The Arizona women’s tennis team began the ITA West Regional Tennis Championships on rocky ground in San Diego.

After advancing from a first-round bye, sophomore Natalia Toporowska fell to Pepperdine’s Alex Liles, 6-0, 7-6 (6), in what UA head coach Vicky Maes called a “”horrible start.””

“”Natalia … recovered and gave herself some good opportunities in the second,”” Maes said. “”However, it was too late.””

Freshman Jane Huh split her outing, with a first-round win over Ashley Litchfield of Cal State-Fullerton, 6-2, 6-0, and a second-round loss to Elizabeth Lumpkin of UCLA, 6-1, 6-2.

Maes believes Huh needs to bring a higher level of confidence to succeed in tournament play.

“”Jane played a decent first round but let herself be dominated in the second match,”” she said. “”She needs more courage in playing her game. She falls too easily into the other players’ trap.””

No. 6-seeded junior Danielle Steinberg remains alive after an easy second-round victory over Sara Yang of UCLA, 6-1, 6-0, in a tune-up for tomorrow’s match against Milana Yusupov of San Diego State.