Tennis falls flat in Big West quarterfinals; CSUF loses to Long Beach State, 4-1

Cal State Fullerton women's tennis saw their season come to an end on Thursday, losing to Long Beach State, 4-1, in the Big West Championship Quarterfinals.

The Titans ended their regular season in a five-way tie for second place in the Big West Standings. Based on head-to-head matchups between the five teams, the Titans found themselves seeded at No.5 taking on No. 4 seeded Long Beach State in the quarterfinals at Barnes Tennis Center in San Diego. 

The Titans got off to a promising start, duo Zoe Olmos and Milena Gevorgyan opened the doubles matches, defeating Sharks duo Peppi Ramstedt and Rhona Cook, 6-3. 

The Sharks then tied it up when their duo Sheena Masuda and Justine Dondonay defeated Titans Natalie Duffy and Camila Garcia, 7-5. The point went to CSUF after Diana Yanotovskaya and Kaytlin Taylor defeated Sharks Mathilde Tranberg and Hana Becirovic Novak, 6-4.

Despite taking an early lead, The Titans could not utilize momentum from their doubles victory as they were swept in singles matches 4-0.

Singles matches kicked off with a commanding victory by the Sharks, Dondonay over Taylor by scores of 6-3 and 6-1.

Long Beach State followed that up with Cook defeating Yanotovskaya in two sets, 7-6 (7), 6-1. and Ramstedt defeated Duffy in three sets, with Duffy losing the last set 6-0. 

Titans Mariia Nikitash attempted to fend off the sweep but was unsuccessful, losing to Sharks Doga Akyurek by scores of 6-4 and 7-6. 

Match one between Olmos and Medik and match four between Gevorgyan and Tranberg each remained unfinished in the third set and did not factor into the final score of the match. 

Despite the loss, the Titans finished the season with a solid overall record of 15-8 under first year head coach Trang Hyunh-McClain. With only two seniors departing from the team, the Titans will look to build on an experienced squad heading into next season.