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Long Beach State University Athletics
Beach Tennis Continues Homestand With Wyoming, UConn
3/16/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
| Wyoming | 2 |
| Long Beach State | 5 |
Long Beach, Calif.
Beach Tennis Notches Tenth Win With 5-2 Victory Over Wyoming The Long Beach State women's tennis team recorded win No. 10 on the season with a 5-2 victory over Wyoming Wednesday at the Rhodes Tennis Center. |
Long Beach, Calif. - Long Beach State (7-4, 3-0 Big West) is coming off a difficult week in which top singles player Maeva Razakasoa was injured (missing one match) and the team dropped two home contests against nationally ranked opponents. This week, the Beach will look to get back to its winning ways with two matches at home. Wyoming (7-8) will be in Long Beach for a Thursday afternoon matchup and UConn (6-5, 0-3 AAC) will visit on Friday. Both matches will start at 2 p.m. at Rhodes Tennis Center.
LAST TIME OUT
• Playing without top singles player Maeva Razakasoa, LBSU dropped a 6-1 decision against No. 17 Pepperdine. Laura Eales scored the only win of the day for the 49ers, taking down Matea Cutura by a 7-6, 6-3 score.
• The next day, Long Beach State put up a battle against No. 31 North Carolina State, but came up short in a 4-2 loss. The teams played a shortened match due to the threat of rain and did not compete in doubles action. Laura Eales and Hayley Thompson picked up the two wins for the Beach.
WEEKLY CONFERENCE HONORS
• Thanks to her strong performance last week, junior Laura Eales was named the Big West Women's Tennis Athlete of the Week on Mar. 16. It's the second career win for Eales after she received this honor on Feb. 4, 2015.
• Earlier in the season, on Mar. 2, junior Maeva Razakasoa was named the conference's Women's Tennis Athlete of the Week after going 4-0 in combined singles and doubles action the previous week. It was the third honor of her career, having won the award once in each of her previous two seasons at Long Beach State.
ACROSS THE NET - WYOMING
• The Cowgirls are in the midst of playing nine straight matches away from home when they visit Long Beach on Thursday. The day prior, Wyoming visited another Big West opponent in Cal State Fullerton, losing 6-1 in that match.
• Wyoming has played 13 of its 15 games away from home this season and has gone just 2-7 in true road games. They've also been in plenty of close matches with six of their 15 results coming as 4-3 decisions including four of their last five.
• This is the fifth meeting all time between Long Beach State and Wyoming with the 49ers owning a 4-1 advantage.
ACROSS THE NET - UCONN
• The Huskies have been streaky this season, winning two straight after a five-match losing streak to get their record back up over .500 at 6-5. UConn will face Cal State Fullerton on Thursday before facing the 49ers on Friday afternoon.
• Yelyzaveta Pletnyeva has been the Huskies' winningest player this year at No. 3 singles, boasting an 9-2 record through the first 11 matches of dual play.
• This will be the first ever meeting between Connecticut and Long Beach State.
RANKINGS UPDATE
• Maeva Razakasoa checks in at No. 66 in the most recent ITA singles rankings. She slips a bit from her No. 57 ranking two weeks prior, which was the highest of Razakasoa's career and the third-highest in program history behind Jing Chen (37th, 1998) and Hannah Grady (38th, 2006).
• LBSU's ranked doubles team of Laura Eales and Hayley Thompson moved up in the most recent ITA rankings, moving from No. 55 to No. 48 in the country.
BIG WEST STREAK
• After a 4-0 win vs. UC Davis on Mar. 5, the Beach has run its Big West winning streak to over three years. LBSU has won its last 23 regular season matches against Big West competition, dating back to Mar. 2, 2013.
• Including Big West Tournament action, Long Beach has won 32 straight matches vs. Big West competition.
MAJOR VICTORIES
• Even in defeat against Arizona State, Long Beach State got three key wins over ranked opposition, two in singles and one in doubles play.
• Maeva Razakasoa knocked off then-No. 36 ranked Desirae Krawczyk at top singles by a score of 1-6, 7-6 (6), 6-3, recording her second win over a ranked opponent this season. In the most recent rankings, Krawczyk checks in as the No. 23 player in the nation.
• At No. 2 singles, Ebba Unden scored a big win over then-No. 98 Kassidy Jump, taking a very even match by the score of 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (4). Jump is now ranked No. 54.
• In doubles, Laura Eales and Hayley Thompson partnered up and beat the then-No. 54 ranked doubles team of Ebony Panoho and Alexandra Osborne by a score of 6-3. Panoho and Osborne have since moved up to No. 23 in the nation.
UNDEN-IABLE SKILLS
• Ebba Unden, Long Beach State's lone senior, has a chance to break some career records this season. She began the dual match schedule with over 75 wins in both singles and doubles, placing her 7th in program history in total wins with 151.
• With 38 combined wins during the spring season, Unden would tie LBSU's all-time wins leader, and current assistant coach Anais Dallara, with 189 career wins.
Players Mentioned
