By Long Beach State women’s tennis finished the Beach Invitational with three victories in its singles and doubles brackets, over the weekend.
The biggest winner for the Beach this weekend was junior Sadaf Sadeghvaziri, who went undefeated, winning her singles bracket in Flight B and going 7-0 for the entire weekend. Sadeghvaziri now has a 13-0 record in the preseason, which solidifies her spot on the roster after a strong final performance against Washington State sophomore, Yang Lee.
“I lost against her last year in the same place and I had that on my mind,” Sadeghvaziri said. “I was kinda ready and after winning the Big West, I feel like [the team] is in a different mindset.”
The match point for the game was long-winded, with both players at opposite baselines hitting lob shot after lob shot. Sadeghvaziri estimated that there were 20 shots in the last rally before she delivered the finishing blow.
[aesop_image img=”http://lbcurrent.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/FEATURE-PHOTO.jpg” panorama=”off” credit=”Manuel Valladares/Daily Forty-Niner” align=”center” lightbox=”on” captionsrc=”custom” caption=”Junior Carlota Casasampere completes a serve at the Beach Invitational. ” captionposition=”left” revealfx=”off” overlay_revealfx=”off”]
Sadeghvaziri was not the only one to win her singles bracket, junior Carlotta Casasampere won the Flight C singles bracket and maintained her undefeated singles record in the preseason.
“I’m happy for Sadaf, Carlotta and Zara, who won the backdraw of Flight A,” head coach Jenny Hilt-Costello said. “All in all, I’m happy with this weekend and the final results.”
[aesop_image img=”http://lbcurrent.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Zara-1.jpg” panorama=”off” credit=”Manuel Valladares / Daily Forty-Niner” align=”center” lightbox=”on” captionsrc=”custom” caption=”Sophomore Zara Lennon prepares a forehand swing for an oncoming shot at the Beach Invitational.” captionposition=”left” revealfx=”off” overlay_revealfx=”off”]
Sophomore Zara Lennon also had a great showing, with her only two losses coming in close matches that ended with her side faltering. She lost in the opening round of singles, battling her opponent in what was the longest game of the weekend.
“I was good the whole time because we have been working on our conditioning before this tournament,” Lennon said. “It was really just small differences that made her win the match.”
[aesop_image img=”http://lbcurrent.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Zara-and-Ashleigh-2.jpg” panorama=”off” credit=”Manuel Valladares / Daily Forty-Niner” align=”center” lightbox=”on” captionsrc=”custom” caption=”Assistant coach Ashleigh Antal talks to sophomore Zara Lennon at the Beach Invitational.” captionposition=”left” revealfx=”off” overlay_revealfx=”off”]
In her final doubles match with partner senior Natalia Munoz, the two gave up a 4-1 lead and lost in a 7-point tiebreaker. The Long Beach duo became flustered when their opponents took control of the game, and they looked for a momentum-boosting shot that never came.
“We had our foot on their neck, but we just could not finish it,” Munoz said. “They changed things up on us and we tried to adjust but by then, it was too late.”
Long Beach will head to San Diego for the ITA Southwest Regionals Oct. 17 through 20 at the Barnes Tennis Center.
