| No. 1 Seed Hawai'i 4, No. 2 Seed Cal Poly 1 |
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Championship Central
SAN DIEGO (April 29, 2023) -- No. 1 seed Hawai'i came back from a tough doubles loss to defeat No. 2 seed Cal Poly 4-2 to win the 2023 Big West Women’s Tennis Championship, Saturday at Barnes Tennis Center. It is the Rainbow Wahine's second title overall and first since 2018. It is the first time that Hawai'i has won both the regular season and championship titles.
The Rainbow Wahine (14-7) earns The Big West's automatic bid into the NCAA Championship,
with their matchup to be revealed on Monday, May 1 at 3 p.m. PT/12 p.m. HT in a selection show on NCAA.com. Cal Poly ends its season with a 14-9 record.
Cal Poly took the doubles point in dramatic fashion, taking the top two slots on tiebreakers. The Hawai'i pair of Madison Kim and Satsuki Takamura downed Cal Poly's Melissa LaMette and Alexandra Ozerets 6-4 in the No. 3 spot. Delanie Dunkle and Peyton Dunkle downed Klara Novakova and Rita Pinto 7-6 (5) in the top flight and Kim Bhunu and Kennedy Buntrock topped Nikola Homolkova and Ana Vilcek 7-6 (3) at No. 2 for the clinch.
The Rainbow Wahine dominated the singles competition, taking the first sets in all six matches. Novakova took out Delanie Dunkle 6-2, 6-2 in the No. 4 hole and Takamura bested Peyton Dunkle 6-2, 6-2 in No. 3 singles. Kim defeated Ozerets 6-3, 6-2 in the No. 6 slot for a 3-1 Hawai'i advantage.
Cal Poly got one back as Buntrock downed Pinto in comeback fashion 1-6, 6-0, 6-0 to cut the gap to one in the team score. Vilcek clinched the title for the Rainbow Wahine in three sets in the top flight, 6-4, 1-6, 6-2 over Bhunu.