Long Beach State University
Washington
49ers Drop Tough Match to No. 45 Washington
1/19/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Jan. 19, 2014
HONOLULU, Hawai'i - The 42nd ranked Long Beach State women's tennis team faced an early test as the 49ers lost a hard-fought match to No. 45 Washington 5-2 Sunday at the UH Tennis Complex.
The match featured a new scoring format that is being implemented in all non-conference matches until Feb. 10, which proved to be a difference maker in the early season test against the Huskies.
LBSU struck first in doubles as victories were picked up at the top two spots. Top pair Ebba Unden and Maeva Razakasoa defeated Elianne Douglas-Miron and Riko Shimizu 7-5 while No. 2 duo Karolina Rozenberg and Julie Gerard won 6-3 over Natali Coronel and Grace Ysidora.
Singles play proved to be a different story with the new scoring format that eliminates a third set and instead uses a "super tiebreak" where the first player to win 10 games in the tiebreak wins the match. Unfortunately for the 49ers, three of their singles matches were determined by the super tiebreak with LBSU claiming a win in one. Maeva Razakasoa competed at the No. 2 spot against Grace Ysidora and dropped a close opening set 6-7 (4) before winning the next set 6-4. She then was able to seal the point in LBSU's favor when she won the super tiebreak 10-5.
Two of Razakasoa's teammates faced similar situations, but the result couldn't be replicated. One was Julie Gerard, who played at the No. 3 spot against Julija Lukac. Gerard won the opening set 7-6 (4), before dropping the next set 6-2 and then ultimately losing the match 10-5 in the super tiebreak. The other nail biting match was at the No. 5 spot where Karolina Rozenberg played Riko Shimizu. Rozenberg also won her opening set 7-6 (4), before dropping the second set 6-3 and then the super tiebreak, 10-6.
"It was quite a battle out there today," Head Coach Jenny Hilt-Costello said. "Unfortunately we came up short and were only able to take one of the tiebreakers. However, I'm very proud of this young team who fought hard in their first dual match of the season."
Beach Tennis will remain in Honolulu for another match tomorrow against Big West opponent Hawai'i, which is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. PST.
Players Mentioned
