SANTA BARBARA, Calif - The UC Santa Barbara Women's Tennis team will return to the Arnhold Tennis Center on Saturday at noon to host the LMU Lions.
DETAILS
Match 11
Saturday, March 8 | 12 p.m.
No. 51 UC Santa Barbara (3-7) vs. LMU (2-5)
Arnhold Tennis Center | Santa Barbara, Calif.
KNOW BEFORE YOU GO
Parking Impacts to Lot 30 — Due to ongoing construction, parking in Lot 30 next to Caesar Uyesaka Stadium will be extremely limited. Fans are encouraged to park in Lot 22, the garage next to the Thunderdome. UC Santa Barbara Athletics will provide assistance getting to and from the ballpark for seniors and people with mobility issues.
LAST TIME OUT
The Blue and Gold traveled north to the Bay Area last weekend where they came away 1-2 against No. 38 Stanford, Cal and their first Big West opponent of the season, UC Davis. Despite losses on Friday and Saturday, Sunday saw the Gauchos pick up their first conference win of the season with a 6-1 victory over UC Davis. Santa Barbara secured the doubles point before dominating five singles courts with four winning in straight sets. Katarina Vayser made her spring season debut with the Gauchos defeating her opponent 6-0, 6-3.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
For the third time this season, No. 11 Amelia Honer won Big West Player of the Week on March 5. She won two of her three singles matches and both of her doubles matches across the weekend in the Bay Area. Her victories in both singles and doubles accounted for four of the Gauchos nine points across the weekend including a win over the sixth-ranked singles player from Stanford.
HISTORY
The Gauchos broke a five-match losing streak against the Lions last year when they defeated LMU 5-2 on the road bringing their all-time record against the Lions to 9-8. LMU holds a 2-5 record with their two wins coming over CSUN and Cal State Fullerton in early February. The Lions boast the 54th-ranked doubles pairing of Rogozinska-Dzik/Bozova.
FALL RECAP
The Gauchos opened the fall tournament season at the Battle in the Bay where Amelia Honer and Ali Benedetto had a strong start in both doubles and singles. Honer took four straight wins, all in straight sets, to come away with the singles consolation championship title.
The fall season continued at the ITA All-American Championships where Amelia Honer and Marie Weissheim brought home the doubles consolation championship title but still remained in search of their NCAA qualifying spot.
At the Women of Troy Invite, Benedetto and Weissheim made a doubles championship appearance following wins over BYU and Wisconsin. The same weekend, Gauchos found success in Long Beach at the Beach Fall Tennis Tournament.
Raphaelle Leroux, in her first tournament for Santa Barbara, won five straight matches to appear in the championship final. The freshman won in straight sets in her first two matches as a Gaucho.
Lily Pradkin and
Emma Tutoveanu won their first collegiate matches in singles as well.
Tyra Richardson kicked off her senior season with three wins on the weekend, all in straight sets.
At the ITA Southwest Regional Championship in San Diego, Honer won in straight sets for six consecutive singles matches to reach the championship where she defeated the 8th ranked player nationally and clinched her spot at Waco.
At the Dennis Rizza Classic, five Gauchos went 2-0 on the weekend in singles. During Friday's singles matches, Marie Weissheim,
Raphaelle Leroux and
Tyra Richardson each took straight set victories over their opponents from LMU. Leroux and Weissheim took the first Gauchos doubles victory. Pacot and Leroux also took their first win as a pair over Saint Mary's.
At the ITA West Sectional Championships, the last opportunity for the top three doubles to clinch a NCAA Championship spot, Honer and Weissheim took two straight set wins to reach the semifinals. Despite the loss in the semifinal round, they found success in the 3rd place match with a 15-13 win in the tiebreak to qualify as a doubles pair for the NCAA Championships.
ABOUT THE GAUCHOS
Overall Record: 3-7
Big West: 1-0
Home: 1-0
Away: 1-5
Neutral: 1-2
Against Ranked Opponents: 1-3
ITA Ranking: 51st
Streak: W1
ABOUT THE LIONS
Overall Record: 2-5
WCC: 0-0
Home: 2-2
Away: 0-3
Neutral: 0-0
Against Ranked Opponents: 0-1
ITA Ranking: N/A
Streak: L2
UP NEXT
The Gauchos will host No. 20 Pepperdine on Thursday, March 13 at 1 p.m. at the Arnhold Tennis Center. Matches will be streamed live here.
