Last April, Delanie Dunkle and Melissa LaMette sat beside each other after losing their third-straight Big West championship match.
LaMette turned to Dunkle and said, “We’re winning this thing next year.”
One year later, the Mustangs did just that. Cal Poly Women’s Tennis secured the 2024 Big West Championship.
By winning their conference championship, the Mustangs automatically qualify for the NCAA Tournament. They will face the University of Southern California on Friday in the first round.
What happened in the 2024 regular season?
Coming off of yet another year as Big West runner-ups, the Mustangs looked to make a statement this season.
The Mustangs, who were 13-8-1 on their season and 5-3-1 in conference play, fought through a hard season with a mission to get revenge.
Older players on the team, such as graduate student Melissa LaMette and fifth-year Delanie Dunkle, had been through this before, being with the team for all three straight championship losses prior to this season.
What happened in the Big West Championship
Cal Poly Women’s Tennis suffered three conference losses this season and one tied match. They lost to Cal State Northridge, Long Beach State, and Cal State Fullerton and tied with UC Santa Barbara.
The Mustangs’ Big West run begins with the initial bracket and seeding of the tournament. The Mustangs, who were seeded at No. 5, were matched up first with Long Beach State, one of the teams they lost to in the regular season. They stayed resilient in the first round, taking down Long Beach State 4-3 in a nail-biting match.
Moving into the semifinals, their next matchup was against the No. 1 seeded UC Santa Barbara, who they tied with earlier in the season. A daunting and concerning match against the No. 1 seed had no effect on the Mustangs ability to fight on, as they took them down 4-2 to advance to the championship.
Now, in the same place the team has been at for the fourth year in a row, the Mustangs are matched up with Cal State Fullerton, yet another team they suffered a loss to in the regular season.
After a handful of hard-fought matches, the match was tied at 3-3, and the only Mustang left with the chance to clinch the championship was LaMette.
LaMette closed out the final point and helped Cal Poly bring in its second-ever Big West Championship.
NCAA Tournament history
Cal Poly Women’s Tennis has never recorded an NCAA tournament win in program history. Their last appearance in the tournament was in 2011 when they fell to Oklahoma in the opening round.
In the first regional round of the tournament, the Mustangs will face the University of Southern California in Los Angeles in hopes of claiming their first NCAA tournament victory in program history and making noise at the tournament.
How the Mustangs matchup against USC
The Mustangs last played the Trojans in 2022, where they lost the match 4-2. Now, having played them in recent years, and having the drive and dedication to make their mark in this tournament, they feel ready as ever for the first round.
“We’ve been there before, we’ve played them before, so it doesn’t feel unattainable for us at all,” Delanie Dunkle said.
The recent loss to the Trojans is only more motivation for the Mustangs to play their game and come out on top.
A look at the team heading into the tournament
The Mustangs are exactly where they should be as they prepare to enter this NCAA tournament. A Big West championship isn’t enough to satisfy this program, which is filled with a tight-knit and bonded team that has played its hearts out this entire season.
It’s hunger and heart, and allowing us to play the tennis that we know how to play,” head coach Ellie Edles Williams said.
The caliber of their play, combined with the team’s cohesion this late in the season, will give the Mustangs a strong advantage.
“We are a team that other teams fear,” said Williams. The Mustangs are ready to carry their momentum into this tournament and stay hungry and motivated to continue making history for women’s tennis at Cal Poly. Their first-round match against USC will start on Friday, May 3rd, at 2 p.m. Pacific.