LOS ANGELES – Dominican women's tennis continued its strong start to the season as it topped Cal State LA 6-1 Sunday afternoon at Cal State LA Tennis Complex.
 
The Penguins (3-0) fell behind early as Courtlyn Lam and Rochelle Suarez captured No. 3 doubles 6-0 for the Golden Eagles (1-4). Audrey Rafols and Gina Dudley answered with a 6-4 victory on the top court for Dominican to even the doubles segment and turning the attention to No. 2 doubles.
 
The second court was a back-and-forth battle between the pairing of Carolina Guerrero and Deepalakshmi Vanaraja of the Penguins and Cal State LA's Hideka Takamura and Alexandra Hincu. With the match tied 6-6 the duos went to tiebreakers which proved just as close but Vanaraja and Guerrero gained the small advantage and held on for the 7-6 (5) victory to put Dominican ahead 1-0 heading to singles.
 
Astrid Craig got the Penguins started on the right foot as she took care of business 6-1, 6-0 in No. 6 singles while Vanaraja was close behind with a 6-2, 6-2 victory in No. 5 singles. Dudley clinched the team victory for Dominican as she won 6-1, 6-0 over Takamura on the second court, but Sakura Kurokawa prevented the sweep with a 6-1, 6-0 victory for CSULA. Rafols remained undefeated on the season on the top court topping Sarah Olmos 6-2, 6-1 for Dominican while Maria Gavrilov overcame a slow start to win 4-6, 6-3, 10-4 in No. 4 singles to complete the match.
 
Dominican will look to get one more match in Monday as it takes on Biola at 1 p.m. pending weather.