No. 51 Cal Poly Women’s Tennis walked into a hostile and rowdy Arnhold Tennis Center on Saturday afternoon. The bleachers and tennis garden were filled with UC Santa Barbara fans as it was the Gauchos’ senior day.
The afternoon began with team and player introductions led by the legendary Wayne Bryan, all decked out in UC Santa Barbara gear. Little kids made a tunnel with their tennis rackets, and both teams ran out when their names were called.
Not only that, the match would determine who would be awarded the top seed in the upcoming Big West Championships tournament.
“As much as I think this environment was tough for us, it’s exactly the kind of situations we want to be in to best prepare us for the conference tournament”, Head Coach Ellie Edles Williams said. “This is what makes college sports so fun, I told the team to just embrace the show and have fun.”
Both teams entered their final match of the regular season and the annual Blue-Green rivalry on a nine-match win streak.
No. 33 UC Santa Barbara would sweep Cal Poly 4-0, but the match was much closer than what the final score represented.
Doubles came first, and the Mustangs came out slow.
Cal Poly has not had the same success on the doubles front compared to singles this season, but their dynamic duos are still tough to defeat.
On all three courts, the Mustangs were faced with an uphill battle early, but momentum flipped quickly, and the comeback looked promising.
Courts No. 2 and No. 3 fought back to force a tight situation, but Santa Barbara closed out both matches in 6-4 fashion, clinching the overall doubles point.
Junior Kennedy Buntrock and senior Romane Mosse evened up the match at 5-5 before the match was called.
Heading over to singles, there were two sides to the story. The Gauchos had the point and overall momentum, but the Mustangs got going later in the match and showed some fire in a comeback; it was still anyone’s match.
In singles play, Cal Poly yet again was forced into an uphill battle. They lost five of six first sets across the board, setting the table for another potential comeback.
Buntrock was up against one of the best in the country, senior Amelia Honer, the No. 11 singles player in the nation. With fans screaming for Honer and the Guachos the whole time, hostility was a factor.
She played well all match, and at times looked like the more dominant player. Honer would recapture her allure at the biggest times, and put the match to rest, 6-3, 6-3.
Over on court No. 2, senior Peyton Dunkle was playing her style of tennis as well, gritty and fierce.
After dropping the first set, 4-6, Dunkle was relentless and took the second set 6-4.
The third set was geared up to be a thriller, but was called at 2-2 when the Guachos clinched.
After nine straight match wins, her win streak has been snapped.
The Mustangs’ back line was standing strong, just like they have been all season long. At courts No. 5 and 6, junior Jessica MacCallum and sophomore Natalie Lynch forced their way into third sets as well.
MacCallum was the lone line to win her first set, and she did it in 6-3 fashion. Her opponent came back and evened the dual up at a set apiece.
In the third set, she was up 3-2 when the overall match was called as well.
Lynch dropped her first set in a narrow 4-6 defeat, but she bounced back in an emotionless rage. She took the second set 6-1, also pushing her way into a deciding third set.
She was closing in on a win up 4-3 in the third set before the Guachos clinched the match.
With the loss, the Mustangs officially clinch the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament and an automatic semifinal bid, playing their first match on Saturday, April 26.
UC Santa Barbara will go into the tournament as the No. 1 seed yet again, similar to last season, when Cal Poly upset them and moved on to win the championship.
The Mustangs are already looking to avenge this loss and take down the Guachos when it matters most in the tournament.
“We’ve been in this situation before, we are great at being underdogs,” Dunkle said. “I think they’re scared, we had momentum today before the matches got called, and we are going to beat them again when it matters in the tournament.”
