The No. 42-Long Beach State women’s tennis team kept its No. 1 seed hopes alive Friday for the upcoming Big West Conference tournament with a decisive 6-1 victory over No. 56 UC Davis in Davis, Calif.
The 49ers (16-5, 6-1 Big West) won eight of nine total matches from the Aggies (16-5, 6-2 Big West), including a sweep in doubles before taking the top five singles matches to earn the victory.
The ‘Niners are currently tied for first place with Cal Poly in the Big West standings with one regular-season match remaining, however, The Beach owns the tiebreaker should both teams finish with the same record.
Meanwhile, the loss dropped the Aggies into the No. 3 seed.
LBSU got off to a quick start in doubles, as Sarah Cantlay and Julie Luzar shut out Lauren Curry and Dahra Zamudio in a shutout, winning 8-0, while Anais Dallara and Klaudia Malenovska followed up with an 8-2 win in No. 1 doubles over Megan Heneghan and Kelly Chui to clinch the point. Jaklin Alawi and Rachel Manasse defeated Noelle Eades and Nicole Koehly to complete the doubles sweep, 8-4.
In singles play, Manasse maintained a hot start for LBSU in No. 4 action with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Eades, which was followed by a straight set victory at by Cantlay over Koehly, 7-5, 6-1 at the No. 5.
UC Davis earned its lone point of the day at No. 6 when Curry outlasted Anna Jeczmionka, 6-4, 6-3. However, the 49ers clinched the match behind Malenovska’s 7-6 (3), 6-4 win over Kelly Chui at No. 2 singles.
At the top spot, Dallara rallied from a first-set loss to defeat Heneghan, 5-7, 6-1, 6-2, while Deborah Armstrong did the same in No. 3 action. Armstrong fought off Zamudio in the most competitive match of the day, 6-7 (4), 6-2, 6-4.
LBSU will close out the regular season with one more conference match against Pacific on Saturday at Noon. With a victory over the Tigers, the 49ers will clinch the regular-season Big West title, as well as the top seed in the upcoming Big West Tournament for the fourth consecutive year.
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