Stanford freshman reaches Pac-12 women's final

Stanford's Krista Hardebeck, shown in last year's Australian Open girls doubles event,
will meet UCLA's Kyle McPhillips for the Pacific-12 title. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Two freshmen, one from Stanford, will meet today for the women's singles title in the Pacific-12 Conference Championships in Ojai, Calif.
   The Cardinal's Krista Hardebeck, ranked 19th nationally, upended No. 8 Anett Schutting, a Cal junior, 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 in Saturday's semifinals. Meanwhile, No. 40 Kyle McPhillips of UCLA outlasted No. 29 Kristie Ahn, a Stanford junior, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4.
   Hardebeck will try to become the third consecutive Stanford player to win the title when she faces McPhillips at 10 a.m. Nicole Gibbs triumphed last year as a sophomore and went on to earn the NCAA singles and doubles crowns. Ahn prevailed in 2011. 
   Gibbs, who will defend her NCAA titles next month, played in a $50,000 tournament in Charlottesville, Va., this week. She lost in the singles quarterfinals but will compete in today's doubles final with fellow American Shelby Rogers.
   Both Bay Area doubles teams lost in Saturday's semifinals. No. 2 Kaitlyn Christian and Sabrina Santamaria of USC defeated No. 38 Stacey Tan and Ellen Tsay of Stanford 8-4, and No. 58 Courtney Dolehide and Pamela Montez of UCLA beat No. 29 Lynn Chi and Schutting of Cal 8-6.
   Western Athletic Conference Championships in Denver -- Chau Truong, San Jose State's career leader in combined women's singles and doubles victories, recorded the biggest win of her career.
   Truong, a 4-foot-10 (1.47-meter) senior from San Francisco, defeated Emma Isberg 4-6, 7-6 (6), 6-2 at No. 3 singles to give No. 66 San Jose State (19-5) a 4-3 victory over No. 52 Denver in the final.
  Truong, a left-hander, survived championship point in the second-set tiebreaker.
  "I had the feeling I could be one of the last to play," Truong said on sjsuspartans.com. "The pressure was very positive to me. I loved the pressure."
   The Spartans avenged a 4-3 loss to Denver (18-4) in the regular season, won the first conference title in their 35-year history and earned an automatic bid to next month's  NCAA Tournament.
   Big Sky Conference Championships in Gold River, Calif. -- The host Sacramento State men and women advanced to their respective finals with 4-0 victories. The Sac State men (16-12) topped Weber State, and the Hornets women (12-13) downed Southern Utah. 
   The Sac State men seek their fifth consecutive Big Sky title, and the women eye their 105th straight conference victory dating to 2002. Both teams will face Montana, featuring senior Michael Facey of Cameron Park in the Sacramento area at No. 3 singles and No. 1 doubles. The men will play at 10 a.m. and the women at 2 p.m. 
   Big West Conference Championships in Indian Wells -- Ali Facey, Michael's sister, helped the No. 31 UC Irvine women (22-3) breeze to a 4-0 semifinal victory over Hawaii (6-15).
   Facey defeated Kelsey Daguio 6-4, 6-3 at No. 5 singles and teamed with Brooke Schweyer to beat Rebecca Faltusz and Martina Kostalova 8-2 at No. 2 doubles.
   The Anteaters will play No. 45 Long Beach State in today's final for the sixth consecutive year. The 49ers (20-3) eliminated UC Santa Barbara 4-1 to reach their 13th straight Big West title match.
   West Coast Conference Championships in San Diego -- The No. 63 Pepperdine women continued a remarkable turnaround this season with a 4-0 victory over No. 40 Saint Mary's (13-9) in the final.
   The Waves, who began the season with nine consecutive losses, have won 12 of their last 14. They earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.