If the No. 47-ranked Long Beach State women’s tennis team was looking to reestablish its dominant history over the Big West Conference, then it certainly didn’t hold back in its final home match of the season Saturday.
Following a pair of comeback wins to sweep the doubles point, the 49ers’ lone senior Deborah Armstrong led the way in a 6-1 victory over No. 42 Cal Poly on Senior Day at the Rhodes Tennis Center. The ‘Niners won the first five singles matches to claim the win over the Mustangs.
Cal Poly (14-5), which entered the day in first-place in the Big West with a 6-0 record, jumped out to an early lead in doubles against The Beach (15-5), which headed into match with a 4-1 mark in conference play.
Though Anais Dallara and Klaudia Malenovska led the way with an 8-1 victory over Alexa Lee and Amy Markhoff at the top spot, LBSU trailed early in the other two doubles matches.
However, at the No. 2, Jaklin Alawi and Rachel Manasse overcame an early 2-0 hole to defeat Jocelyn Davis and Ashley Pane, 8-4.
Meanwhile, Sarah Cantlay and Julie Luzar overcame an even larger deficit as they trailed, 3-0, before claiming an 8-5 victory over Gabrielle Gatewood and Florence Lehane at No. 3 doubles to sweep the point.
The Beach then carried its momentum into singles play, Armstrong in particular, who was honored before the match for the four years she has spent playing for the 49ers.
Armstrong responded with one of her best efforts of the season at the No. 3 as she made quick work of Florence Lahane, 6-3, 6-2.
Malenovska cruised to victory over Pane at No. 2, 6-0, 6-3 to give the 49ers two quick points in singles action.
Dallara also claimed a win at the No. 1 spot over Lee, but not before taking a crucial break point in second set to take a 5-4 lead after trailing 4-3. She then clinched the match she as held serve in a 6-1, 6-4 victory.
Manasse, who lost her first set to Jennifer Cornea in No. 4 action, battled back to win the second set 6-1 and was leading 3-0 in the third when Cornea retired to give the ‘Niners its fifth consecutive point.
Cantlay rounded out LBSU’s wins at No. 5 as she defeated Davis, 6-4, 6-3 to put the 49ers ahead, 6-0.
Cal Poly, however, broke The Beach’s bid for a sweep in the final match of the day at the No. 6 slot when Kathryn Webb beat Anna Jeczmionka, 6-2, 6-3.
LBSU will close out Big West play and its regular season next weekend when the team travels north to face UC Davis on Friday at 2 p.m. before taking on the University of Pacific on Saturday at 11 a.m.
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