TURLOCK -- It came down to the final match of the day before the Cal State Stanislaus women's tennis team came up just short of snapping the UC San Diego streak.
Heather Cotter battled and rallied from behind at the decisive No. 5 singles position before the Tritons hang on to defeat 19th ranked Stanislaus, 5-4, in the Warriors' conference and home opener on Saturday.
No. 17 UC San Diego, the six-time defending CCAA champion, extends its conference match win-streak to 61 dating back six-plus seasons. It is the first time that UCSD had to win a conference match 5-4 since March 9, 2007.
The Warriors took a 4-2 lead after winning the top spots in singles and doubles competition. UCSD held off two Warriors in close matches that included tiebreakers at No. 3 and No. 4 to even the score to set up the winner-take-all at No. 5.
Cotter lost the first set to Katie Mulloy, 6-2, but battled and rallied from behind to win the second set 6-4. Trailing 4-1 in the third, Cotter took two straight from Mulloy before the Triton prevailed 6-4.
The Warriors easily won at No. 1 and No. 2 doubles with
Verena Preikschas and
Katie Eng beating Natalie Varnay and Taskeen Bains, 8-3. Then
Vanesa Reibstein and
Arina Polovnikova took care of Valerie Tang and Cindy Dao, 8-1.
In singles play, Preikschas beat Bains and Reibstein defeated Varnay in straight sets.
#19 UC San Diego 5, #17 Cal State Stanislaus 4
Singles competition
3. Cindy Dao (UCSD) def.
Katie Eng (CSUS) 6-4, 7-6 (9-7)
Doubles competition
Match Notes:
UC San Diego 3-0, 3-0 CCAA; National ranking #19; Regional ranking #4
Cal State Stanislaus 0-4, 0-1 CCAA; National ranking #17; Regional ranking #3
T-3:30 A-80
