SAN RAFAEL, Calif. – Dominican women's tennis took advantage of a break in the stormy weather that has affected Northern California to open its season with a 7-0 loss to Pacific on Wednesday at Castellucci Family Tennis Center.

This was the first regular season match with an NCAA Division I opponent for the Penguins since 2021 against Santa Clara when COVID drove teams to a more regional schedule. The Tigers opened with a victory in No. 3 doubles as Leyanne Hirota and Maggie Hoe held off their Dominican counterparts in a 6-0 match. Astrid Craig and Deepalakshmi Vanaraja got off to a strong start for the Penguins in No. 2 doubles taking two of the first three sets, but Rayna Sugai and Alexis Sam settled in and went on to win 6-2 to secure the doubles point for their team. Audrey Rafols and Gina Dudley were paired on the top court for Dominican and put Megan Carmichael and Milena Maiorova on their heels several times as the lead in the match seesawed multiple times. With Rafols coming up to serve trailing 5-4, she went down to an injury and was forced to retire early conceding the point to the Tigers.

Sugai and Hoe took the opening points for Pacific in the singles portion of the dual match winning No. 5 and No. 6 singles, respectively. Maria Gavrilov kept things close for Dominican in No. 4 singles as she took on Indiya McLeod, but McLeod held on for a 7-5 win in the opening set before taking a 6-2 decision in set two to secure the team victory for the Tigers. The Penguins saw several more close set scores but none fell their way as Sofia Acuña forced a tiebreaker in the second set before falling 7-6 (2) and Vanaraja also playing her Pacific opponent close in a 7-5 loss in her opening set.

The Penguins will look to bounce back Friday as it hosts Menlo at 11:30 a.m. PST at Castellucci Family Tennis Center. This will be the first meeting between the teams since the Oaks joined the PacWest and NCAA Division II.