SAN RAFAEL, Calif. – Dominican women's tennis put up a strong fight, but was unable to slow Fresno Pacific University in a 7-0 loss Saturday afternoon at Castellucci Family Tennis Center.

"The final scores are a little deceiving," head coach Cristina Visico said. "The matches were pretty close on most courts. I feel like we really have some good momentum going into our upcoming matches."

Ionna Lathouri and Gaya Solomon started the Sunbirds (9-2) off well in doubles with a 6-1 victory on the top court. The other two matchups remained tight as Marina Lex and Claudia Iglesias edged out the Penguins' (3-10) Alex Wartenberg and Michelle Li 6-3 in No. 2 doubles to secure the first team point. Alice Di Matteo and Sanne Brull of FPU held off a strong challenge from Nicole Bermudez and Sierra Shackelford for the 6-4 victory on the final doubles court.

Iglesias expanded the Sunbird lead to 2-0 with a 6-0, 6-0 win to open up singles play from the sixth court. Lathouri added a 6-3, 6-1 victory in No. 2 singles with Lex holding off Kaitlyn Nguyen 6-4, 6-2 on the top court to secure the team victory. 

Imane Van Veen continued the FPU momentum with a 6-2, 6-3 victory in No. 4 singles over the Penguins' Ofelia Lopez Camarena. Wartenberg claimed the only set of the day for Dominican with a 6-3 victory in the first set over Di Matteo. Di Matteo responded with a narrow 6-3 victory in the second set before holding on for a 10-8 victory in the tiebreaker to take the match.

Li and Brull were the final two on the court, despite playing in a two set match. Each game remained close between the two on the fifth court, but Brull was able to escape with the 6-4, 7-5 match victory to complete the sweep.

Dominican will return to the court Sunday to face Stanislaus State at noon PDT at Castellucci Family Tennis Center.