Santa Barbara, Calif. – The first match of the UC Santa Barbara women's tennis team's home opening doubleheader was the perfect remedy to its 7-0 loss the day before.
Playing in its first home match of the season, it was evident that the loss was a thing of the past as UCSB responded with a 4-0 victory over the University of San Francisco. Santa Barbara enters its afternoon match vs Kansas State with a 3-3 record.
"Coming into today, the whole team agreed that we were going to have really good energy, stay positive and just try our best regardless of the outcome," senior Amanda Atanasson said. "I think we bounced back really well despite our loss to Pepperdine yesterday."
UCSB's mentality certainly carried over into its play as it dominated in doubles play. Securing the first win for the Gauchos in doubles play was the combo of sophomore Amit Lev Ari and freshman Lise Sentenac.
Santa Barbara's pair took on San Francisco's Amber Del Rosario and Alisha Sharma. The court three matchup didn't last for long as Lev Ari and Sentenac cruised to a 6-1 win.
On the cusp of winning the doubles point, emerging from UCSB's side was the tandem of Atanasson and junior Stephanie Yamada. They faced the Dons' Shanna Dos Santos and Anna Sokiran. Atanasson and Yamada managed to improve to 4-2 when playing with each other following a 6-3 win over Dos Santos and Sokiran.
Seniors Palina Dubavets and Natalie Da Silveira played against Emily Maxfield and Mya Bui. Due to UCSB clinching the doubles point, the match wwas ruled unfinished with the Gauchos trailing 5-2.
With a 1-0 lead going into singles play, it came down to the Gauchos ability to establish consistency in order to sustain their momentum.
Achiveving this consistenct was Lev Ari, who nearly swept her opponent in back-to-back sets. Lev Ari faced San Francisco's Del Rosario on court No. 5. Lev Ari arguably had her best individual match of the season thus far as she took a 6-1, 6-0 win to earn UCSB its first singles win of the day, increasing its lead to 2-0.
"It's so fun to play at home. We don't have a lot of fans, but the people who come are really supportive," Lev Ari said. "We didn't have a lot of time to prepare, we started so early today. But we had a better attitude, we were about business."
The motivation to play well and protect its home court continued to carry the Gauchos throughout singles play as Sentenac nearly replicated the finish of her teammate. Sentenac defeated the Dons' Sharma by a final score of 6-3, 6-0, giving UCSB a 3-0 lead.
While UC Santa Barbara was just one point of away from clinching the match victory, there was unfinished business for other Gauchos such as Da Silveira.
After avoiding what was likely to be a loss in doubles play, Da Silveira bounced back well in singles play with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Sokiran to help UCSB end Saturday's first match against the University of San Francisco with a 4-0 win.
UC Santa Barbara will resume its doubleheader at 2 p.m. versus Kansas State. The match will be played at UCSB's Rec Cen courts.
Tennis Match Results
University of San Francisco vs UC Santa Barbara 2/3/2018 at Santa Barbara, Calif. (Rec Cen Courts)
UC Santa Barbara 4, University of San Francisco 0
Singles competition
1. Palina Dubavets (UCSB) vs. Emily Maxfield (USF) 2-6, 5-2, unfinished
2. Natalie Da Silveira (UCSB) def. Anna Sokiran (USF) 6-4, 6-3
3. Amanda Atanasson (UCSB) vs. Mya Bui (USF) 6-4, 2-4, unfinished
4. Stephanie Yamada (UCSB) vs. Margarita Treyes (USF) 6-3, 3-2, unfinished
5. Amit Lev Ari (UCSB) def. Amber Del Rosario (USF) 6-1, 6-0
6. Lise Sentenac (UCSB) def. Alisha Sharma (USF) 6-3, 6-0
Doubles competition
1. Palina Dubavets/Natalie Da Silveira (UCSB) vs. Emily Maxfield/Mya Bui (USF) 2-5, unfinished
2. Amanda Atanasson/Stephanie Yamada (UCSB) def. Shanna Dos Santos/Anna Sokiran (USF) 6-3
3. Amit Lev Ari/Lise Sentenac (UCSB) def. Amber Del Rosario/Alisha Sharma (USF) 6-1
Match Notes: University of San Francisco 1-1 UC Santa Barbara 3-3
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2); Singles (5,6,2)
