CSUN Wins Third Straight, Takes Down UC Davis, 5-2

NORTHRIDGE, Calif -- CSUN Women's Tennis took down the UC Davis Aggies, 5-2 in a Big West duel at Matador Tennis Complex Saturday afternoon. Yuliia Zhytelna, Victoria Santibanez Luna, Emma Moratalla Sanz and Madison Shepperson each won their singles matches. The doubles teams of Santibanez Luna and Angela Ho, as well as Zhytelna and Shepperson won their contests as well.

HOW IT HAPPENED
The Matadors kicked off the day by taking the doubles point. Zhytelna and Shepperson took down Solia Valentine and Polina Marakhtanova by a score of 6-2 to earn a half point. In the next doubles point, it was the Aggies' turn. UCD's Claire Galerkin and Kaia Wolfe bested Moratalla Sanz and Elena Goodman, 6-2.

It came down to the final doubles match. CSUN ended up taking the decider when Ho and Santibanez Luna defeated Daisy Maunupau and Mika Ikemori by a score of 6-4. CSUN won a hard-fought doubles point.

In the singles portion of the duel, UCD ended up evening the score as Valentine defeated Ho, 6-4, 6-3, to make it 1-1 on court No. 2.

The next match to finish was court No. 4 as UCD took the lead. Marakhtanova defeated Goodman, 6-2, 7-6 (7-2) as CSUN now faced an uphill battle.

The Matadors, however, weren't fazed. Shepperson was responsible for tying the score at two apiece. She got the better of Kaia Wolfe in three sets, 2-6, 6-2, 6-4, on court No. 6.

Shepperson reflected on today's match, "After competing well and winning the doubles match with Yuliia, I felt confident going into singles. The first set was tough, losing 2-6, but I was determined to adapt my game and I came back and won the match."

CSUN then took the lead thanks to Moratalla Sanz. The junior from San Francisco beat Maunupau in a back-and-forth battle, 6-7 (5-7), 6-1, 6-2 on court No. 5 to make it 3-2 in favor of the home team.

"I am really proud of how the team fought back today." Moratalla Sanz said. "We were down at first in almost every court, and we fought back to get the win. Let's keep the momentum."

CSUN then won the deciding point on the heels of a tough contest. Santibanez Luna took care of Maya Youssef, 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 on court No. 3 to give CSUN the fourth and clinching point.

For good measure, CSUN won a fifth point to put an exclamation mark on today's events. Zhytelna defeated Ikemori 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) on Court No. 1.

Zhytelna shared her thoughts on today's match, "Really important win for us today. I am so proud of my team. I felt a lot of energy from all of them. For my match, it was really personal for me to win. [Ikemori] was playing her best and she pushed me over my limit, but I was able to get the job done."

NEWS AND NOTES

With the win, CSUN is now 9-7 overall and 3-3 in Big West play.
Shepperson has now won four straight in singles.
Moratalla Sanz and Santibanez Luna have each won three straight in singles.
The doubles team of Shepperson and Zhytelna are now 7-0 on the year.
CSUN is now 18-12 all-time against UC Davis.

UP NEXT
The Matadors will stay at home as they take on UC Santa Barbara on April 4th at Matador Tennis Complex. First serve is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.

CSUN Wins Third Straight, Takes Down UC Davis, 5-2

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Team Stats

Players Mentioned

Elena Goodman

Angela Ho

Emma Moratalla Sanz

Madison Shepperson

Players Mentioned

Elena Goodman

Angela Ho

Emma Moratalla Sanz

Madison Shepperson