SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (April 22, 2023) — Solaya Han and Valentina Khrebtova earned a huge first doubles win together to clinch the doubles point for UC Santa Barbara on Saturday, but the closely contested singles action went the way of Cal Poly, giving the visiting Mustangs a 4-3 win. For Han, the doubles victory marked her first win in a Division I tennis match.
Following the match, Head Coach Simon Thibodeau and the Gauchos honored the team's two graduating seniors, Marta Gonzalez Ballbe and Shakhnoza Khatamova.
THE MATCH
Final: UC Santa Barbara 3, Cal Poly 4
Records: UC Santa Barbara 6-14 (6-3 Big West), Cal Poly 12-5 (6-3 Big West)
HOW IT HAPPENED
After the nation's No. 12 doubles partnership of Amelia Honer and Kira Reuter opened the day's action with a win on court one, the Mustangs leveled things on court two, meaning the winner on court three would secure the crucial doubles point. It was the two newest Gauchos — Freshmen Valentina Khrebtova, who joined the team in January, and Solaya Han, a walk-on whose first Division I match was in mid-March — who did just that, earning their first win as a partnership in one of their best performances of the season.
In singles, Camille Kiss doubled UCSB's advantage with a dominant, 6-0, 6-3 win on court two, but the Mustangs won on courts five and six to tie the match at two points apiece. After coming back and winning her first set on court one, 7-5, Amelia Honer showed why she is ranked the No. 60 singles player in the country, winning her second set 6-0 to put the Gauchos back in front, 3-2. Khrebtova battled her way into a second-set tiebreaker after dropping the first on court four, but just barely came up short. Despite an equally valiant effort from Reuter to do the same on court three, that crucial tiebreaker went Cal Poly's way.
RESULTS
Doubles
1. #12 Honer/Reuter (UCSB) def. D. Dunkle/P. Dunkle (CP) 6-2
2. Kim Bhunu/Kennedy Buntrock (CP) def. Kiss/Gonzalez Ballbe (UCSB) 6-4
3. Han/Khrebtova (UCSB) def. LaMette/Ozerets (CP) 6-4
Order of finish: 1, 2, 3
Singles
1. #60 Amelia Honer (UCSB) def. Kim Bhunu (CP) 7-5, 6-0
2. Camille Kiss (UCSB) def. Melissa LaMette (CP) 6-0, 6-3
3. Peyton Dunkle (CP) def. Kira Reuter (UCSB) 6-3, 7-6 (8-6)
4. Delanie Dunkle (CP) def. Valentina Khrebtova (UCSB) 6-3, 7-6 (7-5)
5. Kennedy Buntrock (CP) def. Marta Gonzalez Ballbe (UCSB) 6-2, 6-1
6. Alexandra Ozerets (CP) def. Solaya Han (UCSB) 6-2, 6-2
Order of finish: 2, 5, 6, 1, 4, 3
UP NEXT
The 2023 Big West Championship awaits the Gauchos at the Barnes Tennis Center in San Diego next week. With today's result, UCSB will be the No. 4 seed in the tournament and will play Long Beach State in the quarterfinals on Thursday, April 27, at noon. There will be a live stream, though not all courts are guaranteed to be covered. More information on The Big West Championship is available at bigwest.org.
