Cal State Fullerton Titans tennis Informations

The Cal State Fullerton Titans women's tennis team competes at the NCAA Division I Collegiate level and is a member of the Big West Conference. All home collegiate tennis matches are played at the California State University, Fullerton, Titan Courts, located in Fullerton, California.

The official website for the women's team is http://fullertontitans.com/sports/w-tennis/index.

The Cal State Fullerton Titans men's tennis team first fielded a team in 1960 and disbanded after the 1987 season.

Dr. Jean A. Barrett started at Orange State College (known now as Cal State Fullerton) in 1963 she was a Professor of Health, Physical Education and Recreation at Fullerton getting her degree's a B.S. from Cortland State Teachers College in 1952 and an Ed.M. from the University of Buffalo and an Ed.D. from State University of New York at Buffalo. Barrett was a pioneer in Physical Education and Women's Athletics at CSUF she was the first female faculty member in the P.E. Department(now Department of Kinesiology). Barrett served 28 years at the University and served a number of leadership roles there also. Barrett like the former Titans Men's Tennis Coach Ernest A. Becker who started also the Titan Men's Tennis Program mentored her tennis student-athletes while she was coaching her teams. In the school year 1966–67 she was the Titans Women's Director of Intercollegiate Activities and started a Women's Tennis Program at Cal State Fullerton and they were known as the Titanettes Tennis Team they had nine matches that season and was off to a good start according to their leader Barrett. One of the first Women Tennis letterwinners from that starting season in 1967 to play for Barrett was former La Habra Highlander High School tennis player Cindy L. Gohring a senior class student-athlete at Cal State Fullerton that school year. In 1967 the Titans and Barrett were in the overall national picture for women collegiate athletics called The Division for Girl's and Women's Sports(DGWS) which sets the standards for intercollegiate competition but does not allow women's athletic scholarships, this lasts until 1972. In 1967 the DGWS forms the Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics for Women(CIAW) and begins offering national championships in many sports including tennis the Individual National Singles Champion from that year was Patsy Rippy of Odessa College and doubles title went to Jane Albert and partner Julie Anthony of Stanford. In 1968 the USLTA sponsors the first National Team Championship in Women's Intercollegiate Tennis and known now as Trinity University (Texas) coached by Shirley Rushing wins the team title and Emilie Burrer also of Trinity University (Texas) wins the Individual National Championship for singles and doubles that year with partner Becky Vest. For the 2016–17 season for the current Titan Women's Team it will be the 50th anniversary since the Tennis Program for Women was started at Cal State Fullerton.

The Titans women's varsity tennis team first started competing in the 1967–68 academic school year the year Coach Scheel's first came to CSUF and finished eight in their conference. Scheel had a Titan tennis team/program financial budget when she started of $100.00 for the season. Scheel was a professor of Kinesiology and Health Promotion at Fullerton and was a grad from La Verne College now known as (University of La Verne) she was also after her tennis coaching career at Fullerton was the president of Western Society of Physical Education of College Women for academic year 1984–85 this society was founded in 1921 and deals with issues and concerns related to disciplines in higher education and human movement the group of women represents colleges from the western territory of Canada to Hawaii to Utah and down to Arizona she was a well rounded collegiate coach. The 1970 Titan squad had a record finish of first in the conference in only their third year of competing in collegiate women's tennis. In 1972, Coach Virginia Scheel's Titans had an undefeated women's tennis season, according to the coach. In the 1973 CSUF women's season, Scheel's team, led by number 1 singles player a former transfer student-athlete from Fullerton Junior College Hornets Sue Marta, had a victory, defeating the USC Trojans in that year also the Titans women's tennis program also moved up in league class to the "A" bracket. Marta also had a career high impressive victory over Cal State L.A. Golden Eagle Tina Watanabe their Number 1 player on the team and a 1973 NCAA National Collegiate Singles Tournament finalists that was held in Auburn, Alabama Watanabe had victories on the Women's Pro Circuit over Tracy Austin, Steffi Graf and Monica Seles and had a World Singles Ranking of 79th at one point in her professional career. Another standout Titan tennis player on that 1973 team is Michelle Rauland who after competing on that '73 team in January 1974 competed with the professional womentennis players at one of the circuit stops for the Virginia Slims Tour in Mission Viejo, California the tournament was played on hard courts and Rauland was beaten in the earlyrounds by Penny Johnson 1-6, 2-6 the winner of the tournament was Chris Evert beating in the finals Billie Jean King 6-3, 6-1 in 1974 the prize money for the tournamentwas $50,000 for the professionals.

Coach Jean Davenport's, a Virginia State University grad with a "MS" from Michigan State the Titan Health Ed. Instructor coached the 1975 Titans Team which was led by a Junior Fullerton's number No. 1 player Kathy Wright a former Stanford University player during her first year there. Davenport'ssaid her team's greatest assets are persistence and strict conditioning. The team also achieved academic excellents in the classroom with an overall GPA of 3.3 and Davenport said thisTitan team has a record wide age range on the team with student tennis athletes 18 to 36.

Standout Titan individual women tennis performers in singles and doubles under Coach Jean Davenport tenure:

In a historic time for Division I Women's Athletics Ellen Linderman '81 who played on the 1977, 1978 and 1979 Titan squad's was one of the first women to receive an Athletic Scholarship because of Title IX from the Athletic Department by Coach Jan Billings at that time in the program at the University.The 1980 Titans squad was led by a number 1 freshman player named Pia Tamayo who was also a member of the Philippines Federation Cup Team and went three sets, losing (6–2, 2–6, 0–6) to tennis professional Hana Mandlíková from the Czechoslovakia Fed Cup Team; the match took place in Santa Clara, California. Tamayo as a international junior tournament player competed at The Wimbledon Championships "Girls Singles Bracket" playing in 1978, 1979 and 1980 defeated in each year in the second round after winning her first round matches in '78 losing to Anna-Maria Fernandez 2-6, 3-6 and in '79 to player Sonia Davies 6-7, 6-3, 5-7 and in '80 after her first year for the Titans to another player Kate Brasher 1-6, 6-2, 4-6. Tamayo played one successful year for the Titans and went on to finish her collegiate career at Princeton University and was a 3-time All-Ivy League Tennis Selection for the Tigers. Carol Pat Christian who played her 1980 first year/season as the number No. 2 singles player behind Tamayo on the Titan team, she played at Pacific High School in San Bernardino, Ca. during her junior's years and as a junior player she played Tracy Austin and lost 0–6, 2–6 in the finals of The 31st Annual Fullerton Junior Tennis Tournament. Christian won the Singles and Doubles Titles at The National Indoor Girls' Tennis Championships at Mt. Clemens, Michigan and she was also ranked No. 1 in singles in Southern California Sectionals in the girls' 14-and-under class as a junior player. Christian also during the 1980 Titan season beat Cal Berkeley's top singles player as her highlight victory of that season. She had an 8–2 record in the league in singles and had a 1–1 record against UCLA's Becky Bell the No. 2 singles player for the Bruins, the league again as in the past was the toughest in the nation with conference members like UCLA, USC, Arizona State, Arizona, Long Beach State and San Diego State these school's were in top ten rankings in many season's year in year out in Division I Women's Tennis nationally. As a sophomore Christian played her last season in 1981 as a Titan as the number No. 1 singles player on the team and played with her Pacific High School teammate Sherrie Shellhammer on that Titan team for Coach Jan Billings. Christian went onto playing professionally in 1984 competing in the US Open, Wimbledon and French Open and in 1988–89 years competed in the Australian Open along with the US Open and French Open her highest singles professional ranking was No. 111 on August 1, 1988 and her highest doubles ranking was No. 199 December 21, 1986. Christian was honored by Southern California Tennis Association as for women tennis players from 1960–80 in the "SoCal So Good" article of tennis individuals who have made an impact on the game locally by the Southern California Tennis Hall of Fame that took place on July 20, 2002.

Standout Titan individual women's tennis performers in singles and doubles under Coach Jan Billings tenure:

Coaching record (1 Year/Season, 5 Wins–23 Losses)

The 1983 Titans women's team was led by first year Coach Bill Cole '87 MS who played collegiately from 1975 to 1977 at the University of Buffalo in a conference so tough that four of which members were ranked in the top five nationally overall which included teams like UCLA, USC, Stanford and San Diego State. Under Cole's direction that year he said he established various goals for his team and was highlighting personal improvements of the Titans players because the team's competition was far greater that year in the conference than other conferences and the season was a success for the players in those terms with the goals they laid out for the year.

Standout Titan individual women's tennis performers in singles and doubles under Coach Bill Cole tenure:

Coaching record (2 Years/Seasons, 17 Wins–44 Losses)

The 1985 team was coached by the former Cal State Los Angeles Golden Eagles tennis player Bill Etchegaray and led by number 1 singles player Kristi Blankenship '86 who had a (30–10) senior season won-loss record, was selected at the end of that year by the NCAA Regional Committee to participate in the NCAA Division I Women's Singles Tennis Championship Tournament held at Oklahoma State University in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Blankenship represented the Titans very well was defeated in the tournament by University of Miami Hurricanes talented "All-American" and top 16 seeded player in the championships Lise Gregory by a score of (5–7, 4–6). A year later in 1986 Blankenship '86 won The Ojai Women's Open Invitational Singles Championship/The Foothill Cup defeating Kathy May-Paben who formerly had a professional tennis ranking of number 10 in 1977. Blankenship '86 joins other past notable champions Maureen Connolly in 1951, Billie Jean King in 1965 and 1966, Tracy Austin in 1977, USC's Stacy Margolin in 1976 and 1978, USC's Cecilia Fernandez 1982 and 1983, Stanford's Patty Fendick in 1985 who have won the prestigious Ojai tournament.

Standout Titan individual women's tennis performers in singles and doubles under Coach Bill Etchegaray tenure:

Coaching record (4 Years/Seasons, 38 Wins–66 Losses)

In 1986, the Titans women's tennis program was almost discontinued by the Athletic Department due to budget cuts but was saved by then Athletic Director Ed Carroll and Titans Women's Tennis Coach Brad Allen who had a (37–59) career record, who were able to keep and move the tennis program forward. Since the 1988 season Allen's Titans squad has held the record for most victories in a season of 15 that year highlighted with wins over San Jose State, Loyola Marymount, Nebraska, Cornell and Long Beach State.

Prior to joining the Titans Women's Tennis Program and Coach Brad Allen's squad for the 1988 season player Nicole Brechtbuhl '90 won the 1986 California Junior College State Doubles Individual title her freshmen year and in 1987 Brechtbuhl '90 won the California Junior College State Singles Individual title in her second year.

Standout Titan individual women's tennis performers in singles and doubles under Coach Brad Allen tenure:

Coaching record (24 Years/Seasons, 178 Wins–391 Losses)

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