Junior Natalie Lynch has been named the Big West Women’s Tennis Player of the Week for the first time in her career, according to an announcement by the conference office on Apr. 8.
Lynch is recognized as the second Cal Poly Mustang to receive this honor during the current season, following Kennedy Buntrock who was awarded on Jan. 28.
The recognition comes after Lynch’s performance in two home matches against ranked opponents. In a match against No. 64 Long Beach State last Tuesday, she and doubles partner Candela Aparisi secured a 6-4 win at No. 2 doubles, improving their record to a team-best nine wins and five losses overall and remaining undefeated in conference play with three wins. In singles play during that match, Lynch achieved a comeback victory at No. 5 singles with scores of 4-6, 6-2, and 6-2, clinching the dual win for Cal Poly.
Later in the week against No. 73 Hawai’i, Lynch delivered another strong performance by winning her singles match at No. 4 with scores of 6-0 and 6-1 as part of a narrow team victory (4-3). This improved her individual singles record this spring to ten wins and five losses overall and four wins with one loss in Big West competition.
Looking ahead, Cal Poly is scheduled to travel to Southern California for its final two regular season road matches: facing Cal State Fullerton on Friday at 11 a.m., followed by UC Irvine on Sunday at the same time. The matchup with Cal State Fullerton was rescheduled from Saturday due to anticipated weather conditions. With two more victories this week, Cal Poly could secure one of the top two seeds in Big West regular season standings along with a double bye into the semifinals of their conference tournament.
