Lauren RabainoThe Cal Poly women’s tennis team’s top doubles tandem opened its season in style Tuesday morning at the Riviera/Intercollegiate Tennis Association All-America Tournament.
Juniors Brittany Blalock and Steffi Wong, ranked 31st by the ITA, dispatched Alabama’s Paulina Bigos and Tiffany Welcher 8-6 in the first round of qualifying in Pacific Palisades.
“They used their experience of playing together for two years and won the big points, especially at the end of the match,” Mustangs head coach Hugh Bream said in a statement.
With the win, they advanced to meet Kentucky’s No. 16 Carolina Escamilla and Christine Johnson in a second-round match-up today. The victor will face the winner of the later contest between Baylor’s No.18 Csilla Borsanyi and Lenka Broosova and Northwestern’s No. 29 Samantha Murray and Keri Robison.
Blalock and Wong went 23-11 last season en route to an All-Big West Conference First Team selection.
Men’s golf team finishes 10th at invitational
The Cal Poly men’s golf team finished 10th out of 23 teams Tuesday at the Hartford Invitational at Ballymeade Country Club in North Fallmouth, Mass.
On the par-72 course, the Mustangs carded a four-person 298 to finish with a 600 total, 34 strokes behind champion Baylor.
The tournament was shortened from 54 to 36 holes due to heavy rain that caused Monday’s play to be canceled.
Geoff Gonzalez paced the Mustangs with a 147, good enough for a 20th-place tie.
Colin Peck was the only other Cal Poly golfer in the top 40, tying in 25th with a 148.
North Carolina State’s Matt Hill earned top honors with a 131.
The Mustangs will set foot on Monarch Dunes Golf Course in Nipomo on Monday and Tuesday for the Coast BMW Intercollegiate.