LOS ANGELES -- Cal State LA's women's tennis team found the going tough Monday in the Golden Eagles' home opener against Azusa Pacific.

The No. 15 Golden Eagles dropped all three doubles contests, two of them by narrow margins, and wound up on the short end of an 8-1 decision to the No. 23 Cougars. Cal State LA (1-2) suffered another blow when No. 1 singles Elizaveta Sokolova was unable to compete after the doubles, moving the remaining players up a spot.

Azusa Pacific (4-1) posted its third straight win over West Region opponents after also beating Point Loma and UC San Diego.

Luciana Di Laura had a great afternoon for the Golden Eagles, posting a 6-1, 6-3 victory over April Wong at No. 3 singles. The Cougars won the other five singles matches in straight sets. The best match of the day came at No. 2 singles, where Isabella Lopez and Petra Ivankovic battled it out through two tight sets before Ivankovic prevailed, 6-3, 7-5.

Two of the three doubles contests went down to the wire. Sokolova and Amanda Schneider dropped a hard-fought battle at No. 1 doubles to Ivankovic and Diana Baumgartnere, 8-6, and Lopez and Di Laura lost in a tiebreaker at No. 2 doubles, 9-8 (7-2), to Toby Miclat and Kara Hinton.

Schneider moved up to the No. 1 singles spot with Sokolova out and lost in a good battle with Miclat, 6-4-, 6-2.

Cal State LA will return to action on Friday with a match at another top West Region team, Point Loma.

#23 Azusa Pacific 8, #15 Cal State LA 1
Feb 12, 2018 at Los Angeles, Calif.

Singles competition

1. Toby Miclat (APU) def. Amanda Schneider (CSLA) 6-4, 6-2

2. Petra Ivankovic (APU) def. Isabella Lopez (CSLA) 6-3, 7-5

3. Luciana Di Laura (CSLA) def. April Wong (APU) 6-1, 6-3

4. Jackie Resler (APU) def. Mariko Sagara (CSLA) 6-1, 6-1

5. Taitiana Betancourt (APU) def. Chelsey Ruiz (CSLA) 6-3, 6-2

6. Mikayla Rinker (APU) def. Snezana Ivanovic (CSLA) 6-0, 6-0

 

Doubles competition

1. Petra Ivankovic/Diana Baumgartnere (APU) def. Elizaveta Sokolova/Amanda Schneider (CSLA) 8-6

2. Toby Miclat/Kara Hinton (APU) def. Isabella Lopez/Luciana Di Laura (CSLA) 9-8 (7-2)

3. Courtney Page/Mikayla Rinker (APU) def. Mariko Sagara/Chelsey Ruiz (CSLA) 8-3

Match Notes

Azusa Pacific 4-1; National ranking #23

Cal State LA 1-2; National ranking #15

Order of finish: Doubles (3,1,2); Singles (6,4,1,5,3,2)