SURPRISE, Ariz. – No. 11-seed Dominican women's tennis used strong singles play to come from behind for the 5-4 victory Wednesday against No. 6-seed Cal State LA at the Surprise Tennis and Racquet Complex.
 
"Today's win was an amazing team effort," Dominican head coach Cristina Visico said. "The girls positivity and fitness played a huge role in our success. I feel like the last couple matches we have been peaking and this time around [playing CSULA] we were much more prepared in singles."
 
The Penguins (10-10) advance to the championship segment of the PacWest Women's Tennis Championships for the first time in school history and became the first 11 seed to ever win at the tournament.
 
The Golden Eagles (7-13) took an early lead as Chelsey Ruiz and Elizaveta Sokolova grabbed the first doubles match 8-2, while Isabella Lopez and Amanda Schneider added an 8-2 victory of their own in No. 1 doubles for the 2-0 team lead. Alex Wartenberg and Kaitlyn Nguyen grabbed the sole doubles point for Dominican defeating Snenzana Ivanovic and Mariko Sagara 8-2 on court three to grab the momentum heading into singles play.
 
Savannah Gray quickly tied the match coming back from an early deficit for a 6-4, 6-0 victory over Ivanovic. Rickimae Torres then gave the Penguins its first lead of the day after knocking off Sokolova 6-1, 6-2 on the first court. No. 63 Skyler Schaar took an early lead over No. 74 Amanda Schneider on the second court and held off a furious rally by Schneider for the 6-4 first set win. Schaar took the momentum into the second set for a strong 6-2 victory to put Dominican within a point of the upset.
 
CSULA mounted a comeback of their own as Chelsey Ruiz claimed No. 5 singles 7-5, 6-1 and Isabella Lopez won at No. 3 1-6, 6-4, 6-0 to knot the match 4-4 and turn all eyes to the match on the fourth court.
 
Kaitlyn Nguyen weathered an early deficit in the first set and came back for a 6-2 victory, while Sagara took the second set 6-2. Nguyen built the early advantage in the third and deciding set, taking four of the first six games, but Sagara took the next two for the 4-4 tie. After splitting the next four games, Nguyen finished off the upset after taking the tightly-contested tiebreaker for the 7-6 (5) victory in the final set.
 
"When it came down to Kaitlyn's match it was very close," Visico said. "But her positive energy and will win, regardless of how long it took, prevailed."
 
The Penguins will take on No. 3-seed Azusa Pacific in the quarterfinals at 9 a.m. at the Surprise Tennis and Racquet Complex. Live stats will be available online.