Cal Poly Women’s Tennis continued their strong start to the season with a 4-1 win over Louisiana Tech inside Mustang Tennis Complex on Friday, March 6. The Mustangs now sit at 9-2 to begin the season and have two matches remaining in non-conference play.
“I think we came out with a good amount of energy,” head coach Katharina Winterhalter said. “Getting off to a good start is important and I think we did a good job in that.”
Louisiana Tech fell to a record of 9-8 with the loss.
The Mustangs made quick work of the doubles matches, earning the point on two wins. The No. 1 duo of senior Emily Monaghan and freshman Dominique Stone won 6-1 over Nadja Manjon and Andrea Perez-Lopez, while the No. 3 team of sophomore Emily Ackerman and Susanne Boyden defeated Ana Jover and Rikona Murakami 6-2.
“I think me and Susanne just played really smart tennis, we knew that we weren’t playing great, but we played steady in the points and just played into our strengths,” Ackerman said.
Manjon defeated Boyden early in singles play (2-6, 3-6) to give Louisiana Tech their sole point of the day. However, the Mustangs responded as Stone recorded a win in two sets over Ilana Tetruashvili (6-3, 6-3) to bring the score to 2-1.
Monaghan picked up a big win in three sets (2-6, 6-2, 6-1) over Jover to make it 3-1. Freshman Melissa LaMette clinched the win for the Mustangs in the No. 5 spot by defeating Perez-Lopez (6-3, 6-4).
The win kept LaMette undefeated in singles play this year, moving her record to 8-0 overall. LaMette, Stone and fellow freshman Delanie Dunkle have combined for a 17-2 overall record this season. Winterhalter spoke to the great impact the freshmen have had so far.
“It’s huge, all three of our freshmen have performed really well. They’re tough competitors,” Winterhalter said. “Having three freshmen in the lineup and getting such great results out of them, it’s great.”
With nine wins, the Mustangs have already surpassed their win totals in each of the last seven seasons. They will look to continue their successful start in their next match at home against Pacific on Wednesday, March 11.
“We try to keep the outside noise to a minimum, it’s going to happen and obviously I want them to enjoy it because they’ve worked so hard for it,” Winterhalter said, “But in the end, when we get back on the daily basis of the practice court, we talk about getting better everyday.”