No. 4 Seed Long Beach State To Face No. 5 Seed Cal Poly In Big West Quarterfinals On Thursday Morning

Thursday, April 25

San Diego, Calif.

9 a.m.

Long Beach State University

Cal Poly

Photo by: John Fajardo

No. 4 Seed Long Beach State To Face No. 5 Seed Cal Poly In Big West Quarterfinals On Thursday Morning

4/24/2024 4:21:00 PM | Women's Tennis

First serve for the Beach-Mustangs match is set for 9 a.m. on Thursday, April 25 at the Barnes Tennis Center in San Diego, Calif.

By: Lindy Zamora, Associate Athletic Communications Director

Big West Championship Central

LONG BEACH, Calif. – The Long Beach State Women's Tennis team heads to San Diego, Calif., to take part in The Big West Championships. The Beach are the No. 4 seed and will play No. 5 seed Cal Poly in the quarterfinals on Thursday, April 25 at 9 a.m. at the Barnes Center.

Live Stats: StatBroadcast.com

ABOUT THE BEACH

Long Beach State closed the regular season with a 12-7 overall record and a 6-3 mark in The Big West.
LBSU concluded the regular season with a big, 7-0 win over conference rival UC Irvine. The Beach have now won six of their last eight matches.
The Beach are led by Justine Dondonay and Rhona Cook. Dondonay is 20-11 overall, while Cook is 21-11 overall with a 12-5 dual record.
Cook is 8-1 in Big West action. In Hawaii, she took down nationally-ranked No. 99 Ana Vilcek in a pivotal three-set contest at flight one. On March 29, 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 20-11 overall singles mark and has worked her way up from flight six to flight two. She is coming off of a 6-1, 6-3 win over UCI's Asha Gidwani last week.
Sarah Medik is 19-11 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. She won her last two outings against CSUN and UC Irvine.
Peppi Ramstedt is coming off of a singles win last week over UC Irvine to improve to 3-1 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 22-9 overall record in doubles action this season. They are 12-5 when playing in the dual season.
Playing at flight three in doubles action, Paulina Franco Martinessi and Mathilde Tranberg have put together an impressive 13-4 overall record. The pair are 12-3 in the dual season and went on an impressive seven-match winning streak. The duo have now won seven of their last nine 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 413-194 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 (413), and highest winning percentage (.680).

SCOUTING CAL POLY

Cal Poly is the No. 5 seed in The Big West Championships as the Mustangs closed the regular season with a 10-8-1 overall record and a 5-3-1 Big West mark.
The Mustangs are led by Romane Mosse who is riding a 12-match winning streak into the postseason. She is 8-1 in Big West action and 8-0 when playing at flight five. Overall, Mosse is 15-4 in singles action.
Delanie Dunkle plays at the top singles flight for the Mustangs. She is 7-12 on the year and 5-4 in conference action.
Kennedy Buntrock has won five straight singles matches and is 6-3 in Big West play, and 11-6 overall.
In doubles competition, Delaine and Peyton Dunkle lead the way at flight one with a 13-3 overall record and a 6-1 Big West mark. The pair have won their last three contests.
At flight two, Melissa LaMette is paired with Mosse and the duo are 8-6 overall and 3-2 in conference play.
The Mustangs are led by Ellie Edles Williams who is in her second year at the helm of the Cal Poly Women's Tennis program.

THE SERIES: THE BEACH VS. THE MUSTANGS

Long Beach State and Cal Poly will meet for the 43rd time in program history.
In the all-time series, the Beach lead the Mustangs, 30-11-1.
Earlier this season, Long Beach State persevered through three rain delays and a change of venue on the road to defeat Cal Poly, 4-3, and extend their winning streak to five.
Cal Poly is looking for their first win over LBSU since defeating the Beach 6-1 in 2023 at Rhodes Tennis Cetner.

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.
On Wednesday, April 3, Rhona Cook claimed the honors for the first time in her career.

DOUBLES DOMINANCE

The Beach is 32-16 in doubles action during the dual season thus far.
With 32 wins on the year, Long Beach State owns a .667 winning percentage in doubles competition during the dual season.
The duo of Paulina Franco Martinessi and Mathilde Tranberg have been solid posting a 12-3 doubles record during the dual season thus far. The pair are 5-2 in Big West doubles play.
At flight one, Rhona Cook and Peppi Ramstedt have posted a 12-5 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 12-5 this year at flight one in singles competition. She is 8-1 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 12-5 in the dual season and 6-3 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 9-7 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 4-5.

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 a 12-5 record in the dual season.
In singles competition, Ramstedt is 6-3 in Big West action and 10-8 overall.
Ramstedt has won seven of her last nine doubles outings, and helped the Beach to a 7-0 sweep of UC Irvine 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

Should the Beach defeat Cal Poly in the Quarterfinals, they will advance to The Big West Semifinals on Friday, April 26 at 12 p.m., against the winner of the No. 1 seed UCSB-No. 8 seed UCI match.