By Ajah Yee @ajah_yee
Freshman Clara Mauntax’s sudden death singles win helped advance San Jose State women’s tennis against Boise State 4-3 in the quarterfinals of the Mountain West Championships Friday.
Mauntax, at No. 6 singles, faced off against the Broncos’ Nancy Menjivar as the match went into a tiebreaker. Mauntax came up big with a 5-7, 6-2, 7-6 victory.
Senior Sybille Gauvain and freshman Savannah Sendar won both at No. 1 doubles 6-4 against Broncos Bosu Dokic and Wiktoria Nosek.
While the No. 3-ranked Spartans lost the doubles point to No. 6 Broncos (14-8), they made a comeback in the singles matches.
Gauvain won her match 7-5, 6-3 against Bosu Dokic, while Sendar won her match 6-4, 6-1.
Freshman Laura Malsert also pulled in a 1-6, 6-1, 6-2 three-match singles win against Vanessa Timm.
The odds didn’t seem to favor the Spartans in the beginning of singles matches with junior Miyo Kobayashi and sophomore Tamara Culibrk losing their singles matches to the Broncos, setting the overall score to 3-3.
However, Mauntax’s final 7-6 win in the singles tiebreaker gave the Spartans a place in the semifinals against No. 2 Fresno State, which easily took down Utah State 4-1.
The Spartans will enter the semifinals Saturday one win shy of a second straight appearance in the MW Championship. First serve will begin at 3 p.m.
