After going nearly two months without a conference victory, the CSUN women’s tennis team beat UC Riverside six games to one Saturday afternoon at Riverside. The victory improved the Matadors record to 7-11 and 2-4 in Big West Conference play.
The Matadors last conference win came Feb. 9 against Cal State Fullerton in just their third game of the season, and second in conference. CSUN won two of three doubles matches and five of six singles matches.
After YuYu Myinttun and Silvia Gutierrez were defeated 8-4 in the first doubles match, Canna Furuta and Yasuyo Hashimoto won their match 8-5. Kasia Krasinska and Kanykey Koichumanova then dominated their match en route to an 8-0 victory.
Gutierrez got CSUN started the right way in singles play with a hard fought 7-6, 7-6 victory over Michelle Beyronneau. Riverside’s Casey Cross defeated Furuta 3-6, 6-3 (10-6), but CSUN would not lose again.
Koichumanova came from behind to beat H.R. Espiritu 2-6, 6-4 (14-12) in No. 3 singles. Myinttun (6-2, 6-3), Krasinska (6-3, 6-0) and Hashimoto (6-0, 6-2) all won in straight sets over their opponents to give the CSUN the win.
In their next match, CSUN faced tough conference foe UCSB, who were ranked 71st nationally earlier in the season, in a match originally scheduled for last month. The match was postponed because of rain, but the postponement didn’t contribute to a CSUN victory, as the Gauchos (10-6) defeated the Matadors 5-2, Tuesday afternoon in the final Big West match of the season for CSUN at the Northridge Tennis Complex.
The Matadors lost the first two doubles matches 9-7 and 8-6 before Krasinska and Koichumanova won their match 8-4. The Gaucho’s Marielle Gruenig started off singles play by winning her 12th straight match, defeating Gutierrez 6-1, 6-3.
Chelsea Glynn followed up Gruenig with a straight set victory over Furuta 6-3, 6-3, before Koichumanova again stopped the bleeding, with a 6-2, 7-6 win over Andrea Pintar. Myinttun and Krasinska fell in straight sets, getting outscored by a combined 24-5. Hashimoto rounded out the scoring with a 6-2, 7-5 victory in No. 6 singles over Mio Fukushima.
CSUN concludes its regular season with matches tomorrow against UC Davis and April 14 against Loyola Marymount. Both matches will be held at the Northridge Tennis Complex at 2 p.m. and 1:30 p.m. respectively.
Davis has been very inconsistent this season and has lost its last two matches, falling to 4-10 for the season. LMU, on the other hand, has won four of their last five matches, including a recent victory against UCSB. The victory over UCSB improved their overall record to 8-11.