Tucson, Ariz. – Following Friday's 4-0 shutout of the University of Arizona, the UC Santa Barbara women's tennis team has won three of its last four matches. Most notably, in each of those three wins, the Gauchos have shutout each opponent.
Friday's victory put an end to Santa Barbara's four-match losing streak against non-conference opponents. UCSB is now 6-7 overall and remains 2-0 in Big West play.
Unable to score a point, Arizona lost its third-straight match and is now 7-5. The defeat resulted in their second home loss, making them 6-2 when playing on their home court.
Meanwhile, it was the second road win of the season for the Gauchos, who are now 2-4 in away matches.
"It was a solid win on the road in a difficult environment," Head Coach Simon Thibodeau said. "It helped us to win the doubles point, and we were in control of every singles matchup. We need to build on this win heading into Arizona State tomorrow."
During UCSB's four-match span, it has been the senior duo of Palina Dubavets and Natalie Da Silveira that has been most consistent. The nation's No. 57 tandem tallied a 6-2 defeat of Arizona's Mary Lewis and Marie Van Aelst, marking their fourth consecutive doubles victory.
But before Dubavets and Da Silveira secured the win on court No. 1, the Gauchos found themselves down a match. In a battle on court No. 2, UCSB's combo of sophomore Amit Lev Ari and junior Stephanie Yamada were dominated by the Wildcats' pairing of Paris Corley and Camila Westbrooks by a final score of 6-0.
As both teams split win on the first two courts, the duel between UC Santa Barbara's duo of freshman Lise Sentenac and senior Amanda Atanasson versus Zona's Gitte Heynemans and Taylor Tamblyn was the final deciding factor.
The pressure of the deciding match proved to not have too much of an effect on Sentenac and Atanasson as the duo earned a 6-3 win that captured the doubles point for UCSB, leading to its 1-0 lead.
Given that UCSB had won the doubles point in two of its last three matches prior to Friday's contest, the Gauchos entered singles play with a slight advantage.
They made the most of this advantage, beginning with Dubavets, who earned the Gauchos first individual win in straight sets 6-4, 7-5 over Arizona's Lewis, increasing UCSB's lead to 2-0.
Continuing the strong performance of Santa Barbara's senior core was Atanasson. Remaining in the Gauchos' No. 2 spot, Atanasson stepped up to win in back-to-back sets as well – 6-4, 6-4 over Westbrooks – upping UCSB's lead to 3-0.
"I think the whole team played really tough, and we fought really hard," Atanasson said. "Everyone stayed positive and we had good vibes across the courts."
Helping bring the day to an end was Lev Ari on court No. 4 against Heynemans. While Lev Ari managed to break away for a 6-3 win in the first set, the second flight took more of an effort as she edged out the Arizona player with a 7-6 victory to secure a match victory in favor of UCSB, 4-0.
With UCSB able to bounce back with a win, the Gauchos again are in position to reach the .500 mark heading into Saturday's match against No. 33 Arizona State.
