177 / 232
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.