Cal Poly Women’s Tennis dropped their first away match of the season 4-0 against rival UC Santa Barbara on Saturday, April 17 in Santa Barbara.
The Gauchos (9-3, 8-0 Big West) clinched the Big West regular season championship with Saturday’s win against the Mustangs (11-2, 5-2 Big West), who are currently tied for second in the conference with CSU Fullerton.
In the doubles matches, redshirt freshmen Melissa Lamette and Delanie Dunkle struggled in their No. 2 matchup and lost 6-2 against UC Santa Barbara’s Kira Reuter and Shakhnoza Khatamova.
Then in the No. 1 doubles spot, redshirt sophomore Emily Ackerman and junior Grace Olyphant were defeated 6-1 which secured the doubles point for the Gauchos.
In singles competition, the Mustangs could not generate any momentum as the Gauchos swept the top three matchups.
Redshirt freshman Dominique Stone fell to UC Santa Barbara’s Elizaveta Volodko in the No. 1 spot in straight sets (6-2, 6-0). Then Dunkle’s three-singles match winning streak snapped after being defeated in the No. 3 spot in straight sets (6-3, 6-3).
The Gauchos sealed the match after a close No. 2 matchup in which Lamette forced a tiebreak in the second set, but ultimately fell in straight sets 6-3, 7-6 (4-0).
Ackerman and Olyphant’s singles matches in the No. 4 and No. 5 spots went unfinished despite them both having a commanding lead in each of their respective matches.
The Mustangs will look to close out the regular season on a high note when they face UC Riverside on Saturday, April 24 in Riverside.