SURPRISE, Ariz. — That last piece in the depth chart paid off for Stanislaus State women's tennis on Wednesday as the opening round of the PacWest Women's Tennis Championship was decided by the No. 6 singles match.
Taylor Galya rallied and out-lasted Hawaii Hilo's Irena Le to help the Warriors earn the fifth and final point as Stan State claim the 5-4 victory over the Vulcans. The 9th seeded Warriors advance to the quarterfinals match on Thursday against top seed Hawaii Pacific. This is Stan State's first time playing in the PacWest Championship quarterfinals.
With the team score at 4-3 in favor of Hawaii Hilo,
Cassidy Ferrell completed her No. 1 singles match with a 7-5, 6-3 win over Devanshi Bhimjiyani to pull even at 4-4. Then, the Galya-Le contest was the only remaining battle on the court.
After dropping the opening set 6-2, Galya rallied to win 6-4 in the second set before taking the decisive third set 6-3 to get the team victory.
Stanislaus State had taken the doubles competition 2-1 with wins at No. 1 and No. 2 doubles. However, singles play started with three Hawaii Hilo wins in straight sets.
Ebone Qualls pulled off a win at No. 5 singles to get the Warriors within one at 4-3 before the Ferrell and Galya's finishes.
The Warriors will face Hawaii Pacific on Thursday at 9 a.m. As a top eight team, Stan State is also guaranteed to play all the way through Saturday.
In other First Round matches on Wednesday, #5 Sonoma State defeated #12 Holy Names, 5-0, #7 Concordia Irvine took down #10 Dixie State, 5-1, and #11 Dominican upset #6 Cal State L.A., 5-4.
PacWest Women's Tennis Championship
Surprise Tennis & Racquet Center, Surprise, Ariz.
First Round
#9 Stanislaus State 5, #8 Hawaii Hilo 4
Doubles Competition
1.
Cassidy Ferrell/
Kayla Nguyen (STAN) def. Devanshi Bhimjiyani/Daniel Sanz (UHH), 8-5
2.
Megan Hagerty/
Taylor Galya (STAN) def. Marina Colvee Debrot/Carmelle Joyner (UHH), 8-7
3. Irena Le/Sara Marin (UHH) def.
Ebone Qualls/
Miliaana Proft (STAN), 8-3
Singles Competition
1.
Cassidy Ferrell (STAN) def. Devanshi Bhimjiyani (UHH), 7-5, 6-3
2. Daniela Sanz (UHH) def.
Kayla Nguyen (STAN), 6-2, 6-4
3. Sara Marin (UHH) def.
Miliaana Proft (STAN), 6-0, 6-0
4. Marina Colvee Debrot (UHH) def.
Megan Hagerty (STAN), 6-2, 6-1
5.
Ebone Qualls (STAN) def. Carmelle Joyner (UHH), 7-6, 6-0
6.
Taylor Galya (STAN) def. Irena Le (UHH), 2-6, 6-4, 6-3
