Women's Tennis Opens Big West Championship Thursday Against LBSU

Thursday, April 25

San Diego, CA / Barnes Tennis Center

9 A.M.

No. 4 Long Beach State

Photo by: Owen Main | Cal Poly Athletics

Women's Tennis Opens Big West Championship Thursday Against LBSU

4/24/2024 8:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis

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SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — The quest for a conference championship and a trip to the NCAA Tournament begins Thursday for the Cal Poly women's tennis team when they take on Long Beach State in the quarterfinals of the Big West Championships.

The fifth-seeded Mustangs (10-8-1) take on No. 4 seed LBSU (12-7) at 9 a.m. Thursday at the Barnes Tennis Center with a trip to the Big West semifinals on the line. Cal Poly was originally scheduled to play No. 3 seed Hawai'i in its opening match at the conference tournament. However, a protest resulted in Sunday's 4-3 defeat to No. 53 UC Santa Barbara to wrap up the regular season being changed to a 3-3 tie between the Mustangs and Gauchos, allowing Cal Poly to finish with a 5-3-1 Big West record and earn the No. 5 seed. The protest decision and change to the final regular season standings was announced Tuesday night.

Live scoring is available for the match and some of the action on the courts will be livestreamed for free on track.tennis. Follow Cal Poly women's tennis on Instagram (@calpolywtennis) and X/Twitter (@CalPolyWTennis) for live updates throughout the Big West quarterfinal match.

The Mustangs will be looking for revenge against the Beach after suffering a 4-3 home defeat to LBSU during the regular season on April 5. In that match that was impacted by rain delays and wind, juniors Peyton Dunkle and Romane Mosse, and sophomore Alexandra Ozerets all picked up singles victories, but ultimately dropping a tightly-contested doubles point ended up costing Cal Poly.

Long Beach State finished with a 6-3 Big West record, only dropping matches to the three teams seeded higher than them in the Big West Championships — UCSB, CSUN and Hawai'i. The Beach capped off their regular season last Friday with a 7-0 home victory over UC Irvine and are led by their No. 1 singles player Rhona Cook, who is 12-5 this spring and 7-1 in conference play.

Thursday's meeting at the Big West Championships will mark the first between the Mustangs and LBSU at the conference tourney since Cal Poly defeated the Beach 4-1 in the 2022 Big West quarterfinals.

Mosse will carry a 12-match winning streak in singles into the conference tournament. Mosse, who transferred to Cal Poly from Jacksonville State this past summer, is 8-1 in Big West play, a perfect 8-0 while playing at the No. 5 spot and 15-4 overall this year, tied with seven others for the ninth-most dual singles victories in a season in Division I program history. Sophomore Kennedy Buntrock has also won her last five singles matches, and is 11-6 this spring and 6-3 in Big West matches.

In doubles, fifth-year Delanie Dunkle and her younger sister Peyton are 13-3 at the No. 1 spot this season and 6-1 in conference play. The duo is a remarkable 28-11 together in their careers. With a doubles win last Friday against UC Riverside, Delanie moved into a tie for No. 3 all-time in career dual doubles victories in Division I program history with 53. She is just one win away from tying Chelsy Thompson and Brittany Blalock for the Division I program record.

Cal Poly's No. 3 doubles pairing, made up of Buntrock and junior Eliza Bates, is 7-2 this year and 6-2 in Big West matches.

Last year, the Mustangs advanced to the Big West Championship match for the third consecutive year before coming up short to Hawai'i 4-2 in the final.

The winner of Thursday's quarterfinal will face the winner of No. 1 seed UC Santa Barbara versus No. 8 UC Irvine/No. 9 UC Riverside in the Big West semifinals at noon Friday.