By Mark Siquig
The Long Beach State women’s tennis team dropped a close battle, losing 4-3 to Boston University Thursday at the Rhodes Tennis Center.
After a dominant 5-2 win versus Youngstown State on Wednesday, the Beach were looking for a win in back-to-back matches.
LBSU started slow, losing two out of three sets of the doubles match. The only win came from the duo of junior Rhona Cook and sophomore Peppi Ramstedt defeating Boston University sophomore Michelle Kleynerman and graduate student Shelly Yaloz.
Junior Rhona Cook (left) and sophomore Peppi Ramstedt (right) shows sportmanship after winning their doubles matchup against Boston. Photo credit: Mark Siquig
“I think we were prepared, it’s tough because the week before we had a lot of rain and played Cal Poly and it left us not as sharp as we wanted to be,” LBSU tennis head coach Jenny Hilt-Costello said. “Obviously we were close today, we just let a few opportunities slip away. We just have to get a little bit sharper as we move forward.”
The pair of Ramstedt and Cook earned their eighth win of the season and improve to an overall 8-4 doubles record this season.
Sophomore Sheena Masuda and junior Justine Dondonay were down 4-1 in their match and eventually tied the score at 5-5. But the comeback took a lot out of the pair who ended up falling short 7-6 against the Terriers junior Kaitlin Tan and senior Erica Di Battista.
Sophore Sheena Masuda focuses as she and her partner try to comeback from a 4-1 deficit in a doubles match. Photo credit: Mark Siquig
LBSU fought hard during the competitive singles match, winning three out of four matches. But it was not enough because Boston was able to clinch a 4-1 victory after wins from junior Victoria Carlsten, Shelly Yaloz and Kaitlin Tan in their singles matches.
Cook was able to defeat Di Battista in a sweep which gave LBSU another point, winning 6-4 in the first set and 7-6 on the second set of the match.
Masuda beat sophomore Sydney Sharma winning 6-4 in the first set and 7-6 in a heated second set. The victory gave LBSU their third overall point.
“She (Masuda) finished really solid, the tiebreaker was a solid finish,” Hilt-Costello said.
Junior Sarah Medik smashes the tennis ball in her heated singles match versus Boston. LBSU lost three out of four single matches. Photo credit: Mark Siquig
With three single match wins and almost taking the doubles match point, the slow start cost them the victory.
“We’re very close and I keep telling the team we are a work on progress,” Hilt-Costello said. “We knew we had to develop a lot this season in order to contend for a Big West title.”
The team is back in action Mar. 14 with a matchup against Princeton University.
