Long Beach State University
UIC
No. 44 Beach Tennis beats Illinois-Chicago
3/31/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
March 31, 2011
Chicago, Ill. - In the first of three matches near Chicago, the No. 44 49ers showed plenty of fight in coming back to win on the road against Illinois-Chicago 5-2. Long Beach State rallied to win the doubles point, and then took four of six singles matches to win the point.
Long Beach State's competition began in singles, as the 49ers played in three tough matches. Kovaleva/Hricistova of Illinois-Chicago were able to win against Dallara/Malenovska 8-6, but the 49ers rallied in the other two matches to win the point. Rachel Manasse and Jaklin Alawi won at No. 2 doubles, beating Simonetti/Tsertsvadze 8-6, while Sarah Cantlay and Julie Luzar clinched the doubles point with a 9-7 win over Cristescu/Knoppe.
In singles, the 49ers got a quick win from Cantlay, winning 6-3, 6-1, but Long Beach State lost two matches, as Mariya Kovaleva beat Anais Dallara 6-0, 6-4, and Elissa Simonetti beat Jaklin Alawi, 6-3, 7-5.
With the match tied 2-2, the other three matches were forced to go to a full third set after splitting the first two sets. Long Beach State's resolve came through at that point, as the 48ers won all three matches. Klaudia Malenovska won at No. 2 singles over Teona Tsertsvadze 6-2, 4-6, 6-1, while Rachel Manasse was a winner at No. 5 over Jana Knoppe 6-4, 4-6, 6-1.
Armstrong completed the match with a comeback victory in the closest match of the day, outlasting Ilinca Cristescu 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-6 (4) to give the 49ers their final point Thursday.
The road trip continues for the 49ers tomorrow, as No. 44 Long Beach State faces No. 19 Notre Dame. That match is scheduled to begin at Noon PT on Friday.
DOUBLES
Kovaleva/Hricistova, UIC def. Dallara/Malenovska, LBSU 8-6
Alawi/Manasse, LBSU def. Simonetti/Tsertsvadze, UIC 8-6
Cantlay/Luzar, LBSU def. Cristescu/Knoppe, UCI 9-7
SINGLES
Mariya Kovaleva, UIC def. Anais Dallara, LBSU 6-0, 6-4
Klaudia Malenovska, LBSU def. Teona Tsertsvadze, UIC, 6-2, 4-6, 6-1
Deborah Armstrong, LBSU def. Ilinca Cristescu, UIC 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-6 (4)
Elissa Simonetti, UIC def. Jaklin Alawi, LBSU 6-3, 7-5
Rachel Manasse, LBSU def. Jana Knoppe, UIC 6-4, 4-6, 6-1
Sarah Cantlay, LBSU def. Linda Hricistova, UIC 6-3, 6-1
Players Mentioned
