LOS ANGELES — An early stumble Saturday denied the Long Beach State women’s tennis team of any extension to its historic 21-win season in a 4-0 sweep by Oklahoma State in the NCAA Tournament’s opening round.
The third-seeded ‘Niners (21-4) were eliminated by the second-seeded Cowgirls (16-8) in a nearly-vacant UCLA Los Angeles Tennis Center, where they served as some of the only witnesses to the end of both their 13-match winning streak and their season.
Head coach Jenny Hilt-Costello said that while the loss was a disappointing end to the season, she is proud that the team reached its biggest goal two weeks ago, beating UC Irvine to claim the Big West Title. Had her team been more effective in doubles, she said, they would have had a chance to beat OSU.
“Honestly, they just played better than us,” Hilt-Costello said. “We came out a little flat, and by the time that we started to feel our rhythm, it was a little too late.”
The 49ers started slow, losing all three of their doubles matches. The first loss came rapidly, when OSU’s C.C. Sardinha and Maria Alvarez overpowered Anna Jeczmionka and Anne-Sophie Willems with an 8-3 defeat.
Down 7-3, Ebba Unden and Karolina Rozenberg turned around to take their next three sets from OSU’s Malika Rose and Kanyapat Narattana, cutting their deficit to one. Their match was called early, though, after Sarah Cantlay and Klaudia Malenovska were defeated in a tight 9-7 match against Meghan Blevins and Lorena Gheorge.
Hilt-Costello said that because her team fell short in its doubles matches, OSU’s momentum was probably too strong to overcome in singles.
“It is a big difference when you can take that doubles point,” Hilt-Costello said. “There’s a lot of momentum. I know it’s only one point but it makes a big difference in terms of confidence going into singles.”
The Cowgirls responded to the 49ers’ late-match doubles comeback by sweeping all six set one singles matches, burying LBSU’s chances for a victory even deeper.
A 4-0 singles lead by Unden was cut short when the match was called early, as it could not compensate for losses to Cantlay 6-0, 6-3, Jeczmionka 6-0, 6-1 and Willems 6-4, 6-1.
“I don’t know if we had enough juice to beat Oklahoma State,” Hilt-Costello said. “I do think we could have competed better than we did today.”
After eliminating the 49ers, Oklahoma State advanced to the next round on Sunday, where it was swept by UCLA, 4-0.
This year’s LBSU tennis team had a season that was statistically better than most before it. Its 21 wins tie the 2002 season for second-best in program history, right behind the record of 22 that was achieved in both 2001 and 2006.
The tournament loss was the last collegiate match for graduating seniors Cantlay, Malenovska and Jeczmionka.
“We won Big West, and that was our big, big goal,” freshman Unden said. “The opponents we had to day were really good. It would have been amazing to win, but I think everyone would’ve had to been at their top level, and a little bit more.”