Women's tennis team edged by Orange Coast in battle for first

Women's tennis team edged by Orange Coast in battle for first

Irvine Valley's women's tennis team lost its showdown for first place in the Orange Empire Conference to Orange Coast in a match that went down to the wire on Tuesday.
Orange Coast pulled out a 5-4 victory over Irvine Valley to stay unbeaten in conference play.

The Pirates improved their record to 9-1 overall and 4-0 in conference.

Irvine Valley's record slipped to 4-4 overall and 3-1 in conference.

IVC was coming off close wins over Riverside (6-3) and Saddleback (5-4) in its previous two conference contests.

Orange Coast won four of six singles matches on Tuesday, including two of them in three sets.

Irvine Valley trailed, 3-2, in singles matches with one contest left out on the court. Orange Coast's Clarisa Colling defeated Irvine Valley freshman Sarah Mae Garcia, 6-2, 3-6, 7-5 at the No. 1 position to give the Pirates a two-match lead heading into doubles.

Irvine Valley won two of three doubles matches, but it wasn't enough.

Sophomores Karina Ryabokonova and Sierra Mazzarini each won in singles for Irvine Valley. Ryabokonova battled back from a set down to win, 3-6, 7-5, 6-1, at No. 4 singles and Mazzarini won, 6-1, 6-3 at No. 5 singles.

In doubles, Irvine Valley got wins from the teams of freshmen Samantha Paz and Lou Baize at the No. 2 spot and Mazzarini and Ryabakonova at the No. 3 position.

Irvine Valley plays again on Thursday, hosting Riverside at 2 p.m. 

Orange Coast 5, Irvine Valley 4 

Singles

1) Clarisa Colling (OCC) def. Sarah Mae Garcia (IVC), 6-2, 2-6, 7-5

2) Karen Trinh (OCC) def. Samantha Paz (IVC), 7-5, 6-0

3) Cecilia Arzaga (OCC) def. Lou Baize (IVC), 6-0, 6-0

4) Karina Ryabokonova (IVC) def. Lauren Saito (OCC), 2-6, 7-5, 6-1

5) Sierra Mazzarini (IVC) def. Janine Panas (OCC), 6-1, 6-4

6) Charli Crites (OCC) def. Stephanie Rand (IVC), 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 

Doubles

1) Colling/Trinh (OCC) def. Garcia/Samantha Schwarz (IVC), 8-3

2) Paz/Baize (IVC) def. Saito/Panas (OCC), 8-2

3) Ryabokonova/Mazzarini (IVC) def. Arzaga/Kaitlyn Dahlberg (OCC), 8-5