Long Beach State University
Beach Tennis Winter Classic
Razakasoa's Upset Highlights Dominant Opening Day
1/16/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
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LONG BEACH, Calif. - The No. 41 Long Beach State tennis team opened the Beach Tennis Winter Classic with a dominant day on the courts. The Beach went a combined 10-2 on the first day of the three-day round robin style tournament, including Maeva Razakasoa's upset of a nationally-ranked player in singles.
Long Beach State is hosting New Mexico, Portland and CSUN in the Beach Tennis Winter Classic. LBSU faced Portland in the doubles portion of the day and matched up with New Mexico in the singles portion.
The Beach duos came away victorious, including the two newest members of the 49ers tennis squad. Freshmen Ella Monsey and Alex Jones, who joined the Beach just a few weeks ago, were the first to claim a win. The freshman pair won 8-4 in the No. 4 spot. Razakasoa and Julie Gerard won 8-5 at No. 3 while Karolina Rozenberg and Laura Eales gutted out an 8-6 win at No. 2.
Ebba Unden and Hayley Thompson fought hard in the No. 1 spot and forced a tiebreak at 7-7. However, Portland's Lucia Butkovska and Jelena Lazarevic won 8-7 (7-3) for the lone Beach loss in doubles.
The success in doubles carried over to singles where the Beach went 7-1 over seven players from New Mexico and one from CSUN, including another upset of a ranked player. In the fall, she took down Duke's Alyssa Smith and today upset 75th-ranked Emily Olivier from New Mexico. Razakasoa outlasted Olivier in the first set and kept her foot on the pedal for a quick 6-4, 6-1 win over her nationally-ranked opponent.
Gerard scored the first win of the singles portion with a 6-2, 6-2 win. Eales won 6-4, 6-3 at No. 6 while Unden outlasted UNM's Meredith Hopson 6-4, 7-5 at No. 3.
The lone singles loss came at No. 2 with Hayley Thompson falling 6-3, 6-4 to Natasha Smith. After a dominating doubles win, Monsey began her Beach singles career with a quick 6-1, 6-0 win at No. 7 and Jones won in straight sets 6-1, 6-3.
The Beach is back on the court at 11 a.m. tomorrow, facing off against New Mexico in doubles and CSUN in singles.
Players Mentioned
