10-10) have all earned double-figure wins as well. Maika Adair and Hillary Ramage have been the top doubles team this year for PLNU with a 13-9 record while playing all their matches at No. 2s.
A FAREWELL TO COACH HILLS:These will be the final matches that coach Rich Hills will be pacing the sidelines for the Point Loma tennis teams. After 33 years with PLNU, and over 350 wins with both the men's and the women's programs, coach Hills is stepping away from coaching and moving into a full-time faculty role with PLNU.
