The Cal Poly women’s tennis senior tandem of Brittany Blalock and Suzie Matzenauer were ultimately eliminated from postseason contention after suffering a defeat at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex Thursday in the opening doubles round of the 32-team NCAA Individual Championships.
After falling during a first set that featured just one service break, Blalock and Matzenauer matched Baylor’s Csilla Borsanyi and Lenka Broosova point-for-point during the second set before surging ahead late. The Mustangs led 5-3 during the third set, but failed to press their advantage against the 11th-ranked doubles pairing in Division I.
“Perhaps we weren’t quite as focused and relaxed during the first set as we should have been, but I thought that Brittany and Suzie were aggressive at the right times during the second set and took a lot of balls down the line to neutralize Baylor,” Cal Poly head coach Hugh Bream said in a release. “We played solid tennis in the third set, but maybe backed off a little. Brittany and Suzie played well, but Baylor slowly inched back.”
With their victory, Borsanyi and Broosova advanced to face Josipa Bek and Ina Hadziselimovic of Clemson during Friday’s round of 16. The Tigers defeated Marshall’s Michaela Kissell and Dominica Zaprazna later Thursday.
“Obviously I’m proud of their performance and the performance throughout the year. (Blalock) and (Matzenauer) teed it up versus some of the best teams all season long and people who follow collegiate tennis know the caliber of programs such as Baylor,” Bream said.
The defeat, just Blalock and Matzenauer’s fourth loss in 21 spring attempts, kept the Cal Poly program winless in NCAA Championships action at the Division-I level. During Cal Poly’s lone other showing at the NCAA Individual Championships in 2008, Blalock and then partner Steffi Wong also suffered an opening-round exit. As a team, Cal Poly made its first and only postseason showing at the 2003 championships, but the Mustangs were swept in the first round by Georgia Tech.
Competing exclusively at the No. 1 doubles position during the spring season, Blalock and Matzenauer navigated Big West play with a perfect record en route to all-conference first team doubles recognition. Blalock and Matzenauer, who ascended as high as No. 26 in the March 30 edition of the Campbell’s ITA Rankings, helped Cal Poly capture the doubles point during a conference-best 78 percent of 23 spring matches. Blalock and Matzenauer, who entered the tournament ranked No. 48th, recorded their most notable victory of the season on March 21 when they handed the then No. 2 ranked Stanford pairing of Lindsay Burdette and Hilary Barte an 8-5 defeat.
“We sat at the team championships final on Monday and the players realized the quality of victories they had recorded this year,” Bream added. “This season, Brittany and Suzie showed that they could compete and excel against any team in the nation and they proved that again today.”
Blalock, the first Mustang in program history to earn four All-Big West first team singles selections, retired as Cal Poly’s all-time singles victories leader with an 84-55 collegiate mark. The 2007 Big West Freshman of the Year selection, Blalock also captured all-conference first team doubles praise during each of her final three years. Matzenauer, a 2008 transfer from Northwestern, earned both All-Big West first team singles and doubles recognition during each of her seasons at Cal Poly.