A slow start didn’t stop the No. 50 Long Beach State women’s tennis team from defeating its first ranked opponent of the season as the 49ers downed No. 47 San Diego State, 4-3, at the Rhodes Tennis Center on Saturday.
Jaklin Alawi and Rachel Manasse played key roles in the win as each player picked up important wins in doubles and singles.
Winning two of the three doubles matches for the doubles point gave the 49ers (3-1) enough points to pull out a victory despite splitting the singles matches with the Aztecs (4-3).
Sisters Roxanne and Sierra Ellison got off to an early 4-1 lead at No. 1 doubles against No. 58 Alawi and Manasse, but pair rallied back to take eight of the next nine games over the Aztecs and won, 8-5.
Deborah Armstrong and Anais Dallara fell to the team of Julia Trunk and Julia Wais at No. 2 doubles, 8-2.
Anna Jeczmionka and Sarah Cantlay defeated Alicia Aguilar and Emma Cioffi, 9-7, in a highly competitive match at No. 3 doubles, earning The Beach the doubles point that helped make the difference in the win.
At No. 1 singles, Armstrong lost a quick two-set match to Trunks, 6-1, 6-0. Dallara defeated Wais, 6-4, 6-3, at No. 2 singles, which featured a controversial double-bounce call that didn’t go the way Dallara would have liked. She felt her opponent hit the ball off its second bounce, but Wais was allowed to make the call because the line judge did not catch it.
“It was really unfair, I was about to play the point,” Dallara said. “I was really motivated after that, it really helped me.”
Dallara lost the game but didn’t lose concentration and fought back to win the set and match.
Alawi and Manasse carried on their doubles success at No. 3 and No. 4 singles. Alawi defeated Aguilar 4-6, 6-0, 6-3, at No. 3 singles and Manasse beat Roxanne Ellison 6-2, 6-3 and let out a roar of “here we go Beach” the second she ended the match.
“We yell it out every time we win,” Manasse said. “When we hear, ‘Here we go Beach,’ it gets us pumped up and motivated because we know someone just won.”
Sierra Ellison defeated Jeczmionka 7-6 (7), 3-6, 10-8, at No, 5 singles and Cioffi defeated Cantlay 6-2, 6-4.
The Beach travels to play UC Riverside to start off Big West Conference play on Friday and returns home to play UC Irvine at 11 a.m. on Saturday.