Long Beach State Women’s Tennis Travels To UC Riverside For Big West Match Up

Friday, February 2

Riverside, Calif.

1:00 PM

Long Beach State University

UC Riverside

Photo by: John Fajardo

Long Beach State Women’s Tennis Travels To UC Riverside For Big West Match Up

2/1/2024 2:21:00 PM | Women's Tennis

First serve for the Beach and the Highlanders will take place at 1 p.m. on Friday, February 2 at the SRC Tennis Courts

By: Lindy Zamora, Associate Athletic Communications Director

LONG BEACH, Calif. – The Long Beach State Women's Tennis team faces their first Big West opponent of the dual season on Friday, February 2 when the Beach face UC Riverside at 1 p.m. at the SRC Tennis Courts in Riverside, Calif.

ABOUT THE BEACH

Long Beach State is coming off of a spectacular season opening sweep of Fresno Pacific, 7-0, last week.
Mathilde Tranberg shined in the season opener dropping just one game in doubles action, before winning 6-0, 6-0 in singles.
During the fall, the Beach played in four tournaments and turned in solid performances in each of them.
LBSU kicked off the year at the Cal Fall Tournament where they were led by senior Rhona Cook. Cook sailed through the Gold Draw on her way to capturing the title as she defeated Cal's Lan Mi, 6-4, 6-3.
In October, LBSU hosted the Beach Tennis Fall Tournament. In their home tournament, the Beach breezed through doubles action setting up an all Long Beach State final.
The duo of Justine Dondonay and Paulina Franco Martinessi won the Black Draw Doubles Title, while tandem Mathilde Tranberg and Hana Becirovic Novak claimed the Gold Draw Doubles Title.
In singles action at the Beach Tennis Fall Tournament, Dondonay defeated teammate Doga Akyurek, 3-6, 7-5, 6-2, for the White Draw Championship.
The Beach then took part in the ITA Southwest Regionals in San Diego, Calif. The highly competitive tournament gave Long Beach some good reps under their belt against several Big West opponents, as well as some non-conference counterparts.
To close out the fall season, Long Beach State saw action at the UNLV Watanabe Classic in November. In Vegas, the Beach saw a pair of tandems crowned doubles champions, while Tranberg won the No. 4 Singles Draw final.
In doubles competition, Peppi Ramstedt along with partner Cook faced UNLV's Cindy Hu and Coco Zhao as they rolled to a 6-2 victory to claim the title.
In the No. 2 Doubles Draw, Akyurek and Becirovic Novak went up against UNLV's Nikol Mircheva and Aura Fang. The Beach duo battled the hosts and earned a hard-fought 7-6 (4) victory for the crown.
At Beach Tennis Winter, LBSU won the Doubles Title thanks to a 6-2 victory by junior Peppi Ramstedt and senior Rhona Cook.
Ramstedt was rewarded for her solid showing at the tournament, where she picked up three doubles victories and a pair of singles wins, with her first-career Big West Women's Tennis of the Week honor.
Long Beach State Head Coach Jenny Hilt-Costello is in her 27th year at the helm of the Beach Tennis program. She owns an overall record of 402-188 for an impressive .681 winning percentage. The winningest coach in Beach Tennis history, Hilt-Costello holds LBSU tennis coaching records in single-season wins (22), career wins (401), and highest winning percentage.

SCOUTING UC RIVERSIDE

UC Riverside brings an 0-3 record into the contest against the Beach.
The Highlanders opened the 2024 dual season with losses to Colorado (7-0), Nebraska (7-0), and San Jose State (6-1).
UCR has yet to play a road game as the first four contests of the season will be played at the SRC Tennis Courts.
The Highlanders will open Big West action on Friday against Long Beach State.
UC Riverside is coached by Mattias Johansson who has been at the helm since November 2015.

THE SERIES: THE BEACH VS. THE HIGHLANDERS

In the all-time series, LBSU leads the series against UCR, 26-0.
Last season, Long Beach State defeated UC Riverside, 4-0, in the season opener at Rhodes Tennis Center.
UC Riverside is looking for its first-ever win over the Beach in program history.

DOUBLES DOMINANCE

During the Fall Season, Long Beach State won four doubles draws. The Beach picked up a pair of doubles victories at the Beach Tennis Fall Tournament before winning two more doubles flights at the UNLV Watanabe Classic.
Leading the way for LBSU was Hana Becirovic Novak who, along with two different partners, won two doubles events.
In the Beach Tennis Fall Tournament, Becirovic Novak was paired with Mathilde Tranberg as the duo defeated CSUN's Sofia Dermenjyan and Cydney Tolmoyan, 6-4.
In Vegas, Becirovic Novak teamed up with Doga Akyurek and won the UNLV Watanabe Classic No. 2 Doubles Draw, 7-6 (4).
Also earning doubles wins for the Beach during the fall season were Justine Dondonay and Paulina Franco Martinessi, who won the Black Doubles Draw at the Beach Tennis Fall Tournament by a score of 6-3.
Rounding out the doubles winners for Long Beach State during the fall season were Rhona Cook and Peppi Ramstedt who claimed the No. 1 Doubles Draw Title at the UNLV Watanabe Classic, 6-2.
At the Beach Tennis Winter Invite, LBSU doubles remained strong as the Beach captured the Doubles Title in a 6-2 win from Peppi Ramstedt and Rhona Cook.

BIG WEST WOMEN'S TENNIS PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Junior Peppi Ramstedt was named Big West Player of the Week on Wednesday, January 25 after a solid week in which she captured three doubles victories and a pair of singles wins at LBSU's Beach Tennis Winter Invite.
Ramstedt partnered with senior Rhona Cook and the duo picked up a convincing 6-2 win against Nevada's Amahee Charrier and Anastasia Luneva to win the Doubles Title. Prior to the pair's championship win, they also earned a 6-2 win over Pacific and a 6-2 triumph over Big West opponent, CSUN.
In singles action, Ramstedt downed Nevada's Lou Anne Guerbert 6-1, 6-1, before taking down Pacific's Alexis Sam, 7-5, 6-0.

WALTZING MATHILDE

Mathilde Tranberg kicked off the dual season in a big way. The senior from Horsholm, Denmark waltzed her way through a 7-0 sweep over Fresno Pacific last week.
Tranberg cruised to three wins over the Sunbirds as she, along with doubles partner, Paulina Franco Martinessi, downed FPU's tandem of Halle Faherty and Malia Mitchell, 6-1.
Tranberg then faced Faherty in singles action and never gave up a game as she cruised to a 6-0, 6-0 victory to help ensure the Beach sweep.

JUSTINE SHINES AT HOME

Senior Justine Dondonay led Long Beach State at the Beach Tennis Fall Tournament as she came away with both a singles and doubles title in during the three-day competition.
Dondonay paired with sophomore Paulina Franco Martinessi and secured the Black Draw Title with an impressive 6-1 win over LBSU teammates Peppi Ramstedt and Rhona Cook.
In singles action, Dondonay was excellent as she captured the White Draw Championship with an exciting battle against Akyurek. After dropping the first set, 6-3, Dondonay came back to win, 7-5, 6-2, in a gritty three-setter.

RHONA IS COOKING

Senior Rhona Cook kicked off her senior season in a big way. The Chester, United Kingdom native turned in an incredible performance to open the year at the Cal Fall Invitational as she captured the Gold Draw Title.
Cook faced junior Lan Mi from host school, Cal, in the Finals of the Gold Draw. She promptly took down Mi in the first set, 6-4. In the second set, the two battled out an epic rally of 32 strokes before Cook went down the line to win 6-3.
While Cook shined in singles action, she also was solid in double play. She teamed up with Peppi Ramstedt and the duo defeated Gonzaga's Carolina Wernli and Lia Espinal with a convincing 8-2 victory.

ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE

Long Beach State Women's Tennis had an excellent Fall off the court as well. The Beach Tennis team finished the semester with an impressive 3.74 grade point average to win the LBSU Athletics Team Academic Award.
All eight players on the roster were named Academic All-Stars, while two were named to the Dean's List, and three earned President's List honors.
In addition, Long Beach State boasted three players with perfect 4.0 GPAs during the fall semester.

RHODES TENNIS CENTER

The Terry L. Rhodes Tennis Center is the home of the nationally recognized Long Beach State Tennis Program.
The 12-court complex, which opened in the Fall of 2008, features a unique design with four feature courts divided by a 40-foot-wide public concourse. Grandstands for spectator seating have been placed on four of the six varsity courts. All six of which are lighted.
Two gifts from Long Beach State alums have resulted in the construction of the on-campus tennis complex for the Beach Tennis team. Terry Rhodes, a 1962 graduate, generously gifted $1.25 million dollars to enhance the new tennis complex and endow multiple women's tennis scholarships.
The Beach also play in front of a full-sized electronic scoreboard, courtesy of a generous gift from the Hendricks family. It was dedicated in memory of former LBSU Women's Tennis Coach Gloria Hendricks and her husband, Bob. The family also includes former Long Beach State tennis player Cindy (Hendricks) Robbins, her husband Les Robbins, both 1974 alums, and brother John Hendricks. The 40-foot-high scoreboard displays match scores on all six competition courts via wireless controls.

STAYING SOCIAL

Follow Long Beach State Women's Tennis on Instagram and Twitter at @LBSUTennis. Fans can stay up-to-date on all things Long Beach State by following @LBSUAthletics via Twitter. Be sure to "like" us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter at @LBSU.

TENNIS TRADITION

The traditional player cheer pre-match and each time the team wins a match point is "Here We Go Beach!" All Beach fans are encouraged to follow the team's cheer with their own "Here We Go Beach!"

NEXT UP

Long Beach State will be back at home on Friday, February 9 when the Beach host Loyola Marymount at 2 p.m. at the Rhodes Tennis Center. Live stats will be available via BeachLiveStats.com.