Box Score IRVINE, Calif.  - The Concordia women's tennis team earned its second straight victory on Friday evening with a solid performance against Fresno Pacific.

The Green and Gold took down the Sunbirds by a score of 5-2 thanks to three key victories in singles play.

"Our team played with a ton of heart,"said CUI head coach Jonathan Sanchez.  "FPU played really well and fought really hard and did not make it easy for us to win today but we also competed phenomenally. We were down early in a couple of the first few matches and had wins in the second sets to force three sets.

After the Eagles won the valuable doubles point 2-1, sophomore standout Ghazal Pakbaten took care of business in the top singles pairing, 6-0, 6-3, to put the Eagles up 2-0. Pakbaten defeated Marina Lex, who had been undefeated up until this point in the season.

Seniors Samantha Schuster and Johanna Keeline also picked up important victories in the singles matches. In #5 singles, Schuster won her match in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2, while Keeline overcame early adversity in the #4 singles matchup to eke out a three-set win.  Keeline dropped her first set against Imane Van Veen 4-6, but rallied to victory 6-4, 6-3 to hand CUI the crucial 4th point of the day.

"It felt amazing," admitted Keeline. "It felt so good. I needed to be off the court before I started cramping. I knew that we were close (to winning) so I really tried to grind it out for my team."

"Johanna Keeline winning that third set in her match was key for us," added Sanchez. "She got a huge confidence boost from our Cal State LA match and then to have to battle this one out the way she did, she should have a lot of confidence going into our next matches."

In #6 singles, Halle Van Natta also won her matchup to complete the scoring.

CUI's Lisa Suzuki and newcomer Taylor Lau began the day by defeating Lex and Ioanna Lathourri in the top doubles pairing. Pakbaten and Keeline also teamed up for a win to cement that important doubles point for CUI in the #2 doubles matchup.

For the full CUI women's tennis schedule, click here.