Women's tennis off and rolling

Despite a lineup filled mainly with freshmen and sophomores, the Cal State Long Beach women's tennis team has won three of its first four matches, including a 2-1 record last week in San Diego.

The 49ers defeated Point Loma, 8-1, then lost to the University of San Diego, 8-1, before closing out the trip with an 8-1 victory over UC San Diego. CSULB opened the season by upsetting Utah, 5-4, at home Jan. 24.

49ers Coach Jami Jones was encouraged by the team's start, especially considering the team's youth Ñ 10 of the 15 players on the roster are freshmen and sophomores.

"I'm pretty happy with how things have gone," Jones said. "I was a little disappointed in how we played against USD. I thought we could have given them a better match."

The 49ers' top two singles players, sophomore Jing Chen and junior Amanda Parson, played particularly well in CSULB's two victories in San Diego. Against Point Loma, Chen defeated Jamie Esperon 6-0, 6-0, while Parson defeated Layne Champion 6-1, 6-1. In the UCSD match, Chen beat Susan Huberman, 6-2, 6-1, and Parson beat Kelly Bai, 6-0, 6-1. Chen and Parson have each won three of four singles matches this season.

"Jing and Amanda our two of our strongest players," Jones said. "Overall, I think we need to get stronger in our singles play, so we're strong not just at the top of the lineup but the bottom as well."

The 49ers' doubles play has been a pleasant surprise. Four of the top six players are new, but the doubles teams are a combined 9-3, including a sweep against Utah that gave the 49ers the victory.

Jones said the win over Utah shows that the 49ers have the potential to compete on a national level for the first time. Utah was ranked No. 36 in the nation at the time, while CSULB was ranked No. 67, the first school ranking since it started play in 1970.

Chen and Parson teamed up in doubles to clinch the match, trailing Kim Kelly and Meagan Payne 4-3 before winning five straight games to finish off the Utes.