The No. 38-ranked Long Beach State women’s tennis team stayed undefeated as it defeated BYU 6-1, with Senior Anais Dallara grabbed a pair of wins at No. 1 in both doubles and singles.
No. 38 Long Beach continues to show its strength at home as they swept the Cougars pairs in doubles and finished them off in singles at the Rhodes Tennis Center.
The 49ers took a 1-0 lead against the Cougars as they swept them in doubles. Freshmen Laura Bernard and Karolina Rozenburg defeated Cougars junior Aubrey Paul and freshman Lisa Waldron in a quick 8-0 set.
Dallara and junior Klaudia Malenovska rallied back against the No. 7 pair in the Mountain Region, senior Megan Price and freshman Meghan Sheehan-Dizon from BYU, putting them away in an 8-5 victory.
Dallara made an especially powerful contribution to the win, as she was able to claim an unexpected point by slamming a ball over her head while running away from the net.
Meanwhile, the usually dominant duo of junior Sarah Cantlay and senior Julie Luzar, struggled against BYU’s freshman Morgan Anderson and sophomore Desiree Tran and barely pulled out the set, 9-8.
“It’s all mental in the end,” Luzar said when describing the match. “You just can’t lose focus.”
After leading 4-1 in the set, the duos play seemed to fall apart as the Cougars caught up 5-5. LBSU regained focus, however, as they snapped back into action to take the set away in the tie-breaker.
“You have to balance out the ups’ and downs’,” Luzar said, “and that’s exactly what they did.”
The 49ers persisted into the singles matches, as they proved victorious in five of the six. Junior Anna Jeczmionka defeated Waldron in two flawless sets 6-0, 6-0 to rally her team.
Luzar outmatched BYU’s Anderson as she played with near-perfect ball placement to avoid her opponent’s strong overhand strokes in a 6-2, 6-3 victory.
“I used high loops to make her play into where I could put it away,” Luzar said.
At the No. 1 spot, Dallara took a quick lead in the match, winning the first set 6-1. She trailed Tran for the majority of the second set. Luzar looked to be struggling with her serve as she suffered several double faults. However, she took control in the latter half of the set with her overpowering backhands and strong returns to take the set away 6-4.
Malenovska, who suffered the 49ers only singles loss last week against LMU, came out strong this week as she defeated Sheehan-Dizon 6-4, 6-3.
Cantlay outplayed Paul with a combination of strong serves, consistent rallies and overwhelming strokes to win the match 7-6, 6-2.
Bernard held on tightly in the final set after a 6-2, 4-6 score in the previous sets. Down 5-6, she prolonged the end with great hustle and tough endurance. Nevertheless, she lost the match with a 5-7 loss in the third set.
The 49ers continue their home play next week as they host No. 75 Wyoming on Friday at 2 p.m., followed by a conference match Saturday morning.
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