Orange Coast College

Women's tennis: BASS, FURUVALD WIN STATE DOUBLES TITLE!

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

LONG BEACH -- The top of the mountain was officially reached by the doubles team of Brittany Bass and Brittnie Furuvald as they won their way to the 2008 California Community College Women's Doubles Championship on Saturday at the El Dorado Tennis Center.

The Orange Coast College freshmen duo defeated Caroline Houston and Patricia Vatelia of Riverside College, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2 in the finals, joining the list of successful OCC state women's tennis champions. The last Coast tandem to win the state title was Jessica Rice and Michelle Esquivel back in 2005.

"It was a great year for those two girls and I couldn't be happier for them," OCC head coach Janice Maran said.

Both teams held serve throughout the first set, forcing the tiebreaker. From there, Bass and Furuvald turned their collective games up several notches, according to Maran.

"It seemed like once they won the tiebreaker, their game really soared," Maran said. "As a coach, it was really fun to watch them play at that high a level."

In addition to their state title and their 33-5 overall record in doubles this year, the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) acknowledged the success of Bass and Furuvald by awarding them the only two freshman female individual awards they present to California community college players.

Bass was named the Freshman Player of the Year, while Furuvald earned the Freshman Player to Watch award by the ITA. "That's such a great accomplishment for these two young ladies," Maran said. "To win those two ITA awards and the state title, that's really putting an exclamation point on a wonderful tennis season."

To reach the finals, Bass and Furuvald, the No. 2 seeded team in the tournament, topped Chabot’s Megan Kummer and Amber Marsden, 6-4, 7-5. In the other semifinal match, Houston and Vatelia upset top-seeded Vanessa Reibstein and Brianna McClintock of Grossmont, 6-4, 7-5.