The Blue-Green Rivalry was renewed on Saturday as the UCSB women’s tennis team dominated visiting Cal Poly 6-1.

The win pushed the Gauchos record this season to 13-6 overall and 4-2 in Big West Conference play. UCSB is also ranked nationally at No. 68 in the ITA rankings but could climb even higher next week thanks to its convincing win.

“I think the season has surpassed our expectations thus far,” Head Coach Simon Thibodeau said after the match. “The players are maximizing their potential and we’re on the right track in continuing to improve.”

The match on Saturday was also UCSB’s senior day, and as the only senior on the squad, Erica Cano was center stage and did not fail to disappoint.

Cano won her singles match in straight sets 6-0, 6-1, only losing one game. In addition to her strong individual performance, Saturday was also the first time she had beaten Cal Poly during the regular season in her four years at UCSB.

“To win today really meant a lot to me,” Cano said. “We started off well in doubles and continued that on into singles. It was definitely a good win.”

UCSB started the match off well by sweeping the Mustangs in all three doubles matches 8-5, 8-5, 8-2.

After Cano’s win in the five spot, sophomore No. 4 Stacy Yam swept her opponent in straight sets 6-0, 6-0.

The rest of the day did not go quite as smoothly, as matches for UCSB’s No’s. 1, 2 and 3 all went into third-set tie breaks.

Juniors Paola Cos and Kiersten Meehan both won their tie breaks to give the Gauchos a 6-0 lead. Sophomore April Scatliffe was the only Gaucho not to win on Saturday, though she played well in a grueling 1-6, 6-4, 10-8 match at the No. 1 spot.

The Gauchos only have two more matches left before the Big West Tournament April 25. The first is against UC Davis Saturday and the second against Pacific Sunday.

 

A version of this article appeared on page 6 of April 8th’s print edition of the Daily Nexus.

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