SAN RAFAEL, Calif. – Dominican women's tennis finished strong in singles to earn a 5-2 victory Sunday afternoon over Stanislaus State at Castellucci Family Tennis Center.
"We had to dig deep emotionally and physically to pull out a win today," head coach
Cristina Visico Hassanali said. "Stanislaus State is always a tough rival team, but we really wanted it today and the girls did everything in their power to get one more ball back and win their matches. We were bummed to not win the doubles point, but we knew if each court took care of business we could get four singles and today we got five! I'm so proud of them. We will celebrate today's win and then go back to the drawing board to get ready for Academy of Art on Saturday."
Anabelle Mulick and Alyssa Tay got the Warriors (2-3) off to a strong start in doubles with a 6-2 victory in No. 2 doubles. Their teammates in No. 1 doubles, Amber Huk and Sylvanna Talamantes, were not far behind them securing a 6-3 victory to clinch the doubles point for Stanislaus State.
Dominican tied the team score as the Warriors Kate Bolton was forced to retire early in No. 3 singles. The Penguins'
Zoe Coggins then fended off Maya Young 6-4 in a close first set at No. 6 singles and then used that momentum to take a commanding 6-1 win in the second set to take the 2-1 lead in the match.
Julia Rydel kept the Dominican momentum rolling as she took No. 5 singles 6-3, 6-1 to put the Penguins one match victory away from the win.
Gina Dudley had a strong start for Dominican in No. 2 singles as she topped Mulick 6-1 in the first set, but Mulick battled back for the 6-3 victory in the second set to force the third set. Mulick took the final set 6-2 to pull the Warriors back within one at 3-2 in the team score.
With the fate of the match in the air, the Penguins'
Audrey Rafols and Stanislaus State's Huk were locked in an extremely tight battle at No. 1 singles. Rafols got a slim lead in the first set and held on for the 6-3 victory but Huk answered by doing the same in the second for the 6-4 victory. The third set saw the players trade games to a 5-5 tie with teammates cheering them on. Rafols dug deep got the break she needed to take the final two games for the 7-5 victory, securing the team victory as well.
Gigi Alajeely then added one more victory for the Penguins as she came back for a 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory in No. 4 singles.
Dominican will head across the Golden Gate Bridge to face rival Academy of Art at noon PST Saturday at Bay Club South San Francisco Tennis & Pickleball.
