With tears of joy streaming down her face, freshman Jessica MacCallum emerges from her swarming teammates in celebration and triumph after her 7-6, 2-6, 6-4 victory clinching the biggest match of the year for No. 65 Cal Poly Women’s Tennis.
With the air-tight 4-3 victory over No. 69 Colombia Lions (8-6), No. 65 the Mustangs extended their win streak to four matches and improved their record to 13-3 (3-1 Big West).
Cal Poly has been protecting their home-court advantage at the Ronca Tennis Center, moving to 9-1 at home this year.
MacCallum would be the clincher for the Mustangs, but help would come from all angles in the gritty battle of nationally ranked competitors.
Opening the afternoon would be the tandem of junior Kennedy Buntrock and senior Romane Mosse at line No. 2.
The two set the tone early with a dominant 6-3 win, giving the Mustangs the early advantage.
Buntrock and Mosse are now riding their own four-match win streak, pushing their record to 9-3 this season.
The Lions would tie up the doubles action with their own win at line No. 1.
It would come down to line No. 3 to secure the opening doubles point for the Mustangs.
Over the course of the year, Head Coach Ellie Edles Williams has tried many matchups at this line, but sophomore Natalie Lynch and MacCallum have had the most chemistry.
It would be Lynch and MacCallum battling today, looking like veterans in this high-pressure situation, the pairing would rally late, pulling out a 6-4 victory, putting Cal Poly ahead 1-0.
Colombia would strike first in singles play, tying the overall match at 1-1 after a tight win on court No. 6.
Senior Peyton Dunkle helped the Mustangs take back control on court No. 2. Dunkle would win in a loud 6-4, 6-4 straight-set victory.
In her senior season, Dunkle is 10-2 in singles play and moves into a tie with Cal Poly Hall of Famer Brittany Blalock for fourth all-time in singles victories with 47.
The Lions did not back down and kept applying pressure, evening the match at 2-2 after taking their win over on court No. 5.
At line No. 5, Mosse was not backing down either. The senior was feeling it early in the match, cruising to a 6-2 first set. The second set would be more of a challenge.
Mosse was forced to a second-set tiebreaker and would elevate her game and ground to a 7-6 (7-5) tiebreaking win.
Mosse’s recent surge has propelled her record to 11-4 on the year and she has won her last four singles matches.
Neither team could pull away all afternoon, and Colombia would yet again even the score at 3-3 after a thrilling three-set victory on court No. 1.
All eyes now shift to MacCallum at line No. 5.
The relentless battle would carry on to a third set after MacCallum and her opponent split sets 7-5, 2-6.
MacCallum, even as a freshman, has already been a huge part of Cal Poly’s success this year.
She is up to 13 wins this season and has only lost one singles match in her last 14 matches played. She has looked like a seasoned veteran all year long, and this third set was no different.
The two would go back and forth until MacCallum took a 5-4 lead and applied even more pressure than before. Her teammates relentlessly cheered her on and kept the energy in Cal Poly’s corner.
MacCallum was solid from the baseline all match, setting up forehand at the perfect times. Assistant Coach Emily Dush in her ear, telling her right now, this is the time.
MacCallum would go on to break her opponent’s serve, clinching the match in Cal Poly’s favor.
The team, led by her older sister Sarah MacCallum, rushed the court to congratulate the emotional freshman, crying tears of joy after a mentally draining match.
The Mustangs pull out a nail-biter in their biggest home win of the season over a tremendous Colombia team.
They will look to carry the momentum out to the Hawaiian islands, taking on Hawaii Pacific (4-9) on Tuesday and then Big West rival University of Hawaii (7-5, 5-1 Big West) on Wednesday.
