Mustangs Fall to No. 32 UCSB in Big West Championship Match

SAN DIEGO, Calif. — Seeking its second straight Big West Championship, the Cal Poly women's tennis team came up short in a hard-fought battle with Blue-Green rival UC Santa Barbara on Sunday at the Barnes Tennis Center.The second-seeded Mustangs fell to No. 1 seed and No. 32-ranked UCSB by a 4-2 score in the Big West Championship match, but left the courts with their heads held high after a sensational regular season and showing at the conference tournament.Cal Poly got off to a stellar start against the Gauchos, who they fell to 4-0 in Santa Barbara on April 19 to end the regular season. At the No. 2 doubles spot, seniorandteamed up for a decisive 6-3 victory to improve to 10-5 as a pairing. The doubles victory was the 53rd of Dunkle's career, tied for the fourth most in Division I program history.The Gauchos won at the No. 1 doubles spot, but fortunately sophomoreand freshmancame through in the clutch and propelled Cal Poly to the doubles point. After being down 5-4 in their match, the duo won three straight games to earn a 7-5 victory and move to 9-2 as a pairing.Heading into singles with a 1-0 lead, Cal Poly looked determined to take down the Gauchos and claim its third Big West Championship in program history. However, UCSB had different plans, leveling the match quickly with a win in straight sets at No. 1 before taking a 2-1 lead with a victory at No. 4.MacCallum stepped up at No. 5 and tied the dual back up at 2-2. The freshman phenom did what she does best, fending off her opponent to claim a 7-5, 6-3 win to earn her 10th straight victory and improve to a remarkable 19-3 on the year, tied for the third most dual singles victories in a season in Division I program history.The three remaining singles matches all went to a third set. At No. 2, Dunkle — the school record holder for Division I dual singles wins — won the first set 6-2, before dropping the next two to allow the Gauchos to take a 3-2 lead.The Mustangs needed to win the two remaining singles matches at No. 3 and No. 6 to claim the Big West title and an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, but it wasn't meant to be. After winning her first set at No. 3 6-1, Mosse lost the last two giving UCSB the opportunity to clinch the 4-2 dual win.Lynch was one point away from winning her match at No. 6 when the dual was clinched by the Gauchos. Lynch won the second set 6-3 and was up 6-5 in the third when UCSB clinched it.The NCAA women's tennis selection show will air live onat 2 p.m. PDT on Monday, but the Mustangs will likely not receive an at-large bid to the tournament as their national ranking is not high enough.Cal Poly finishes the year with a 19-5 overall record, the second most wins in a season in the program's Division I history and the most since going 20-7 in 2003.

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