Women’s Tennis Completes Perfect Weekend in California With Win Over Fresno State

FRESNO, Calif. – Air Force Women's Tennis picked up a 4-3 road win on Sunday afternoon over Fresno State to complete a 2-0 weekend in California. The Falcons have won five of their last six matches and now sit at 3-1 in match play against Mountain West opponents.

Air Force (6-10, 3-1 MW) took a 1-0 lead after claiming its seventh-straight doubles point and eighth out of the last nine matches. On line two, Arianna Van Houweling and Shivaani Sevlan took down Eliza Dunbar/Louna Cormier, scoring their sixth-straight victory while improving to 9-3 as a pair. On court three, sophomore Maya Michalski and freshman Jariahlyn Rhoades took a 3-0 lead before dropping a game to Fresno State's Gianna Mastro/Sofia Pizzoni. From there, Michalski/Rhoades took the final three games to score a 6-1 win and improve to a 6-1 record.

In singles, Van Houweling grew the Falcons' advantage to 2-0 with a straight-set win over Bulldog Paulina Montiel. Van Houweling, after scoring a 6-2 win in the first set, shut out Montiel in the second, improving to 7-2 in dual singles and 3-1 against Mountain West opponents.

A win on court six put the Falcons within striking range of a shutout. Rhoades, facing freshman Louna Cormier, downed her Fresno State opposition in a 6-4, 6-4 battle to score the first dual singles win of her early Falcon career.

From there, Fresno State added a trio of points to avert a shutout and tie the match. The Bulldogs scored wins on lines one (Pizzoni vs. Abby Cotuna, 6-1, 7-6 (5)), three (Andjela Lopicic, 7-5, 6-1) and four (Eliza Dunbar vs. Yule Kang, 6-2, 7-6 (3)) in order, leaving the tally at 3-all.

With the match on the line, junior Nadia Kojonroj, after splitting sets with Fresno State's Klara Vukicevic, rallied from a 3-0 deficit to win the deciding set 7-6. Her win clinched the overall victory for the Falcons and her third-straight dual singles win.

"I'm extremely proud of this team's fight today and their ability to adjust on every court," said head coach Taylor Hollander. "Fresno State is always a tough opponent—you have to battle for every point and can't give anything away. Today this group made huge strides in their match play and I am extremely proud of their efforts."

Up Next:
Air Force Women's Tennis remains on the road, taking on San Diego State and Grand Canyon in San Diego and Phoenix on March 27 and 29 respectively.

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