University Southern California Trojans
Ditta Huber Reaches Finals at Pac-10 Championships
June 21, 1999 | Women's Tennis
April 25, 1999
LOS ANGELES - In only the second trip of her career to the Pac-10 championships, senior Ditta Huber reached the finals of the Pac-10 individual championships before falling to Stanford's Marissa Irvin, 6-1, 7-6, on Sunday (April 25) at the Ojai Valley Tennis Club in Ojai, Calif.
Huber reached the finals by defeating Claire Curran of California, 5-7, 6-3, 7-5, in the first round and Lindsay Blau of Arizona, 6-4, 6-0 in the second round on Thursday (April 22). In the quarterfinals on Friday (April 23), Huber beat Stanford's Gabriela Lastra, 6-4, 6-2 and moved on to face another Cardinal, Teryn Ashley, in the semi-finals, who she defeated 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 on Saturday (April 24).
The Women of Troy had an impressive effort this weekend in both the main draw and the invitational tournaments of the Pac-10 individual championships as five singles players and two doubles team competed. Junior Jacqui Boyd made it to the quarterfinals and junior Kara Warkentin reached the second round before being eliminated. In the invitational championships, junior Veronika Safarova made her way to the finals where she too lost to a Cardinal, Jen Heiser, 6-2, 6-2.
Boyd improved on her performance from last year's tournament by reaching the quarterfinals this season, but was eliminated by Stanford's Teryn Ashley in the quarterfinals by the score of 6-2, 6-0. Boyd was impressive in the first two rounds, defeating Washington State's Erica Perkins, 6-2, 6-3, in the first round and then Arizona State's Michelle Gough, 6-7, 6-3, 6-1, in the second round on Thursday.
Warkentin avenged a first round lost to Washington's Zuzana Stunova from last year's Pac-10 championships, by beating Stunova, 7-5, 6-2, in the first round on Thursday morning. Later that day in the second round, Warkentin was eliminated by Allison Bradshaw of Arizona State by the score of 7-6, 6-0.
In her final Pac-10 championships, senior Karolina Bakalarova fell in the first round of the main draw to Washington's Kristina Kraszewski, 6-3, 6-3.
Safarova, the only member of the Women of Troy to compete in the invitational portion of the tournament, played exceptionally to reach Sunday's finals. She defeated California's Jenny Lee in the first round, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 on Thursday before beating two Cougars in the next two rounds. In the second round, Safarova earned a victory over Sarah Burrows, 6-1, 6-0 on Thursday and then on Friday, she defeated Andrea Reisz in the quarterfinals, 6-1, 7-5. In the semifinals, Safarova defeated California's Lisa Swierniak, 7-6, 6-3 on Saturday to make her way into the finals.
The Women of Troy doubles teams were not quite as successful this weekend as the singles players were. The duo of Bakalarova and Safarova made it to the second round by defeating Washington State's team of Sarah Burrows and Erica Perkins, 7-6, 6-2, and then fell to California's duo of Claire Curran and Anita Kurimay, 8-4 on Friday. USC's No. 1 team of Huber and Warkentin were eliminated in the first round by the duo of Monique Allegre and Lindsay Blau of Arizona, 8-2, on Friday.
The Women of Troy next compete at the NCAA regionals on May 15-16.
