DALY CITY, Calif. – Dominican women's tennis fell 4-3 in a tightly contested match with University of Hawaii at Hilo on Monday at Bay Club South San Francisco Tennis and Pickleball.

Zoe Coggins and Carolina Guerrero got the Penguins (1-2) off to a great start as they topped Lehua Jordan and McKenna Mountain 6-2 in No. 3 doubles. The Vulcans (4-2) responded in No. 2 doubles with Akari Ichikawa and Hikari Osaki winning 6-1 over Haley Garcia and Sophia Thoring. The top court was a seesaw battle between Dominican's Audrey Rafols and Gina Dudley, and UHH's Julia Barden and Nanami Okamoto. The two doubles teams traded games to a 6-6 tie sending the match into a winner take all tiebreaker for the doubles point. Rafols and Dudley proved up to the task as they quickly pulled ahead and won the tiebreaker 7-3 for the 7-6 victory and the 1-0 team lead.

The Vulcans were able to tie the match in singles play as Osaki pulled out the 6-0, 6-0 sweep in No. 5 singles, while Moutain took No. 4 singles 6-1, 6-3 to take the 2-1 lead moments later. Casydee De Mattos put UHH within one singles match of the victory as she took No. 6 singles 6-2, 6-1. 

No. 26 Rafols remained undefeated in singles play on the year as she topped Ichikawa 6-2, 6-4 to get some momentum headed back to the Penguins. Gina Dudley added a 6-3, 6-3 victory in No. 2 singles over Julia Barden to even the match with all attention turning to court three. 

Astrid Craig and Nanami Okamoto faced off in No. 3 singles with the team victory hanging on the balance of the result. Craig gained the upper hand early as she held off Okamoto for a 6-4 victory in the first set, but Okamoto responded by holding on for a 6-4 second set victory to send the match into a winner-take-all scenario. Okamoto found her groove and held on for the 6-2 victory to give the Vulcans the victory. 

Dominican will return to the court Saturday as it travels south to face Fresno Pacific at 1:30 p.m. at Haak Tennis Complex.