In their final two home matches of the 2021 season, Cal Poly Women’s Tennis split their weekend series after a close 4-3 loss to CSU Fullerton, followed by a dominating 4-1 victory over UC San Diego inside Mustang Tennis Complex.
The Mustangs (11-1, 4-1 Big West) still hold the best overall record in the conference, but fell to second place in the Big West behind UC Santa Barbara, who remain undefeated in conference play so far.
CSU Fullerton
In the doubles matches, the Titans gave the Mustangs all they could handle, but Cal Poly was still able to pick up the point. The No. 2 pair of redshirt freshmen Melissa Lamette and Delanie Dunkle won their contest in a decisive 7-5 match.
Then, redshirt sophomore Emily Ackerman and redshirt junior MacKenzie Worsnop secured the doubles point for the Mustangs in the No. 1 spot after a close 7-6 (6) tiebreaker victory. The pair improved to 2-0 in doubles this season.
Cal Poly’s No. 3 pair of junior Grace Olyphant and freshman Shreya Ravilla looked to finish their match leading 5-4 against Fullerton before their match ended early.
When singles got underway, Ackerman extended the Mustangs lead to 2-0 after her dominant performance in the No. 3 spot winning in straight sets (6-2, 6-0). Ackerman recorded her tenth consecutive win in singles competition.
The Titans gained a point after Lamette suffered her first singles loss of the season against Fullerton’s Misaki Kobayashi in the No. 1 spot. Cal Poly responded after Dunkle won her No. 2 singles match in straight sets (6-4, 6-4) to give the Mustangs a 3-1 lead.
Then Ravilla and redshirt junior MacKenzie Worsnop both dropped their singles matches in the No. 5 and 6 spots, bringing the score all tied at 3-3.
With only the No. 4 spot left, Fullerton’s Natalie Duffy clinched the tiebreaking win for the Titans over Olyphant in three highly contested sets (3-6, 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-4)).
The Mustangs’ 10-game winning streak snapped in Friday’s 4-3 loss while the Titans improve to 9-5 on the season and 3-2 in the Big West.
UC San Diego
On senior day for Olyphant and Worsnop, Cal Poly bounced back in Saturday’s 4-1 victory over the UC San Diego Tritons.
Despite Lamette and Dunkle winning their doubles match 6-4 in the No. 2 spot, the Tritons (2-6, 1-4 Big West) picked up the doubles point after they won in the No.1 and No. 3 spots.
Their doubles point was the only one they managed to pick up for the match as the Mustangs swept the singles portion of the match.
Ackerman tied the match at 1-1 after she continued her dominant singles play in the No. 3 singles match in straight sets (6-0, 6-0). Her singles record improved to 11-1 on the season.
Then Lamette gave the Mustangs the lead after she picked up her first win at the No. 1 spot against UC San Diego’s Sophie Person in straight sets (6-1, 6-4).
Dunkle then earned a three-set win at the No. 2 spot over Ella Pachl (6-1, 2-6, 6-1) to give the Mustangs a 3-1 lead. The win improves Dunkle’s record this season to 9-2 and is her third consecutive singles win.
Ravilla clinched the match for the Mustangs after she beat Monica Stratakos in straight sets (6-4, 6-0) at the No. 6 spot.
Cal Poly finished the 2021 season with a home record of 8-1, their best record and most home wins in a season since 2011. Next week, the Mustangs hit the road for a match against the first-place UC Santa Barbara Gauchos on Saturday, April 17.