By snoadmin
The Long Beach State women’s tennis team put together a dominating performance with a 6-1 victory over the Eastern Michigan Eagles on a gusty Thursday at the Rhodes Tennis Center.
No. 46 LBSU (7-2) got back on the winning track in the nonconference match after previously losing to 18th-ranked Washington last Sunday, snapping a then six-match winning streak.
The 49ers swept the doubles point as Jaklin Alawi and Rachel Manasse defeated Karina Ahuja and Miriam Westerink, 8-1, at No. 1 doubles. At No. 2 doubles, Deborah Armstrong and Anais Dallara beat Georgia de’Lisle-Tarr and Celine Donnet, 8-3, while at No. 3 doubles, Anna Jeczmionka and Sarah Cantlay came away with an 8-1 win over Xu Chang and Marcela Rivero.
Coming into the match, Armstrong was named Co-Big West Player of the Week on Wednesday and played like it in her match with de’Lisle-Tarr at No. 3 singles. The Newcastle, England native took the match, 6-1, 6-0.
“I felt good today, I thought we had a really good week of practice,” Armstrong said.
The only lost point for the 49ers was in No. 1 singles where Dallara was defeated by Westerink, 6-4, 6-3. Dallara played with focus and intensity, but the frustration in her face was visible due to Westerink’s stellar play.
In other singles matches, Alawi defeated Chang 6-3, 6-2 at No. 2 singles, while Manasse blanked Donnet, 6-0, 6-0 at No. 4 singles. Jeczmionka beat Rivero in three sets, 6-3, 4-6, 10-4 at No. 5 singles and Cantlay defeated Rumbidzai Muskwe, 6-1, 6-0 at No. 6.
“The other team played okay, our mind set for all of us as a team was to play aggressive and move forward and I think we did that quite well,” Armstrong said.
The 49ers will return to Big West Conference action when they host UC Davis on Saturday at 11 a.m.
