LOS ANGELES – Dominican women's tennis came from behind to claim a 4-3 victory over Cal State LA on Wednesday afternoon at Cal State LA Tennis Complex.

Gina Dudley and Audrey Rafols got the Penguins (3-3) off to a strong start as they made quick work of Sarah Olmos and Sakura Kurokawa to claim No. 1 doubles 6-1. Courtlyn Lam and Savaughna Mayo evened the doubles portion for the Golden Eagles (1-7) as they won No. 3 doubles 6-3. No. 2 doubles was a seesaw battle between Haley Garcia and Hannah Lam-Truong of Dominican and Hideka Takamura and Alexandra Hincu of Cal State LA. The duos traded games to a 6-6 tie to send the match into a tiebreaker to decide who would receive the doubles point. IT was Takamura and Hincu that proved victorious 7-6 (2) to give the Golden Eagles a 1-0 lead heading to singles play. 

CSULA continued to press its advantage in singles as Kurokawa won 6-0, 6-2 on court three while Mayo claimed No. 6 singles 6-4, 6-4 to get the team within one singles match victory of a team win. Dudley broke the momentum as she fought off a first set challenge from Hincu to win No. 2 doubles 6-4, 6-1. No. 26 Rafols then pushed the momentum further in the Penguins direction as she won 7-5, 6-0, 6-1 on the top court. 

With two matches still in action Dominican needed victories on both courts to secure their victory. Garcia squared off with Lam in No. 5 singles as she got off to a strong start with a 6-1 victory in the first set, but Lam answered with a 6-3 win in set two. Garcia regrouped in between sets and found her form again to emphatically claim the No. 5 singles win with a 6-1 victory in the third set that tied the match 3-3.

All eyes turned to No. 4 singles and the match between Zoe Coggins and Takamura which was the tightest of the day. The first set went back and forth needing a tiebreaker to decide which also took extra points, but in the end it was Coggins who came out on top 7-6 (6). Takamura then held on for the narrow 6-4 victory in the second set to set up a winner-take-all moment. With all their teammates gathered around to cheer them on the final set also remained tight, but Coggins got a slim advantage as she led 5-4 heading into her serve. Coggins held serve and delivered the victory for Dominican as she won the final game for a 6-4 third set win.

Dominican will have a quick turnaround as it rescheduled its match with Hope International University to Thursday with first serve set for noon PST in Fullerton.