Beach Tennis Closes Out Non-Conference Season Against Brown on Tuesday – Long Beach State University Athletics

ABOUT THE BEACH

• Long Beach State is coming to the end of its eight-match homestand which began on Wednesday, March 6.
• The Beach have won four out of their last five contests to bring their overall record to 8-5 on the year.
• In conference action, LBSU is 3-1 and currently in fourth place in The Big West standings.
• The Beach are coming off of a pair of wins over Saint Mary’s (4-1) and Dartmouth (4-3) in which senior Rhona Cook was the catalyst that pushed Long Beach to victory.
• When playing at Rhodes Tennis Center, Long Beach State is 6-3 this season.
• The Beach are led by Rhona Cook and Justine Dondonay as they both have earned a team-leading 13 wins in singles action.
• Cook is 14-7 overall and a perfect 4-0 in Big West action. In Hawaii, she took down nationally-ranked No. 99 Ana Vilcek in a pivotal three-set contest at flight one.
• Most recently, Cook led the Beach to a hard-fought 4-3 victory over Dartmouth as she earned an exciting 7-6, 5-7, 6-3 win at the top flight to clinch the match. Cook is currently on a three-match winning streak in both singles and doubles action.
• Dondonay owns a 14-6 overall singles mark and has worked her way up from flight six to flight two. She has won three of her last singles contests.
• Sarah Medik is 12-7 on the year in singles. She started the season playing at flight five where she went 5-1, and has now been playing at flight four where she is 2-3.
• Doga Akyurek brings a 12-7 singles record into the week. She is coming off of a 6-3, 7-6 win against Brooke Hess of Dartmouth in flight five. Akyurek has won three of her last four singles competitions.
• In doubles action, LBSU is led by the tandem of Rhona Cook and Peppi Ramstedt at flight one. The pair boast a 12-7 overall records in doubles action this season.
• Playing at flight three in doubles action, Paulina Franco Martinessi and Mathilde Tranberg have put together a 10-1 record.
• Long Beach State Head Coach Jenny Hilt-Costello is in her 27th year at the helm of the Beach Tennis program. She owns an overall record of 409-193 for an impressive .679 winning percentage. The winningest coach in Beach Tennis history, Hilt-Costello holds LBSU tennis coaching records in single-season wins (22), career wins (409), and highest winning percentage (.679).

SCOUTING BROWN

• Dartmouth brings a 9-5 overall record into the week.
• The Bears are riding a five-match winning streak as they have defeated Boston (5-2), Bryant (6-1), Fordham (5-2), St. John’s (4-0), and UMass (6-1).
• Brown will face Loyola Marymount on Monday, March 25, the day before they take on the Beach.
• When playing on the road, the Bears are 1-3 thus far. Brown’s lone road win came on March 3 when the Bears defeated Boston, 5-2, at the Manchester Athletic Club.
• The Bears are coached by Lucie Schmidhauser who is in her sixth season with the program.

THE SERIES: THE BEACH VS. THE BEARS

• Tuesday’s match between Long Beach State and Brown is the 10th overall meeting between the two schools in program history.
• In the all-time series, the Beach lead the Bears, 8-1.
• The match will be the first meeting between the two teams since 2017. In that contest, Long Beach State downed Brown, 5-2, at Rhodes Tennis Center.
• Brown is looking for its first win over Long Beach State since 1999 when the Bears defeated the Beach, 8-1, in Long Beach, Calif.

DOUBLES DOMINANCE

• The Beach is 23-10 in doubles action during the dual season thus far.
• With 23 wins on the year, Long Beach State owns a .697 winning percentage in doubles competition during the dual season.
• The duo of Paulina Franco Martinessi and Mathilde Tranberg have been solid posting an 10-1 doubles record during the dual season thus far. The pair are a perfect 3-0 in Big West doubles play.
• At flight one, Rhona Cook and Peppi Ramstedt have posted an 8-3 doubles record in the dual season all at flight one.
• Long Beach State’s doubles dominance began in the Fall Season, as the Beach won four doubles draws. The Beach picked up a pair of doubles victories at the Beach Tennis Fall Tournament before winning two more doubles flights at the UNLV Watanabe Classic.

 
RHONA IS COOKING

• Senior Rhona Cook kicked off her senior season in a big way. The Chester, United Kingdom native turned in an incredible performance to open the year at the Cal Fall Invitational as she captured the Gold Draw Title.
• Cook faced junior Lan Mi from host school, Cal, in the Finals of the Gold Draw. She promptly took down Mi in the first set, 6-4. In the second set, the two battled out an epic rally of 32 strokes before Cook went down the line to win 6-3.
• While Cook shined in singles action, she also was solid in doubles play. She teamed up with Peppi Ramstedt and the duo defeated Gonzaga’s Carolina Wernli and Lia Espinal with a convincing 8-2 victory.
• In dual season action, Cook is 7-4 this year at flight one in singles competition. She is a perfect 4-0 in Big West action. One of her more notable wins was a three-set win over nationally-ranked No. 99 Ava Vilcek of Hawaii on March 3.
• At doubles, she has paired with Ramstedt and the duo are 8-3 in the dual season and 3-1 in Big West action.

JUSTINE SHINES AT HOME

• Senior Justine Dondonay led Long Beach State at the Beach Tennis Fall Tournament as she came away with both a singles and doubles title in during the three-day competition.
• Dondonay paired with sophomore Paulina Franco Martinessi and secured the Black Draw Title with an impressive 6-1 win over LBSU teammates Peppi Ramstedt and Rhona Cook.
• In singles action, Dondonay was excellent as she captured the White Draw Championship with an exciting battle against Akyurek. After dropping the first set, 6-3, Dondonay came back to win, 7-5, 6-2, in a gritty three-setter.
• Dondonay picked up the Beach’s lone singles victory against LMU as she defeated Anastasia Bozova, 6-3, 6-4.
• This season, Dondonay is 7-3 in singles dual action. She is 2-0 when playing singles at flight six. She has worked her way up and is now playing at flight two where she is 2-1.

PEP IN HER STEP

• Peppi Ramstedt has been an integral part of Long Beach State’s success this season.
• She is part of the tandem, along with Rhona Cook, who plays at the top doubles flight that boasts an 8-3 record in the dual season.
• In singles competition, Ramstedt is 3-1 in Big West action and 6-6 overall.
• Ramstedt is riding a three-match winning streak in doubles competition and has won five of her last six doubles outings.
• Earlier this season, Ramstedt was named Big West Player of the Week for the week of January 25. She turned in a solid performance in which she captured three doubles victories and a pair of singles wins at LBSU’s Beach Tennis Winter Invite. Additionally, she earned a pair of singles wins against Nevada and Pacific.

WALTZING MATHILDE

• Mathilde Tranberg kicked off the dual season in a big way. The senior from Horsholm, Denmark waltzed her way to a 6-0, 6-0 win over Fresno Pacific’s Halle Faherty at flight six to help the Beach capture a 7-0 sweep over Fresno Pacific on Friday, Jan. 26.
• On the year, Tranberg is 4-2 in singles action with a 2-1 record at flights five and six.
• In doubles competition, Tranberg is joined by Paulina Franco Martinessi, and the pair own a 10-1 overall record when playing together at flight three. The tandem is on a five-match winning streak.

ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE

• Long Beach State Women’s Tennis had an excellent Fall off the court as well. The Beach Tennis team finished the semester with an impressive 3.74 grade point average to win the LBSU Athletics Team Academic Award.
• All eight players on the roster were named Academic All-Stars, while two were named to the Dean’s List, and three earned President’s List honors.
• In addition, Long Beach State boasted three players with perfect 4.0 GPAs during the fall semester.

RHODES TENNIS CENTER

• The Terry L. Rhodes Tennis Center is the home of the nationally recognized Long Beach State Tennis Program.
• The 12-court complex, which opened in the Fall of 2008, features a unique design with four feature courts divided by a 40-foot-wide public concourse. Grandstands for spectator seating have been placed on four of the six varsity courts. All six of which are lighted.
• Two gifts from Long Beach State alums have resulted in the construction of the on-campus tennis complex for the Beach Tennis team. Terry Rhodes, a 1962 graduate, generously gifted $1.25 million dollars to enhance the new tennis complex and endow multiple women’s tennis scholarships.
• The Beach also play in front of a full-sized electronic scoreboard, courtesy of a generous gift from the Hendricks family. It was dedicated in memory of former LBSU Women’s Tennis Coach Gloria Hendricks and her husband, Bob. The family also includes former Long Beach State tennis player Cindy (Hendricks) Robbins, her husband Les Robbins, both 1974 alums, and brother John Hendricks. The 40-foot-high scoreboard displays match scores on all six competition courts via wireless controls.

STAYING SOCIAL

• Follow Long Beach State Women’s Tennis on Instagram and Twitter at @LBSUTennis. Fans can stay up-to-date on all things Long Beach State by following @LBSUAthletics via Twitter. Be sure to “like” us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter at @LBSU.

TENNIS TRADITION

• The traditional player cheer pre-match and each time the team wins a match point is “Here We Go Beach!” All Beach fans are encouraged to follow the team’s cheer with their own “Here We Go Beach!”

NEXT UP

• The Beach conclude their homestand on Friday, March 29 at 2 p.m., at Rhodes Tennis Center against Big West rival Cal State Fullerton. Live scoring will be available via BeachLiveStats.com.