Irvine Valley's women's tennis team started well in singles and took an early lead, but couldn't hold in in a 5-3 Orange Empire Conference loss to Riverside on Tuesday at home.
Irvine Valley's top three singles players each earned victories with sophomore Halla Alajeely leading the way by beating Riverside's Torrey Mateljan, 6-0, 6-0, at No. 1 singles.
Freshman Sabrina Mendy earned a 6-3, 6-1 victory at the No. 2 spot and freshman Ashley Le rallied for a 5-7, 7-6, 6-4 win at the third position.
But Riverside earned wins on the fourth through sixth courts in singles and then captured the first two doubles contests for the overall win.
Irvine Valley saw its record slip to 3-4 overall and 2-2 in conference, while Riverside improved to 7-1 overall and 2-1 in conference. The defeat dropped IVC into third place in the conference standings.
IVC will get back to action Thursday when it finishes off the first round of conference play with a home match against Saddleback at 2 p.m.
Riverside 5, Irvine Valley 3
Singles
1. Halla Alajeely (IVC) def. Torrey Mateljan (RCC), 6-0, 6-0
2. Sabrina Mendy (IVC) def. Heather Graf (RCC), 6-3, 6-1
3. Ashley Le (IVC) def. Maxelle Bernie (RCC), 5-7, 7-6, 6-4
4. Hannah Stevenson (RCC) def. Alaina Spearman (IVC) 6-1, 6-0
5. Miranda Cardenas (RCC) def. Brigget Lee (IVC), 6-4, 6-4
6. Monica Madrid (RCC) def. Ariyana Ash (IVC), 6-0, 6-3
Doubles
1. Mateljan/Bernie (RCC) def. Alajeely/Le (IVC), 4-3 (not finished)
2. Graf/Johnson (RCC) def. Mendy/Spearman (IVC), 8-5
3. Stevenson/Lopez (RCC) def. Lee/Ash (IVC), 8-4
