Sunday, April 16
La Jolla, Calif.
12:00 p.m.
California State University at Northridge
5
at
2
UC San Diego
Photo by: Connor Clark
CSUN Comes From Behind to Defeat UC San Diego 5-2
4/16/2023 4:58:00 PM | Women's Tennis
LA JOLLA, Calif.—CSUN rallied from a 2-0 deficit to defeat UC San Diego 5-2 in Big West women's tennis competition Sunday afternoon at the Northview Tennis Courts.
Doubles began with the Tritons' Naomi Nguyen and Sophie Pearson defeating Vitoria Solis Urdiales and Cindy Ung 6-4. Jolene Coetzee and Angela Ho tied it up when they handed Kelly Leung and Elia Pachl a 6-4 defeat. UCSD earned the doubles point when Rachel Wagner and Katelyn Vu defeated Sasha Turchak and Yuliia Zhytelna in a tiebreaker 7-6 (7-5).
Singles five three-set matches. UC San Diego (9-13, 1-7 Big West) went up 2-0 when Pearson defeated Ho 6-0, 6-4 to open singles at No. 4. Emma Moratalla Sanz got the Matadors on the board with a come-from-behind win versus Vu in the No. 5 slot. Mortalla Sanz fell 6-0 in the first set before tying the match 6-1 in the second. The freshman from Valencia, Spain, improved to 12-6 on the year when she earned a 6-3 win in the third set.
"Today, I did not start my match in a good way," Mortalla Sanz said. However, I restarted and changed my mind bravely to achieve victory. We cheered for everyone, and we found the energy and competitiveness to change the result that was going and win the dual match. Very proud of this team."
Zhytlena tied the dual at No. 3 singles. She took the first set 6-1 from Grace Gamal before Gamal tied it 6-3 in the second. Zhytelna won her team-leading 14th match of the year with a 6-3 decision in the third.
Coetzee put CSUN into the lead for the first time with a straight sets victory (7-6 (7-4, 6-4) at No. 1 against Leung. However, Tallia Harper dropped the first set to Nguyen 6-2 at No. 6. She fought back, winning 6-2 in the second and winning the match 6-3 in the third to clinch the 15th dual victory for the Matadors of the season.
"I had to find a way to keep fighting after a rough first set," Harper said. "Hearing my teammates from the courts next to me and even those playing further away helped. Everyone kept fighting and giving it everything they had, which inspired me to do the same."
Turchak won 6-4 in the first set against Pachl in their No. 2 match. Pachl tied it 6-4 in the second. Turchak earned her 12th singles victory of the season (12-5) when she defeated Pachl 6-2 in the third set.
ACCORDING TO HEAD COACH GARY VICTOR
"This match was a testament to how resilient our team is. Losing a tiebreak for the doubles point and having all three freshmen lose the first set put us in a tough position. However, Emma, Tallia, and Angela showed high character in returning to win."
"We scratched and clawed our way back, and (assistant coach) James (Ciuffo) and I couldn't be prouder of this outstanding group of young ladies. So happy for Jojo (Coetzee) to pull out of the match. She is the embodiment of what we aim to be. Sasha is what we aim for in competitiveness, and she needed that today."
UP NEXT
The Matadors (15-5, 5-3 Big West) wrap up the regular season on Friday when CSUN hosts UC Santa Barbara (6-12, 6-1 Big West) at 1 p.m.
Team Stats
#1 Doubles Match
#2 Doubles Match
#3 Doubles Match
Order of Finish:
3,1,2
#1 Singles Match
12
76
Kelly Leung / 0 [UCSD]
64
#2 Singles Match
123
646
Ella Pachl / 0 [UCSD]
462
#3 Singles Match
123
636
Grace Gamal / 0 [UCSD]
163
#4 Singles Match
12
04
Sophie Pearson / 0 [UCSD]
66
#5 Singles Match
123
066
Katelyn Vu / 0 [UCSD]
613
#6 Singles Match
123
266
Naomi Nguyen / 0 [UCSD]
613
Order of Finish:
4,5,3,1,6,2
Players Mentioned
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
A Conversation With Gary Victor
Friday, May 29
Meet the Matadors - 2017 Women's Tennis
Thursday, January 26