Alcala 1970

As the easy wins continued, the team began to direct their energies at reaching the College Divi­ sion finals. The netters piled up eleven straight wins as they swept past all their competion. Easter brought the team a long deserved trip as they scheduled four teams from the San Francisco area. St. Mary's fell in the opening match 7-2. Top major college competion finally gave the team a measuring stick of their ability, as they matched the full scholarship University of San Francisco with USD's no scholarship program and fought on even terms but lost 5-4. Santa Clara proved to be just as tough and the team lost for the last time in 1970, 5-4. Coach Spanis' rearrangement of the Torero line-up did the trick against the University of the Pacific. The Toreros won 5-4 and returned home tired but satisfied. With a bid to the finals right around the corner, the team went into a semi-slump. The netters con­ tinued to win big and even avenged their previous loss to Chapman, but the quality of tennis was slip­ ping. The tennis improved greatly as the bid came and a new horizon appeared. The season drew to a close at 21-3 as the tennis team coasted in with eight wins in a row. Three weeks of work lay between them and the finals in Ffayward, California and they used it to get ready. Although they did not get the luck of the draw, the Toreros proved themselves of top national cal­ iber. USD's No. 1and No. 2 doubles pairs of Pettus- Taylor and McCulloch-Lupian defeated some of the seeded pairs. John Pettus, who was seeded, and Larry Lupian distinquished themselves in the singles. The seven points that the team got was just seven less than champion UC Irvine and good for fifth place inthe tournament. Starting from nowhere, with nothing but a de­ termined coach, USD tennis had come to the moun­ tain and still continues to climb.