The Long Beach State women’s tennis team maintained its stranglehold on the Big West Conference on Sunday.
The No. 60 49ers won their sixth consecutive Big West title — and seventh overall — by defeating No. 56 UC Irvine, 4-1, at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.
No. 113-ranked Hannah Grady clinched the championship with a 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over Stephanie Hammel. The senior finished her Big West career with a 43-1 record in singles play.
The Beach (18-7) started the day by taking two of the three doubles matches to jump out to a 1-0 lead. Deborah Armstrong and Lisa Sutton took care of Courtney Byron and Miranda Young, 8-6, while freshmen Anais Dallara and Rachel Manasse dispatched UCI’s Brooke Bartlett and Rebecca Kwan, 8-3.
In singles action, Byron defeated Manasse, 6-3, 7-6, to take the first point but LBSU’s Dallara and Julie Luzar pulled the ‘Niners ahead. Dallara knocked off Clare Fermin, 6-3, 6-4, to earn her 20th singles win of the season. Luzar took down Kwan, 6-1, 7-6, in a battle of No. 5 singles players.
Earlier in the tournament, LBSU rolled over UC Riverside, 4-0, Friday and took care of Cal State Northridge, 4-2, in Saturday’s semifinal.
Next up for the 49ers will be the NCAA Regionals from May 8-10. An opponent and location have yet to be determined.
Well at least we will be getting some points back after failing to show up in the pool and on the diamond.