LOS ANGELES - The No. 22 Point Loma women's tennis team ran into a regional foe, and No. 23 ranked, Cal State Los Angeles on Wednesday (Mar. 4) and fell 6-3. PLNU drops to 4-5 on the season and CSULA improves to 3-4.
 
The Sea Lions fell behind early dropping the first two matches in doubles play before Hillary Ramage and Nikki Newell won 9-8 on an 8-6 tiebreaker to cut the deficit to 2-1 going into singles.
 
The Golden Eagles picked up the first singles point on court 1. Newell then earned the win 6-4 and 6-4 at No. 2s to once again bring PLNU within one at 3-2. The two teams again traded points, this time on courts 3 and 5. Regina von Koch picked up the victory on court 3 with a 2-6, 6-1 and 6-1 win.
 
The fifth and decisive match point was then up in the air with PLNU needing to take the final two to earn the win. Kirsty Mountain pushed her opponent to the third set to give Point Loma the chance to tie the match but CSULA's Alexandra Makashov rallied to win the final two sets to win the match 3-6, 7-5 and 6-0 and pick up the critical fifth point for the Golden Eagles.
 
Preethika Venugopal also took her opponent to a third set. With the match on the line and PLNU still looking for that comeback, Venugopal surged from behind to pick up a 7-6 win in the second set and pushed her match to the third set. However, after CSULA picked up the fifth match point Venugopal's match went to a tiebreaker. The final score was 6-4, 6-7, 10-5 in favor of CSULA.
 
The Sea Lions' next match will be Saturday, Mar. 7 at Holy Names starting at 1:00 p.m. 

#23 Cal State L.A. 6, #22 Point Loma 3
Singles 
1. Nozomi Matsuoka (CSULA) def. Cunningham, Madeline (PLNU-WT) 6-1, 6-2
2. Newell, Nikki (PLNU-WT) def. Sonia Landeros (CSULA) 6-4, 6-4
3. von Koch, Regina (PLNU-WT) def. Iris Raileanu (CSULA) 2-6, 6-1, 6-1
4. Elizaveta Sokolova (CSULA) def. Venugopal, Preethuka (PLNU-WT) 6-4, 6-7, 10-5
5. Victoria Vo (CSULA) def. Ramage, Hillary (PLNU-WT) 6-1, 7-5
6. Alexandra Makashov (CSULA) def. Mountain, Kirsty (PLNU-WT) 3-6, 7-5, 6-0

Doubles
1. Ramage, Hillary/Newell, Nikki (PLNU-WT) def. Sonia Landeros/Iris Raileanu (CSULA) 9-8 (8-6)
2. Nozomi Matsuoka/Alexandra Makashov (CSULA) def. von Koch, Regina/Venugopal, Preethuka (PLNU-WT) 8-6
3. Victoria Vo/Elizaveta Sokolova (CSULA) def. Cunningham, Madeline/Weissman, Jen (PLNU-WT) 8-6

Match Notes
Point Loma 4-5; National ranking #22; Regional ranking #6
Cal State L.A. 3-4; National ranking #23; Regional ranking #7
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (1,2,5,3,6,4)