By Long Beach State women’s tennis goes another week 1-1 after a 7-0 win against Youngstown State and 0-4 loss to Houston, keeping the team stuck in purgatory.
It began with a win against Youngstown State (3-11) where Long Beach State (9-3) won the doubles point, with freshman Dominique Meyer improving her game by tidying up her shots from the baseline.
“I played my game and didn’t let anything get in the way of that,” Meyer said. “I’m really happy to have helped the team and get that point.”
Singles matches were much of the same with the 49ers going undefeated with a revitalized Meyer back in the lineup after a three-game hiatus, winning both her sets 6-1.
Following these performances, it felt as though the 49ers took a step forward, but the game against Houston (9-5) made their week look much more dim. Long Beach State lost two doubles matches, making it clear the team was not ready at the start.
The most significant loss belonged to junior Natalia Munoz and sophomore Lolita Devarakonda, who lost 2-6 after simple mistakes hurt their chances at a comeback. Despite the game being windier than usual, the 49ers could not blame Thursday’s performance on those conditions.
“It was windy on both sides of the court,” head coach Jenny Hilt-Costello said. “If we did make that an issue then we need to be better than that.”
More trouble ensued in singles as Long Beach State was unable to win any of its first sets. At this point Houston took the advantage, eventually winning the three-of-six singles matches needed to win the game.
A silver-lining did come with the 49ers worst loss of the season, with Meyer, Munoz and freshman Wiktoria Rutkowska pushing their matches to a third set and pushing through their visible frustrations from earlier.
“When you have that slow of a start and to get into a third … that’s definitely a positive.” Hilt-Costello said. “I thought we were gonna win all three [matches].”
Following the match against Houston, Long Beach State stays at home for a 2 p.m. Wednesday matchup against Cincinnati.
