The doubles tandem of senior Yasmin Schnack and junior Andrea Remynse captured the women’s doubles title at the Wilson/ITA Southwest Regional tournament on Sunday in San Diego, granting themselves an automatic berth to the ITA National Collegiate Indoor Championships in November.
The Bruin duo entered the tournament seeded No. 1 and backed up that ranking on Sunday when they defeated Arizona’s Natasha Marks and Claire Rietsch, 8-4.
“It’s very important for us,” Schnack said after Sunday’s win. “More wins just brings more confidence. We know we have high expectations and more pressure on us this year, and we want to prove we can handle it.”
In addition to winning the doubles championship, Schnack will have an opportunity to bring home the women’s singles title today, when she faces USC’s Maria Sanchez, who defeated Remynse in the semifinals, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.
In singles, Schnack is the No. 11 singles player nationally, while Remynse comes in at No. 37. But as a duo, the two Bruin standouts are ranked the No. 4 doubles team in the country.
Despite its substantially high ranking, the team of Schnack and Remynse has suffered its share of disappointing defeats early on in the season. Two weeks ago in the Riviera/ITA All-American Championships, the UCLA tandem lost in the first round despite entering the tournament seeded No. 3.
The highly touted duo of Schnack and Remynse is hoping that this win will help them get on track, after suffering a few disappointing defeats earlier in the fall season.
“We’re just more confident that we can play with and beat any team,” Schnack said. “We lost in the first round of the All-American Championships, and we didn’t play our best. We knew we could play better.”
Schnack added that she and her partner do not intend to rest on their laurels, saying that there are several areas in which they can improve as a tandem.
“We definitely are going to work on some things,” Schnack said. “We can work on our form, our serve, returning, and going for shots. Just being more aggressive.”