NCAA Division II Women’s Tennis Championships : Cal State Northridge Tandem Unravels in Final

Portia George has a first name that is pronounced like a sports car, and when her game clicks on all cylinders she is hell in sneakers to play against.

Coach Tony Davila of Cal State Northridge knew it. So did CSUN’s Missy Conn and Allison Kincaid, who met George and Christina Bokelund on Sunday in the doubles final of the NCAA Division II tennis championships.

Modifying an old Willie Keeler line, Davila delivered simple instructions to his doubles tandem on how to neutralize George: Hit ‘em where she ain’t.

If only it were that easy.

George’s play at the net overwhelmed Conn and Kincaid as the top-seeded team from Southern Illinois-Edwardsville won the title match, 6-3, 6-1, at Cal State Sonoma.

“We didn’t do what we had to do,” Davila said. “Portia was doing whatever she wanted.”

George, who battled dehydration throughout the weeklong tournament, said she was inspired by necessity. Earlier in the day, she lost to top-seeded Xenia Anastasiadou of Cal Poly Pomona, 6-4, 6-1, in the singles final.

“I was drained during the singles match,” George said. “I didn’t want to be out there. In doubles I felt better, but still not real good.”

George and Bokelund were successful in taking Conn and Kincaid out of their normal game of using high-percentage shots.

“We started going for liners instead of just keeping it in play,” said Kincaid, a sophomore who lost to George, 6-2, 6-2 in singles on Thursday.

It was the second consecutive doubles championship for George and Bokelund, who won 28 of 29 matches this season.

Conn and Kincaid, unseeded in the tournament, finished the season with a record of 13-4.

“We have nothing to be ashamed of,” Conn said. “For us to get as far as we did was pretty impressive. We weren’t even supposed to be here.”