POMONA —
Vanesa Reibstein and
Verena Preikschas came within one point of taking control of the title match for doubles regional championship, but top-seeded Yuan Jia and Jenny Chin of BYU Hawaii held on to turn back the Warriors.
The Stanislaus duo, seeded No. 2 in this week's Wilson/ITA Regional Championship led at 6-4 with break-point, and would have had the opportunity to go up 7-4 and serving for the final game. However, Jia and Chin held on and rallied to win 8-6.
"We were very close. It was a tight battle and (the Warriors) played well. For just a week and a half of practice against players from the best program in the country, I can't complaint," CSUS head coach Verek Visaraga said.
Reibstein and Preikschas had beaten Cal Poly Pomona's Jackie Trendt and Jennifer Chow, 8-4 earlier today to advance to the championship tilt.
Reibstein also competed in the singles title match on Saturday and put up an excellent effort against one of the top players in the country.
Reibstein, the fourth seed, won her semifinal match this morning by default over No. 2 seeded Chin and took on top-seed Jia, in the championship match before losing 6-2, 6-1.
"Vanesa had the best tournament this weekend playing in both the singles and doubles championship match," Visaraga said.
For the second straight year, Preikschas lost to the top player from BYUH in the semifinals as she dropped a 6-2, 6-1 decision to Jia in the semifinals.
Jia finished the 2009 season ranked No. 4 and Chin No. 19 in NCAA Division II. BYU Hawaii is a national powerhouse in women's tennis. The Seasiders won seven national championships since 1999 with the most recent in 2007. BYUH was the top ranked team in last spring's postseason before losing in the quarterfinals to end the season at 27-1.
2009 Wilson/ITA Regional Championship
Pomona, Calif., Oct. 2, 2009
Saturday
Singles semfinals
#1 Yuan Jia (BYUH) def. Verena Preikschas (CSUS), 6-2, 6-1
#4 Vanesa Reibstein def. #2 Jenny Chin (BYUH), default
Singles championship
Jia def. Reibstein, 6-2, 6-1
Doubles semifinals
Preikschas-Reibstein def. Jackie Trendt-Jennifer Chow (CPP), 8-4
Doubles championship
Jia-Chin (BYUH) def. Preikschas-Reibstein, 8-6