49er tennis goes one, love

The Cal State Long Beach women's tennis team split its two matches over the weekend, beating Southern Utah University 9-0 on Saturday, but fell to the University of Texas, Arlington 2-7 on Sunday.

The 49ers' victory over SUU Thunderbirds snapped a four match

losing streak. The win also was the first sweep for the 49ers this season and CSULB (2-5) took all of its matches in two games.

"All the way down the line we played pretty well," head coach JamiYonekura said after Saturday's matches.

49er No. 1 player Farrah Tierney lead the team with her 6-1, 6-2 victory over Windy Vining. CSULB No. 2 player Natalie Leles went 6-0, 6-0 in her singles victory.

Tierney and Leles also teamed up to win the No. 1 doubles 6-1, 6-2 over Vining and Janelle Hughes. Aida Orejel and Veronica Selby won the No. 2 doubles 7-5, 6-2 and Kathy Loyd and Yvette Ralph dropped only one game in No. 3 doubles, going 6-1, 6-0.

"It was a nice one today," Yonekura said of Saturday's win. Yonekura said the team continues to improve and hopes it can build on Saturday's win.

"We need to get a couple more wins under our belts to get a little confidence," Yonekura said.

However the 49ers were not able to continue their streak into Sunday and lost to the UTA Mavericks 2-7. Although there were some bright spots in the teams performance, Yonekura said.

"We had some close matches and our No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles won," Yonekura said.

Tierney continued her hot hand, winning a come-from-behind three game set, 6-7, 6-3, 6-2 in No. 1 singles. Tierney and Leles won No. 1 doubles 6-4, 6-2.

The No. 3 team of Ralph and Loyd dropped a close three game match 7-6,4-6, 4-6.

The team is on the road for four matches before returning home to host nine consecutive matches beginning with Northern Arizona University, March 15.