SAN DIEGO – After No. 54 Washington State crushed No. 48 San Diego Women's Tennis' outright WCC Regular Season title hopes seven days ago, the Toreros flipped the switch against the Cougars, a 4-2 win to advance to the WCC Tournament Final.
 
USD, the two seed, advances to it's second straight conference final and will face No. 27 Pepperdine, the one seed, at 10 a.m. tomorrow at Aztec Tennis Center in America's Finest City.
 
The Waves topped the Toreros in last year's final, 0-4, but San Diego got them this year at home, 4-3, to clinch a share of the WCC Regular Season Title and the program's first win over it's rivals in 13 years. That win was also the program's only WCC Tournament Championship, 4-2 on April 28, 2012.
 
"The theme of the week has been redemption," WCC Coach of the Year Nadia Abdala said. "We're glad that we got the job done and now we ahead to the biggest match of the year is tomorrow against Pepperdine, which will be a great match."
 
After dropping the doubles point last time out on courts two and three in Pullman, Wash., the Toreros mixed up the lineup on those courts. This time, the results were split as sophomore Kristina Nordikyan and freshman Hannah Read combined on court two for a 6-2 win. It was followed by ITA No. 52 seniors Claudia de las Heras and Kailey Evans's 6-4 win over the No. 49 duo on main court for the USD doubles point.
 
Read got things started in singles, rebounding well from her loss last weekend, cruising to a 6-0, 6-3 victory on court four to double the Torero lead. After a Cougar response on court three, freshman Gabby Gregg put USD up 3-1, coming back from a dropped first set to win 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 on court six.
 
Washington State answered the call again, however, winning on court five. That left it to the Torero seniors, Evans and de las Heras, on the top courts, both in third sets.
 
ITA No. 35 Evans, undefeated since her return to injury at the start of the conference season, was the one to punch the Toreros through to the finish line, winning 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 in a high-octane match on court two. It was Evans' first clinch of the season.
 
Results
No. 48 San Diego 4, No. 54 Washington State 2
Doubles
1. #52 Kailey Evans/Claudia de las Heras (USD) def. #49 Maxine Murphy/Eva Alvarez Sande (WSU) 6-4
2. Kristina Nordikyan/Hannah Read (USD) def. Chisato Kanemaki/Elyse Tse (WSU) 6-2
3. Hania Abouelsaad/Martina Markov (WSU) def. Gabby Gregg/Anni Puls (USD) 6-0
 
Singles
1. #92 Claudia de las Heras (USD) vs. Maxine Murphy (WSU) 4-6, 7-6 (7-2), 2-1, unfinished
2. #35 Kailey Evans (USD) def. Eva Alvarez Sande (WSU) 6-2, 2-6, 6-3
3. Elyse Tse (WSU) def. Kristina Nordikyan (USD) 6-4, 6-3
4. Hannah Read (USD) def. Hania Abouelsaad (WSU) 6-0, 6-3
5. Chisato Kanemaki (WSU) def. Anni Puls (USD) 6-0, 4-6, 6-1
6. Gabby Gregg (USD) def. Martina Markov (WSU) 4-6, 6-3, 6-1
 
Match Notes:
Washington State 17-8; National ranking #54
San Diego 11-9; National ranking #48
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (4,3,6,5,2)