WAIPAHU, Hawai'i – Dominican women's tennis narrowly dropped a 4-1 decision to University of Hawai'i at Hilo in its opener of a three-game road trip to the islands.
"Every match from doubles to singles was very close, some just a matter of a few points," head coach
Cristina Visico Hassanali said. "We were bummed to have lost the doubles point, but it was exciting to have it come down to one match and was a great learning opportunity. We're a young team, but each match we are getting stronger and more resilient in how we approach pressure situations. Every single person battled to the end. We couldn't get the win, but we came away encouraged and ready to play HPU."
Freshmen
Gina Dudley and
Audrey Rafols got the Penguins (1-2) off to a strong start as they claimed a commanding 6-1 victory over Carolina Alfonsin and Hannah Highsmith. Julia Barden and Nanami Okamoto provided the answer for the Vulcans (1-1) with a 6-2 victory in No. 2 doubles as the team point was decided on the third court.
Zoe Coggins and
Julia Rydel went toe-to-toe with Hikari Osaki and Akari Ichikawa trading games, but Osaki and Akari built just enough of a lead to grab the 6-4 victory for UHH to make it 1-0 heading to singles play.
Rafols continued the brilliant start to her Dominican career dispatching Alfonsin in straight sets 6-2, 6-2 to tie the match at 1-1. Sandra Dafincescu held off Dudley 6-4 in the first set in No. 2 singles, but Dudley responded with a 6-1 victory in the second to level the match. Dafincescu responded in the third set with a 6-1 victory to give the Vulcans back the team lead at 2-1.
Barden and
Haley Garcia traded games to a 5-5 tie in the first set of No. 3 singles, but Barden broke set down the stretch to take the 7-5 victory before taking the second set 6-1 to put UHH a point from clinching the team victory.
Gigi Alajeely and Osaki kept to the same script as most of the singles matches battling in close sets with Osaki doing just enough to pull out the 6-4, 6-4 win to seal the team victory for the Vulcans.
Dominican will face its toughest competition of the early season next at No. 13 Hawaii Pacific at Kailua Racquet Club on Sunday at 3 p.m. HST.
