Santa Barbara, Calif. – Hopes of achieving its first three-match win streak fell short for the UC Santa Barbara women's tennis team as the Gauchos were edged 4-3 on Tuesday versus Southern Methodist University.
The Gauchos are now 5-7 after having their two-match win streak ended by the Mustangs, who are no longer on a two-match losing slump after Tuesday. SMU improved to 6-5 and earned its first road win of the year.
At one point, UCSB trailed by a 3-0 deficit and looked as if it was bound to be shutout. Although SMU managed to capture match point at 4-1, both sides elected to continue the match. Upon the extension, the Gauchos nearly accomplished what would have been their best comeback thus far.
The Gauchos ended the day winning three of the match's last four singles matchups.
"At this point, we can only learn from the mistakes we made today, and try to fix them in our future matches," senior Palina Dubavets said.
While in-game mistakes are an area to improve upon in the near future, UCSB actually got off to a strong start in doubles play. Dubavets and fellow senior Natalie Da Silveira went head-to-head against SMU's Karina Traxler and Sarai Monarrez Yesaki, landing the first win on UCSB's end 6-4.
Yet, UC Santa Barbara's win on court one was short lived as the Mustangs responded with victories on both courts two and three. SMU's first win was tallied by Tiffany Hollebeck and Anzhelika Shapovalova, who defeated the Gaucho tandem of sophomore Amit Lev Ari and junior Stephanie Yamada, 6-4.
The final battle of doubles play came down to senior Amanda Atanasson and freshman Lise Sentenac taking on Nicole Petchey and Ana Perez-Lopez. It was an intense ending as the two sides exchanged scores. When all was said and done, it was the partnership of Petchey and Perez-Lopez that captured a 7-5 win to lock up the doubles point that gave SMU a 1-0 lead.
Moving into singles play with the momentum shifted in favor of SMU, the Gauchos found themselves playing catch-up. Playing from behind, UCSB didn't have enough within its performance to prevent the Mustangs' scoring surge.
SMU won two-straight points to increase its lead to 3-0. A loss by Atanasson to Liza Buss 6-0, 6-3 was the first win for the Mustangs. Their success continued with Traxler's 7-6, 6-1 victory over Da Silveira on court No. 3.
Landing UCSB's first win of the day was Sentenac, who defeated SMU's Petchey by a final score of 7-5, 6-4 to decrease the Gauchos' deficit to 3-1. UC Santa Barbara was unable to capitalize off the win, as a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 loss by Lev Ari to Monarrez Yesaki led to SMU gaining a 4-1 lead.
As the dual match reached its end, UCSB recorded two wins to reduce its margin of defeat. Yamada recorded a victory on court No. 6, overcoming Perez-Lopez in three sets – 2-6, 6-2, 6-3.
Dubavets took the win in Tuesday's final match of the day, playing to three sets against SMU's Shapovalova. The duel between the two made for a competitive matchup, but it ended with Dubavets on top 7-6, 2-6, 10-7.
While UCSB did show signs of improvement with some come from behind wins late in Tuesday's match, it remains inconsistent against non-conference opponents. Excluding their conference matches from the past weekend, the Gauchos have lost four-straight matches to non-conference opponents.
"It was a tough loss for us all, especially considering that there are only six of us healthy. It's hurting [our play] more, as we are such a small group," Dubavets said. "We don't have much time between matches now, and the main goal is to stay healthy and tough mentally."
UC Santa Barbara will be on the road for its next two matches. It will first face the University of Arizona on Friday and No. 33 Arizona State on Saturday.
