LAS CRUCES, N.M. - The University of Hawai`i women's tennis team began its final stretch of regular-season matches with a 6-1 loss to No. 15 Fresno State Friday morning at the New Mexico State Tennis Center. The Rainbow Wahine dropped to 10-12 overall and 2-3 in the Western Athletic Conference while the Bulldogs improved to 17-5 and remained undefeated in conference with a 6-0 mark.
The match started with the Fresno State sweeping all three doubles matches to take the first point of the day. The Bulldogs boast the top-ranked doubles tandem in the country in Anastasia Petukhova and Renata Kucerkova and they lived up to their ranking by taking care of
Sophie Kobuch and
Aglae Van den Berg, 8-1, at the No. 1 court.
In singles play, Fresno State clinched the match with wins on five of six courts. Freshman
Alyssa Nafarrete proved to be the one bright sport for the Rainbow Wahine, capturing UH's lone point at the No. 6 position with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Danon Beatty. Senior
Melinda Wong also gave a solid effort, but was out-lasted by Laura Pole, 7-5, 7-6, at the No. 5 position. Three of UH's losses came to ranked players including No. 17 Melanie Gloria, who defeated freshman
Ellen Linsenbolz 6-4, 6-1 at the No. 1 court.
The Rainbow Wahine will play its second match of the day when it faces Idaho at 6:00 p.m. MT at the New Mexico State Tennis Center. UH will then conclude its regular season with a match against New Mexico State on Sunday, April 19 at 10:00 a.m. MT.
No. 15 Fresno State def. Hawai'i, 6-1
Doubles (Fresno State wins doubles point)
Singles
2. No. 29 Anastasia Petukhova (FS) def.
Sophie Kobuch (UH) 6-1, 7-5
-UH-
