By Isabella Dandoy (@DandoyIsabella) – Spear Reporter
Alba Pedrero Galindo and Carolina Millan dominate in doubles | Titus Wilkinson – The Spear
SJSU women’s tennis (No. 8 MW) will advance to the quarterfinals of the Mountain West Championship after its narrow 4-3 victory against New Mexico (No. 9 MW).
Sole sophomore Olaya Bances Iglesias nabbed the win after her nail-biting tiebreaker performance in singles (6-4, 6-7, 6-2).
The Spartans relied on her endurance against New Mexico a few weeks ago when Iglesias’s winning singles match ceased their prominent four-game losing streak.
But despite the dramatic ending, the victory also resulted from the momentum at the beginning of the match.
SJSU won the doubles point early with junior Carolina Millan and fifth-year Alba Pedrero Galindo spearheading the fight (6-3). Millan was recently honored with the all-Mountain West singles team title in her first year as an SJSU student. The talented duo boasts a 6-5 record together.
The Spartans were down 3-2 at one point during singles. Junior Irena Muradyan now has 12 singles wins to her name. She persisted and tied the game with two tiebreaker games (7-5, 7-5).
Today’s game prompted a burst of déjà vu. The match was a mirror image of the team’s New Mexico victory during the season.
Plus, the players aren’t strangers to the tournament pressure; the team clinched the championship in 2021 in Las Vegas. Muradyan, Pedrero Galindo, junior Jovana Babic, senior Lara Marco Mas, senior Rozalina Youseva, and junior Raquel Villan Pereira came from the team that left the courts with a trophy. SJSU is well-equipped with the experience as well as some of the players from its championship season.
Thanks to the dub, the team will prevail in the postseason. SJSU women’s tennis will face No. 1 seed Wyoming tomorrow at 10:00 am.
