The No. 25 UC Santa Barbara women’s tennis team beat UC Irvine 6-1 Saturday afternoon at Anteater Tennis Stadium, improving to 7-0 in Big West play on the season. The Gauchos’ (15-6) win over the Anteaters marked their sixth straight win, the longest winning streak of the season.
Irvine gained an early edge in doubles as Ysabel Gonzalez-Rico and Emily Fowler bested Camille Kiss and Marta Gonzalez Ballbe 6-2 on court two.
The Gauchos were resilient, coming back to take the doubles point with 6-3 wins on the other two courts. Kira Reuter and Filippa Bruu-Syversen beat Dasee Carter and Shreya Pavani on court two and Shakhnoza Khatamova and Elizaveta Volodko locked up the point, topping Jessica Tsukiji and Alyssia Fossorier on court one.
In singles, Bruu-Syversen’s match against Fowler ended early as Fowler had to retire, giving Bruu-Syversen the victory and a point for Santa Barbara.
Volodko was the first to fully wrap up a singles victory, besting Tsukiji 6-1, 6-2 on court two.
Gonzalez Ballbe clinched the match for UCSB with a court six 6-0, 6-1 win over Pavani.
The Gauchos earned wins on courts three and five as well after the clinch. Kiss prevailed 6-1, 6-3 over Fossorier on three and Reuter came back to beat Carter 4-6, 6-2, 10-6.
Irvine picked up its only point as No. 88 Khatamova fell 6-3, 3-6, 8-10 to Gonzalez-Rico on court one.
Daniel Messinger writes about sports for UCSB.
email: sports@newspress.com
