By snoadmin
The No. 43-ranked Long Beach State women’s tennis team cruised to its third straight win with a decisive 6-1 victory over Hawaii on Thursday at the Rhodes Tennis Center.
Despite some minor lapses, 49ers head coach Jenny Hilt-Costello was pleased with her team’s overall performance.
“We started to hit through the ball a little more and got after it,” Hilt-Costello said.
The 49ers improved to 3-1 while Hawaii fell to 3-4 this season.
LBSU junior Anais Dallara — who is coming off Big West Conference Player of the Week honors — came away with a 6-4, 6-0 victory in No. 1 singles after a tough start against Katrina Poljakova.
In just her third match since returning from injury, No. 6 Rachel Manasse showed no signs of rust, defeating Aglae Van den Bergh, 6-0, 6-1.
After surviving a first-set tiebreaker, senior Deborah Armstrong dominated the second set against Magdelana Ploch to pick up a 7-6 (5), 6-0 victory at No. 3.
No. 2 sophomore Jaklin Alawi edged Barbara Pinterova in the first set, 6-4, before breezing to a 6-1 win in the second frame.
Sophomore Anna Jeczmionka also came out victorious as she defeated Natasha Zorec at No. 4, 6-4, 6-2.
LBSU’s only singles play loss came at No. 5 as Sarah Cantlay dropped her first match of the season after winning her previous four.
Cantlay fell in straight sets to Alyssa Nafarrete, 6-4, 6-4
“While she didn’t have her ‘A’ game and didn’t play her best tennis, we still made progress today,” Hilt-Costello said. “Because she found some of her shots by the end of the game.”
Cantlay added: “Every time I thought I was getting back into rhythm, [Nafarrete] would come up with some good shots.”
With the doubles point at stake, Cantlay and junior Julie Luzar outlasted Zorec and Mari Tadaki, 8-6, in No. 2 action. Tied at 6, the 49ers’ tandem won the next two games to seal the victory and improve to 3-1 in doubles play this spring.
It was Cantlay and Luzar’s first match together at No. 2 after starting the spring as LBSU’s No. 3 pairing.
At No. 1 doubles, Dallara and Armstrong lost to Pinterova and Poljakova, 8-3. Tied at 2, Hawaii’s duo won six of the next seven games to win the match.
On No. 3, Jeczmionka and Alawi took care of Nafarette and Van den Bergh, 8-3.
The Beach’s next match comes against Big West opponent Cal State Northridge at the Rhodes Tennis Center on Saturday at noon.
Sports editor Tracy McDannald contributed to this report.
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