Long Beach State Tennis Faces CSUN On The Road This Friday

Friday, April 12

Northridge, Calif.

1:00 PM

Long Beach State University

CSUN

Photo by: Bryan Vivar

4/11/2024 3:29:00 PM | Women's Tennis

First serve for the Beach-Matadors match is set for 1 p.m. at the Matador Tennis Complex on Friday, April 12

By: Lindy Zamora, Associate Athletic Communications Director

LONG BEACH, Calif. – The Long Beach State Women's Tennis team will play its final road match of the regular season against CSUN on Friday, April 12 at 1 p.m. at the Matador Tennis Complex.

ABOUT THE BEACH

Long Beach State brings an 11-6 overall record into the week. The Beach are 5-2 in Big West action.
LBSU extended its winning streak to five last week with a win over with a win at Cal Poly, before suffering a tough loss at UC Santa Barbara. The Beach have now won five of their last six contests.
Heading into the final two weeks of the regular season, Long Beach State sits in fourth place in the Big West standings and just one game out of third. With CSUN in second with a 4-1 league record, a win for the Beach would move LBSU above the Matadors in the Big West standings.
When playing at Rhodes Tennis Center, Long Beach State is 8-3 this season. When playing on the road, the team is 3-3.
The Beach are led by Justine Dondonay and Rhona Cook. Dondonay is 19-10 overall, while Cook is 19-11 overall with a 10-5 dual record.
Cook is 6-1 in Big West action. In Hawaii, she took down nationally-ranked No. 99 Ana Vilcek in a pivotal three-set contest at flight one. Last week, she defeated Cal State Fullerton's Josie Usereau, 7-6, 0-6, 6-2 to clinch the match for the Beach on her way to being named Big West Player of the Week.
Dondonay owns a 19-10 overall singles mark and has worked her way up from flight six to flight two.
Sarah Medik is 17-11 overall in singles competition. She started the season playing at flight five where she went 5-1, and has now been playing at flight three.
Peppi Ramstedt is coming off of a pair of singles wins last week over Cal Poly and UC Santa Barbara. She is now 3-1 on the year at flight four.
In doubles action, LBSU is led by the tandem of Rhona Cook and Peppi Ramstedt at flight one. The pair boast a 21-8 overall record in doubles action this season. They are 11-4 when playing in the dual season.
Playing at flight three in doubles action, Paulina Franco Martinessi and Mathilde Tranberg have put together an impressive 13-3 overall record. The pair are 12-2 in the dual season and went on an impressive seven-match winning streak. The duo have now won seven of their last eight completed matches.
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 412-194 for an impressive .680 winning percentage. The winningest coach in Beach Tennis history, Hilt-Costello holds LBSU tennis coaching records in single-season wins (22), career wins (412), and highest winning percentage (.680).

SCOUTING CSUN

CSUN brings a 10-5 overall record into the week. In Big West action, the Matadors are 4-1 and in second place in the Big West standings.
The Matadors are looking to improve on three-consecutive losses last week after falling, 4-0 to No. 14 UCLA, 4-3 to Pacific, and 4-2 to UC Davis.
The loss at UC Davis marked the first conference loss of the year for the Matadors.
When playing at home, CSUN is 6-2.
Victoria Santibanez Luna leads the Matadors with nine wins in dual action this season. She has played this year at flight three. Last week, she won both her singles contests, including a Sunday win at UC Davis to improve to 5-0 in league action.
Emma Moratalla Sanz is 8-2 on the year, while Angela Ho, Yulia Zhytena, and Nicole West each have six wins each.
In doubles action, each of CSUN's three primary doubles teams are tied with eight victories.
The Matadors are led by Gary Victor who is in his 27th season at the helm of CSUN Women's Tennis.

THE SERIES: THE BEACH VS. THE MATADORS

Long Beach State and CSUN will meet for the 51st time in program history.
In the all-time series, the Beach lead the Matadors, 37-13.
Last season, Long Beach State defeated CSUN, 5-2, at Rhodes Tennis Center.
CSUN last defeated the Beach in 2022 after a 22-season drought, with a 4-3 win in Northridge.

CONFERENCE WEEKLY AWARDS

This season Long Beach State has boasted two Big West Player of the Week award winners.
Peppi Ramstedt earned the honors back on January 25.
Just on Wednesday, April 3, Rhona Cook claimed the honors for the first time in her career.

DOUBLES DOMINANCE

The Beach is 29-14 in doubles action during the dual season thus far.
With 29 wins on the year, Long Beach State owns a .674 winning percentage in doubles competition during the dual season.
The duo of Paulina Franco Martinessi and Mathilde Tranberg have been solid posting a 12-2 doubles record during the dual season thus far. The pair are 4-1 in Big West doubles play.
At flight one, Rhona Cook and Peppi Ramstedt have posted an 11-4 doubles record in the dual season.
Long Beach State's doubles dominance began in the Fall Season, as the Beach 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.

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 doubles play. She teamed up with Peppi Ramstedt and the duo defeated Gonzaga's Carolina Wernli and Lia Espinal with a convincing 8-2 victory.
In dual season action, Cook is 10-5 this year at flight one in singles competition. She is 6-1 in Big West action. One of her more notable wins was a three-set win over nationally-ranked No. 99 Ava Vilcek of Hawaii on March 3.
At doubles, she has paired with Ramstedt and the duo are 10-5 in the dual season and 5-2 in Big West action.

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.
Dondonay picked up the Beach's lone singles victory against LMU as she defeated Anastasia Bozova, 6-3, 6-4.
This season, Dondonay is 8-6 in singles dual action. She is 2-0 when playing singles at flight six. She has worked her way up and is now playing at flight two where she is 3-4.

PEP IN HER STEP

Peppi Ramstedt has been an integral part of Long Beach State's success this season.
She is part of the tandem, along with Rhona Cook, who plays at the top doubles flight that boasts an 11-4 record in the dual season.
In singles competition, Ramstedt is 5-2 in Big West action and 9-7 overall.
Ramstedt has won six of her last seven doubles outings, and went 2-0 in singles action last week.
Earlier this season, Ramstedt was named Big West Player of the Week for the week of January 25. She turned in a solid performance in which she captured three doubles victories and a pair of singles wins at LBSU's Beach Tennis Winter Invite. Additionally, she earned a pair of singles wins against Nevada and Pacific.

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

The Beach close out the regular season against UC Irvine on Friday, April 19 at 2 p.m. at Rhodes Tennis Center. Live Scoring will be available via BeachLiveStats.com.