By Cal Poly Women’s Tennis went 1-1 against No. 65 Harvard and No. 54 BYU on Thursday, March 16 and Saturday, March 18, respectively, at Mustang Tennis Complex.
The Mustangs (6-6) had a hard-fought victory against the Crimson (8-7) before falling short against the Cougars (8-5).
Thursday vs No. 65 Harvard
The Mustangs opened their week with a tightly contested 4-3 win over No. 65 Harvard.
The Crimson started by taking the first match of doubles, with the No. 3 duo of redshirt junior Melissa LaMette and freshman Alexandra Ozerets falling 6-1.
However, the Mustangs then took over as the No. 1 pairing of redshirt junior Delanie Dunkle and sophomore Peyton Dunkle won 6-1, and No. 2 pairing graduate Kim Bhunu and freshman Kennedy Buntrock won 6-4 giving Cal Poly the doubles point.
In singles play, Bhunu defeated 82nd-ranked Charlotte Owensby at the No. 1 court 6-4, 6-4. After Bhunu’s victory, No. 6 Buntrock lost 6-3, 6-4, making it 2-1 Mustangs.
No. 3 then Delanie Dunkle lost 7-5, 6-3, while Ozerets continued their dominance from the No. 5 slot winning 7-5, 7-5, to bring her season-long record to 7-2.
With the Mustangs leading by a point, LaMette lost in three sets 6-3, 1-6, 7-5, to make it 3-3 and leave the No. 4 match as the tiebreaker.
Peyton Dunkle had a back-and-forth battle with her opponent on the final court, but the Mustang pulled out the win 7-6 (7), 6-7 (4), 6-3, clinching the match for the Mustangs.
Saturday vs No. 54 BYU
The Mustangs returned on Saturday with a 5-2 loss to No. 54 BYU.
The Dunkle sisters opened up the day, winning the first doubles match from the No. 1 spot 6-3, while Bhunu and Buntrock lost in the No. 2 spot 6-3.
The No. 3 pairing of LaMette and Ozerets won the third and final doubles match 6-4, giving the doubles point to Cal Poly.
From that point on, however, it was all BYU, starting with Mustang No. 2 LaMette falling 6-1, 6-3, and No. 1 Bhunu losing 6-1, 4-6, 6-1.
Then, No. 3 Delanie Dunkle lost 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, and No. 5 Ozerets fell 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, giving BYU the fourth point and the victory.
With the teams continuing to play, No. 4 Peyton Dunkle finished the day with the lone Mustang singles victory 4-6, 7-5, 6-4.
Cal Poly will take a week off before they face off against Hawaii Pacific on Tuesday, March 28 at 1 p.m. in Honolulu.
