BOX SCORE

SAN RAFAEL, Calif. — The Dominican University of California women's tennis team proved to be a worthy opponent and admirable host when the Pacific West Conference Women's Tennis Championships concluded on Saturday.

BYU-Hawaii, the No. 1 ranked Intercollegiate Tennis Association team in the country in NCAA Division II, defeated fifth-ranked Hawai'i Pacific 5-2 in the finals at the Marin Tennis Club while the host Lady Penguins finished the three-day event by winning the seventh-place match against Dixie State 5-4 in dramatic fashion at the Terra Linda High School courts.

The Lady Penguins' No. 1 doubles team of Irina Morozova and Gaby Verspieren fought off two match points at 6-7 to win their match 9-8 following a 7-3 tiebreaker then, in the final match of the day at Terra Linda, freshman Jobeth Pascual finished off an afternoon when she played for almost four hours in the hot sun to outlast the Red Storm's Sierra Storm 6-2, 3-6, 7-5 in their No. 5 singles match.

Pascual celebrated not by collapsing on the court but by dropping her racquet and running into the arms of her joyous teammates.

“We're not the most talented team but we have good parts,” said Head Coach Greg Kennett. “The best part about this team is they really like each other and they've really grown together. That makes it almost as special as the winning of this last match.”

The Lady Penguins (3-11) received straight -set wins in singles from Morozova, Verspieren and senior Jamie Fernandez. But it was the come-from-behind victory by Morozova and Verspieren early in the afternoon that ultimately allowed Pascual to play a decisive match in the late afternoon against Dixie State (8-11).

Dominican's top doubles team had never led in its match against Dixie State's Krista Anderson and Sarah Hughes and were trailing 6-7.  At 15-40 with Morozova serving, the Lady Penguins staged their remarkable comeback, rallying to win that game and finally prevailing in a tiebreaker on a slice winner at the net by Morozova.

“I knew we were going to win,” Morozova said. “I went for it.”

The Lady Penguins' other two doubles teams put together impressive comebacks as well, before bowing.

Ariana Paradis and Jessica Curlett fell behind 2-0 in their No. 2 doubles match to the Red Storm's Allison Evans and Lindsay Snow but, with an array of splendid net play and sharp shots, battled back to win four consecutive games. However, their momentum ended and rally fell short when, one point from a break point in the seventh game and a possible 5-2 advantage, the Lady Penguins fell victim to a Dixie State rally and 8-5 Red Storm victory.

Dominican was way down in No. 3 doubles, trailing 6-3, when Fernandez and her partner Pascual pushed the Red Storm team of Kristen Nichols and Sierra Smith. The Lady Penguins were on serve, one point from forcing a 7-7 tie with a chance to tie Dixie State, when the Red Storm rallied for an 8-6 win.

At that point, Pascual figured Dominican's chances of saving the day were going to rest on her and her singles match.

Kennett had a premonition — in the fall of last year — that the final match of the spring would involve Pascual, the lone freshman on the team.

“I said it was going to come down to the very last match and it's going to come down to you,” the Dominican coach said. “It's funny that it actually did happen that way.”

It wasn't funny when Pascual, after winning the first set, lost the second one, forcing a final, decisive, pressure-packed match with everyone watching.

“You're going to be shaken up knowing you have to go through that one more time, but by that time most of my team was over here cheering me on,” Pascual said. “They are worth going through that again.”

Pascual forged to a 3-0 lead in the last set but Snow broke her three times and tied the set at 5-5. Pascual, however, won eight of the final nine points. It capped a memorable week for the Lady Penguins.

“It was fun because Gaby got a great win in singles [on Wednesday] and our [top] doubles team got a great win on [Thursday against BYU-Hawaii] and today we got an emotional win,” Kennett said. “Our administration did a great job putting on the tournament and everyone enjoyed it, from the banquet to the hotels to the Marin Tennis Club. I'm proud of the whole University and what we're doing.”