Feb. 4, 2011

SAN DIEGO, Calif.- Anyone who's lived in San Diego will tell you it's hard to leave once you've had a taste of the beautiful weather, pristine beaches, and all-around charm that makes the city great. Torero sophomore Stephanie Hoffpauir is familiar with the allure of the city growing up north of San Diego in Escondido. A year at UCLA was not enough to pry the love of San Diego away from Hoffpauir, as she left Westwood to join the Torero tennis program this past January.

Despite being brand new to the campus, Hoffpauir is not brand new to the game. Her 25-9 singles record as a Bruin in 2009-2010, including a 12-4 dual mark, tell Torero fans that UCLA's loss, is certainly USD's gain.

As a prep, Hoffpauir did not participate in high school sports but did compete in junior tennis, earning a No. 3 ranking in the class of 2009 according to tennisrecruiting.net and was ranked as high as fifth in the USTA girls 18s singles rankings.

Already Hoffpauir has stepped into the Torero lineup and made a very promising impact, going 2-0 in her first dual match action of the season. She has twice played at the No. 1 spot for the Toreros this spring, including a match against her former team on Jan. 29th in which UCLA topped USD 4-0, but Hoffpauir's singles match went unfinished.

If first impressions tell Torero fans anything about Stephanie Hoffpauir, it's that she's right at home at USD.