Senior Peyton Dunkle tied the Cal Poly women’s tennis program record for career singles victories with 51 as No. 52 Cal Poly throttled Cal State Fullerton 6-1 in front of the home crowd at the Ronca Tennis Center on Saturday, April 12.
Both teams went on a run in last year’s conference tournament, ending with a battle between the No. 5 seed Mustangs and No. 6 seed Titans — two squads that weren’t expected to be vying for the conference trophy.
Regardless, the Mustangs edged the Titans 4-3, claiming their second Big West championship in program history that season.
Jump to this year’s regular season with only three games remaining, and the Titans (9-8, 3-4 Big West) looked to grab some revenge.
But for the defending champion Mustangs (17-3, 6-1), the rematch was the last thing on their minds.
“We weren’t even thinking about it being a rematch,” junior Sasha Ozerets said. “Everyone’s just so confident in each other that we don’t put any pressure on ourselves.”
Dunkle notched her 14th win of the season on court No. 2. She’ll have a chance to break Carol Erickson’s record tomorrow against UC Irvine.
They’ve now won their eighth consecutive match and 17th of the season, tying a program record for regular season wins.
Last year, they showed that regular-season records don’t matter come the conference tournament, as they upset the No. 1 seed UC Santa Barbara in the semifinals.
Now, for this team — who has held a national ranking the majority of the season and is second in the Big West behind the 7-0 Gauchos — there’s a lot of “noise” that comes with those expectations, as Ozerets puts it.
Head coach Ellie Edles Williams has them blocking that out, instead focusing on what’s in front of them.
“We don’t even talk about next week,” Ozerets said. “We don’t even talk about conference.”
The mindset showed Saturday as the team cruised to victories in five of six singles matches and four via straight sets.
Sophomore Natalie Lynch improved to 14-4 on the year at No. 6, senior Romane Mosse moved to 13-6 at No. 3, and Ozerets, at No. 4, is now tied for the 11th-most singles victories in program history with her 15th win of the season.
Freshman Jessica MacCallum earned her seventh straight victory, improving to 16-3 on the year. She has now won 16 of her last 17 matches.
The team now turns to Sunday’s match against UC Irvine, its final home contest of the season. The first serve is scheduled for noon.
Following the match, Cal Poly will honor its three graduating seniors — Dunkle, Mosse and Eliza Bates.
They’ll close the regular season on Saturday, April 19, with a potential No. 1 vs. No. 2 seed conference showdown against UC Santa Barbara.