The No. 38 Long Beach State women’s tennis team rebounded from its tough loss on Friday, sweeping its first Big West Conference opponent.
LBSU took advantage of its last match at the Rhodes Tennis Center for nearly a month, fiercely battling to dominate the University of the Pacific 7-0.
The 49ers took a quick 1-0 lead after sweeping the Tigers in doubles. Junior Sarah Cantlay and freshman Karolina Rozenberg paired up this week to dominate their match in a swift 8-0 set.
Senior Anais Dallara and junior Klaudia Malenovska once again prevailed in doubles as they defeated the Pacific sophomore Susan Te and freshman Gergana Boncheva 8-2.
“[The team] just has to stay positive,” Dallara said when describing the burst of confidence seen throughout the squad.
Senior Rachel Manasse and freshman Laura Bernard made the sweep official as they continued their aggressive near-the-net play to defeat Pacific’s freshman Iveta Masarova and junior Julia Hansen 8-3.
The ‘Niners blew the Tigers in singles, as each match was decided by no more than two sets.
Bernard continued her impressive play as she displayed great hustle, endurance, and stamina in her 6-0, 6-2 match victory against Te.
Cantlay outmatched Pacific’s freshman Regina Suarez as she dominated in two 6-2, 6-1 sets.
Malenovska earned the winning point for the ‘Niners as she defeated Boncheva 6-3, 6-0; but that didn’t stop the rest of Beach tennis from conquering as they kept the ball rolling in all three of the remaining matches.
Luzar toppled Pacific’s only senior, Summer Irvin, in a 6-3, 6-2 victory as she played a more powerful style than her normal style consisting of lobs and high loops.
Just as things began to look grim on the two top courts for the 49ers, Manasse resumed her dominance in the longer rallies as she took away the match over Hansen — fighting back after trailing 1-4 in the first set to win the match 6-4, 6-1.
In a similarly detrimental situation, Dallara trailed Maserova 2-5 at the top spot after struggling in the slow-paced, short-lived rallies. However, she quickly took control of the set with her strong serves and dominant returns to take the first set in a tiebreaker.
“I was nervous at the beginning,” Dallara said. “But last time I couldn’t get back into the match when I had negative thoughts.”
She continued to overwhelm her opponent as she mercilessly dominated the second set 6-0 to give the ‘Niners a 7-0 sweeping victory over Pacific.
“I had to play a high and speedy ball on her,” she said, describing her aggressive top-spin strokes that contributed to her 7-6, 6-5 match victory.
The 49ers will play their first road match of the season as they travel to UC Riverside on Friday. The match is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m.
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