Santa Clara, Calif.—After a hard-fought match on Friday, the San José State University women's tennis was back on the courts Saturday morning, traveling crosstown to Santa Clara. The Spartans had to overcome adversity in order to extend the team's winning streak to four as the team won 4-3 over the Broncos at the Degheri Tennis Center.
For the first time this season, the Spartans did not win the doubles points. Savannah Sendar and Rozalina Youseva fell 6-3, but Irena Muradyan and Raquel Villan Pereira won 6-4 to tie the doubles at 1-1. Similar to Saturday, the doubles point came down to Alba Pedrero Galindo and Lara Marco Mas in the number-two position. They had to go to the tiebreaker for the second day, but fell 7-6 (7-3) on Saturday.
With Santa Clara leading 1-0 after doubles, the Spartans earned the first singles point as Muradyan won 6-3, 6-1. Sendar fell 6-4, 6-3, to give the Broncos the 2-1 advantage. San José State then got back-to-back wins from Jovana Babic (6-2, 6-3) and Marco Mas (6-2, 7-5) to take the 3-2 lead.
The match then came down to the final two singles matches at #1 and #2. Pedrero Galindo led 7-6 (7-1) and 6-5 but had to retire due to injury. That tied the match at 3-3 and left the final point to Youseva. Tied 1-1, Youseva trailed 4-1 in the third set before digging deep and coming back to win 6-4 and secure the win for San José State.
"As tough as Friday was for us, Saturday was 10 times tougher," said Spartan head coach Chad Skorupka. "The match came down to the final two singles matches with Alba and Rozalina. Rozy dug down deep for the win after Alba had to retire. Everyone worked hard and dug down deep for the win. We will practice hard next week, working on a few things and look forward to a tough match at UC Davis next Friday."
The Spartans are starting the season with a 4-0 record for the second time in three years. In 2019, the team won four in a row including wins at Santa Clara and home against USF.
San José State competes at UC Davis next Friday, March 5, at 1:30 p.m.
Tennis Match Results
San Jose State vs Santa Clara
02/27/2021 at Santa Clara, CA
(Degheri Tennis Center)
San Jose State 4, Santa Clara 3
Singles competition
1. Jamie Schroer (SCU-W) def. PEDRERO GALINDO,Alba (SJSU) 6-7 (1-7), 5-6, retired
2. YOUSEVA, Rozalina (SJSU) def. JennaMarie Gordon (SCU-W) 7-6 (9-7), 5-7, 6-4
3. MURADYAN, Irena (SJSU) def. Katherine Petty (SCU-W) 6-3, 6-1
4. Finley Kalinic (SCU-W) def. SENDAR, Savannah (SJSU) 6-4, 6-3
5. MARCO MAS, Lara (SJSU) def. Giulia Hayer (SCU-W) 6-2, 7-5
6. BABIC, Jovana (SJSU) def. Lindsey Pesqueira (SCU-W) 6-2, 6-3
Doubles competition
1. Katherine Petty/Finley Kalinic (SCU-W) def. SENDAR, Savannah/YOUSEVA, Rozalina (SJSU) 6-3
2. JennaMarie Gordon/Giulia Hayer (SCU-W) def. PEDRERO GALINDO,Alba/MARCO MAS, Lara (SJSU) 7-6 (3)
3. MURADYAN, Irena/VILLAN PEREIRA, Raquel (SJSU) def. Jamie Schroer/Varya Zlotnik (SCU-W) 6-4
Records:
San Jose State 4-0; Santa Clara 1-3
Order of finish: Doubles (1,3,2); Singles (3,4,6,5,1,2)
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