The Beach women’s tennis team earned a convincing 6-1 win over No. 75 Louisville at the Terry Rhodes Tennis Center Friday.
All three doubles matches were grabbed by No. 40 Long Beach State to get an early 1-0 lead. The competitive atmosphere was palpable, and the Cardinals were giving the 49ers a match.
The freshman team of Rachel Manasse and Anais Dallara ousted Lauren Imre and Amelia Harris, 8-5. Sophomore Brits Debbie Armstrong and Lisa Sutton defeated Lindsey Jones and Jo-Ann Van Aerde, 8-4. The veteran British seniors, Hannah Grady and Jessica Weeks, enjoyed quick success over Bianca Gorbea and Natalia Baez, 8-2.
Singles proved to be equally successful. The 5-foot-3 Dallara dominated the much bigger Van Aerde, giving up only one game in the first set.
The composed Frenchwoman, Dallara said, “[I] was calm and relaxed. I played simple, cross-court, down the line … I just play my match.”
Manasse, with her hard-hitting style and scrappiness, was having a close first set with Imre, who had a similar style of play.
“I haven’t seen [that style] in a while,” Manasse said. “In the first set, I was getting my rhythm.”
After coming back from down 5-4 to win the first set 7-5, Manasse became punishing and steamrolled Imre 6-0 in the second. The normally emotional Manasse kept her composure, explaining, “[Imre] was feeding off the negative energy so I tried keeping it inside.”
The No. 5 singles was the match clincher as Julie Luzar defeated Natalia Baez, 6-4, 6-3. Grady dispensed Jones shortly after, 6-4, 6-4.
In No. 2 singles, Armstrong took the first set 6-4 against Gorbea. Gorbea was leading in the second, 4-3, before Armstrong fought her way to victory, 7-5.
After the Armstrong/Gorbea match, all eyes moved to No. 6 singles as the Cardinals’ Sarah Miller led Sutton, 4-1, in the first set but could not close out the set. Sutton would dominate play and go on a five-game run to take the first set, 6-4. A vengeful Miller would strike back and take the second set, 6-0, forcing a third set and ultimately winning, 10-6.
LBSU (11-4) faces No. 42 Denver (8-4) tomorrow at the Rhodes Tennis Center. Play begins at 11 a.m.
When asked about the important match the next day against closely-ranked Denver, Dallara grinned and said, “We can do it!”