SAN DIEGO, Calif. -- No. 1 seed UC Santa Barbara edged No. 4 seed Long Beach State with a narrow 4-3 victory in a semifinals matchup in the 2026 Big West Women's Tennis Championship at Barnes Tennis Center on Friday. UC Santa Barbara secured crucial wins in four of the six singles matchups, which proved decisive after dropping two of the three doubles matches. 

In doubles play, Cecilia Costa and Paulina Franco of Long Beach State narrowly defeated Ekua Youri and Caroline Beard of UC Santa Barbara, 7-6, taking the tiebreak 7-3 in match one. Lily Pradkin and Shanelle Iaconi of the Gauchos secured a win over Pamela Badillo and Thea Jagare of Long Beach State, 6-4, in the second doubles match. In the third doubles match, Long Beach State's Daisy Carpenter and Diana De Simone overcame Emma Tutoveanu and My-Anh Holmes of UC Santa Barbara, 6-3.

In the singles competition, Ekua Youri of the Gauchos edged out Cecilia Costa of Long Beach State, 7-5, 6-4, in the opening singles match. Isabella Wong of UC Santa Barbara came back to defeat Diana De Simone in a tightly contested match, 2-6, 6-4, 7-6, winning the third set tiebreak 7-4. Thea Jagare of Long Beach State prevailed over Emma Tutoveanu of UC Santa Barbara, 7-5, 6-7, 6-3, in the third singles match. Lily Pradkin of the Gauchos defeated Paulina Franco of Long Beach State in straight sets, 6-1, 6-3, in the fourth singles match. Pamela Badillo of Long Beach State won against Raphaelle Leroux of UC Santa Barbara, 6-2, 6-4, in the fifth singles match. Finally, Shanelle Iaconi of the Gauchos secured victory over Daria Malaescu of Long Beach State, 7-5, 6-0, in the No. 6 singles match.