SURPRISE, Ariz. – Dominican women's tennis fell 4-3 Friday in a heartbreaker to No. 36 Hawai'i Pacific at the PacWest Championships at Surprise Tennis and Racquet Club.
 
Isabel Heupgen and Leonie Mueller got the Sharks (10-12) off to a strong start as they took a 4-0 lead over Deepalakshmi Vanaraja and Carolino Guerrero at No. 2 doubles. The Penguins' (12-8) duo fought back winning four of the next five games to close back within one but Heupgen and Mueller held on for the 6-4 victory. Lynn Kader and Jayanne Palma mirrored their teammates on the second court jumping out to a 4-0 lead, but Maria Gavrilov and Haley Garcia closed back to within one at 5-4. Kader and Palma won the next game to clinch the doubles point for the Sharks.
 
Astrid Craig quickly dispatched of Kader in No. 6 singles 6-2, 6-3 to tie the team score 1-1 for Dominican, but Heupgen won 6-3, 6-1 at No. 2 singles to push HPU back into the lead. Vanaraja only need a single minute to knot the team score up once again as she claimed the third court 6-2, 6-4 for the Penguins as the seesaw battle continued.
 
Palma and Gavrilov went back-and-forth in the first set needing, but Palma claimed the tiebreaker to win 7-6 (4) before claiming the second set 6-0 to give the Sharks back the team lead. Audrey Rafols fell behind Abigail Wild 3-0 to open play on the top court before reeling off four straight game victories to take the lead on her way to a 6-4 win in the first set. The second set was also tightly contested as the players traded games to a 4-4 tie, but Rafols closed out with wins in the next two games to take the 6-4 victory and tie the score 3-3.
 
After falling in an early 2-0 hole, Guerrero won the next four games for Dominican to take the lead on the way to a 6-4 opening set victory. Mueller responded in the second set winning 6-1 to send the match to a third set with all their teammates gathering on the side of the court to watch the match deciding set. Guerrero raced out to a 5-2 advantage and looked to be on the verge of handing Dominican its first ever victory over HPU but Mueller fought off six match points on her way to a 7-5 victory for the Sharks.
 
Dominican will conclude its trip to the PacWest Championships as it takes on University of Hawai'i at Hilo in the seventh-place match Saturday at 1 p.m. at Surprise Tennis and Racquet Club.