University of California Athletics

Cal finished the season 18-5.

April 20, 1998

ON TAP: After a successful homestand during which Cal defeated No. 14 UCLA and No. 18 USC, the Bears will visit Ojai, Ca., the site of the Pac-10 Championships. This individual competition features a singles draw of 32 players and a doubles draw of 32 teams. First round singles losers will feed into a consolation draw.

THE LINEUP: Coach Jan Brogan has entered Esther Knox, Anita Kurimay, Claire Curran and Stephanie Tibbits into the singles draw. The doubles tandems are still being determined but they likely will be: Knox/Kurimay and Tibbits/Jenny Lee. Amanda Augustus, Amy Jensen, and Francesca La'O are not expected to make the trip. Injuries will prohibit the participation of Emeka Mayes (ankle-season), and Lisa Swierniak (shoulder - season).

ABOUT THE OPPONENTS: The Pac-10 is highly competitive with five of its players ranked among the Top 16 in the national singles poll. Stanford's Julie Scott is highest ranked at No. 4 and is expected to battle No. 14 Annicia Cooper of UCLA for the singles title. In doubles play, ninth-ranked Stanford's Scott and Ania Bleszynski are favored but should be challenged by No. 10 Stephanie Lansdorp and Katie Propstra of Arizona State.

NO DEFENSE OF PAC-10 TITLE: Cal's Amanda Augustus and Claire Curran did not drop a set en route to winning last year's Pac-10 doubles championship, defeating UCLA's Katia Roubanova and Elizabeth Schmidt in the final. Curran injured her elbow at the start of this year's campaign, forcing the duo to dissolve. Augustus has since enjoyed a successful 18-4 run with sophomore Amy Jensen and the duo is ranked No. 12 in the nation. Augustus will not be making the trip to Ojai this year. She has been awarded a wildcard into a USTA professional tournament in Los Angeles and will be playing there this week.

CAL ENDS REGULAR SEASON ON HIGH NOTE: The Bears swept the season series against No. 16 UCLA and defeated No. 18 USC last weekend in their final homestand of the year to finish the season 18-5. Both teams put up a fight, however, and the Bears went into doubles play needing one win to claim the match victory in both contests. Cal won at No. 1 and 2 doubles against UCLA to hand the Bruins a 7-2 defeat. Against USC, Amanda Augustus and Amy Jensen won at No. 1 doubles to snare a 5-4 Cal win.

Augustus won all of her singles and doubles matches over the weekend at the No. 1 spot, including a 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 battle with No. 42 Ditta Huber of USC. Esther Knox, playing at No. 3 won both singles matches. She breezed by UCLA's Elizabeth Schmidt,6-4, 6-1, and survived a test by USC's Veronika Safarova, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6. Knox joined Anita Kurimay at No. 2 doubles to defeat UCLA's Schmidt and Cristina Popescu, 8-6, but fell, 8-6, to USC's Safarova and Kara Warkentin.