Cal Poly Women’s Tennis split their two duals this week against Big West opponents Cal State Fullerton and UC Irvine.
The Mustangs (9-8, 4-3 Big West) opened up the week with a close loss to the Titans (12-8, 4-4 Big West) before bouncing back against the Anteaters (5-13, 1-6 Big West) with a sweep.
Mustangs drop a thriller to Cal State Fullerton
In a thriller, the Mustangs let a crucial Big West Conference matchup against Cal State Fullerton slip, losing the No. 1 and No. 2 singles matches to close out the 4-3 loss.
Five of the six singles matches in the dual went to a third set.
The dual started well as graduate student Melissa LaMette and junior Romane Mosse won 6-3 at the No. 2 doubles spot, and junior Eliza Bates and sophomore Kennedy Buntrock clinched the doubles point with a 6-4 victory at the third position.
The Mustangs captured the doubles point for the 11th time this season.
Mosse notched her ninth consecutive singles victory with an opening No. 5 position dominating sweep of 6-1, 6-2. It was an early 2-0 lead for Cal Poly.
The Titans made it a game, winning both the No. 4 and No. 3 positions against sophomore Alexandra Ozerets and LaMette.
Tied at two, Buntrock put the Mustangs back in front with a thrilling come-from-behind victory.
Losing the first set in her match, Buntrock battled back to win the second and third, 7-5, 6-0, to put the Mustangs within a game away from victory.
At positions one and two, the Dunkle sisters had the chance to clinch the victory.
Fifth-year Delanie Dunkle pushed her matchup to a third-set tiebreaker, losing 7-2, while younger sister junior Peyton Dunkle dropped the final set 6-1, closing out the 4-3 loss.
Huge bounce-back sweep to finish conference play
Cal Poly Women’s Tennis won their final road Big West matchup Monday afternoon against UC Irvine.
The Mustangs swept their singles and doubles matches against the Anteaters, which led to a dominating 7-0 sweep by Cal Poly.
The Mustangs have now won seven straight matches against the Anteaters dating back to 2017.
LaMette and Mosse opened up, dominating their doubles match, winning 6-0 at the No. 2 spot. They are now 8-5 together on the season.
Bates and Buntrock also both went undefeated in doubles at the No. 3 spot to win their match with a commanding 6-0 lead.
The Dunkle sisters, Peyton and Delanie, finished at the No. 1 doubles spot, winning their matches 5-1.
Buntrock took an early commanding 6-2 lead in her first singles set and finished the second one with a 6-0 win. Delanie Dunkle won 6-3 in her first set and then followed up with a 6-1 victory.
The remaining singles all went to the third set, where each of the Mustangs won, leading to the sweep.
Mosse scored 6-4, 5-7, and 6-1, marking her 10th straight win of the season with a 13-4 record and 6-1 record in Big West matches.
Cal Poly will return home for their final remaining games this weekend as they face UC Riverside on Friday, April 19 at 1:00 pm at the Mustang Tennis Complex.