SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. – The Cal State Fullerton women's tennis team earned its first Big West Conference victory of the season in San Luis Obispo, Calif. on Thursday afternoon, beating Cal Poly 4-3 behind Danielle Pham's match-clinching victory in the No. 4 singles matchup.
"Today was definitely a full team effort," head coach Dianne Matias said. "The conditions were difficult playing in the wind and away from home court, but our team handled the adversity and stayed tough. It all came down to Danielle's match. She was up 5-2 and the other player saved a few match points to even it to 5-5, but she stayed calm and was able to close out the match. We're going to use today and carry the momentum into tomorrow."
The Titans snapped a 14-match regular season losing streak to the Mustangs on Thursday afternoon, and picked up their first win against Cal Poly since the 1999 season. It looked as though recent history would repeat itself early on in Thursday's match with the Mustangs winning the first match of doubles play, 8-5. The Titans No. 1 and No. 2 doubles teams of Megan Sandford/Camille De Leon and Pham/Alexis Valenzuela swept the next two matches, however, handing the Titans the doubles point heading into singles play. Pham/Valenzuela beat the team of Gibbens/Stone handily, 8-2, while Sandford/De Leon clinched the point for the Titans, 8-6, over Oxnevad/Joubert.
Cal Poly would rally back to take the lead in overall points after the first-two matches of singles play, with Sayaka Tsugai winning the No. 6 matchup and Molly Reed winning in the No. 3 slot. Needing wins in three of the next four decisions to win the match, the Titans came through with just what they needed for the 4-3 victory. De Leon kept the momentum from her doubles win alive beating Gibbens 2-6, 6-1, 6-1 before CSF's Emilia Borkowski did the same in the No. 5 singles matchup, coming out on top 6-2, 3-6, 6-2.
The match would come down to Pham's No. 4 matchup and the freshman did not disappoint, pulling out the victory over CP's Stone 3-6, 6-2, 7-5 to give Fullerton its first conference win of the season.
The Titans are back in action at UC Santa Barbara on Friday at 1:30 p.m. to take on the Gauchos in Santa Barbara, Calif.
