Cal Poly Falls at No. 33 UCSB in Regular Season Finale, Earns Two Seed in Big West Tourney

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — The Cal Poly women's tennis team wrapped up regular season play Saturday, suffering a hard-fought 4-0 defeat at No. 33 UC Santa Barbara.The loss means the Mustangs will serve as the No. 2 seed in the 10-team Big West Championship that starts this Thursday, April 24, at Barnes Tennis Center in San Diego. By earning the two seed, No. 51-ranked Cal Poly (18-4, 7-2 Big West) receives a double bye to the semifinals of the conference tournament and won't play until Saturday, April 26. UCSB (14-8, 9-0 Big West) secured the No. 1 seed and the outright Big West regular season title with the win Saturday.Despite the score, the dual between the Blue-Green rivals was tightly contested throughout, starting with a back-and-forth battle for the doubles point. Cal Poly fought for every point on all three courts, but the Gauchos were able to do just enough to edge out the Mustangs at No. 2 and No. 3 by a 6-4 scoreline on both to secure the doubles point. Seniorand juniorfought back from being down 5-1 in their match at No. 1 to level it at 5-5 before it went unfinished due to UCSB securing the doubles point.In singles play, the Gauchos used straight-set victories at No. 1, No. 3 and No. 4 to pull away and clinch the dual. The three remaining singles matches all went unfinished in the third set. Senior(No. 2) and sophomore(No. 6) both won the second set in their matches to force a third, while freshman(No. 5) won the first set in her match.Saturday's loss snapped a nine-match winning streak for the Mustangs.Cal Poly will wait to see who will they face in the semifinals of the Big West tournament next Saturday, April 26, at 1 p.m.

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