The Long Beach State women’s tennis team might have found some answers for its recent woes and earned a 5-2 victory over No. 29-ranked Sacramento State on Saturday at the Rhodes Tennis Center.
The 49ers (9-3) had lost its last two matches coming into the contest.
“We did a better job of coming out and competing at every position,” head coach Jenny Hilt-Costello said. “It was definitely a positive step in the right direction.”
The match also marked the return of sophomore Klaudia Malenovska, who was suspended by the NCAA for the first 11 matches of the spring after accepting prize money for playing in club team matches overseas in Austria.
Malenovska took on a tough opponent in Rebeca Delgado in No. 2 singles. It took three sets to knock some rust off but the LBSU sophomore took the match, 4-6, 7-6 , 7-6.
“I started off really nervous the first set,” Malenovska said. “I shaked it off and I wanted to piss [Delgado] off, so then I started to play.”
Hilt-Costello described Malenovska’s performance as “gutsy.”
Senior Deborah Armstrong also had a tough match at the No. 3 spot that went three sets. In the end, Armstrong outperformed Maria Meliuk, 6-4, 4-6, 7-5.
With the victory, Armstrong tied assistant coach and former 49er Hannah Grady for the most combined career wins with 172.
At No. 1, junior Anais Dallara continued her stellar performance. The junior beat out No. 89-ranked Tatsiana Kapshai, 6-3, 6-3.
Sophomore Rachel Manasse defeated Sophie Lohsheidt at the No. 5 spot, 6-1, 6-3. Fellow classmate Sarah Cantlay outdueled Katherina Knoebl, 6-3, 6-2, to round out the 49ers’ singles victories.
The only singles loss was at the No. 4 slot. Sophomore Jaklin Alawi was defeated by Clarisse Baca, 6-4, 6-4.
The Sacramento State Hornets won the doubles point. The Cantlay-Julie Lazar duo was the only 49ers doubles victory. The tandem beat Lohsheidt and Knoebl at the No. 3 spot, 8-5.
The LBSU No. 1 doubles team of Dallara and Malenovska lost to the 45th-ranked duo of Delgado and Kapshai, 8-2. Manasse and Alawi also lost to Baca and Meliuk, 9-8.
The 49ers’ next match comes against Columbia at the Rhodes Tennis Center on Sunday at 11 a.m.
Disclaimer: The Daily 49er is not responsible for Postings made on www.daily49er.wpengine.com. Persons commenting are solely responsible for Postings made on this website. Persons commenting agree to the Terms of Use of the website. If Postings do not abide by the Rules of Conduct or Posting Regulations as listed in the Postings Policy, the Daily 49er has all rights to delete Postings as it deems necessary. The Daily 49er strongly advises individuals to not abuse their First Amendment rights, and to avoid language suggestive of hate speech. This site also encourages users to make Postings relevant to the article or other Postings.
