LOS ANGELES — In the finale of the ITA Kick-Off Weekend at Southern California, San Diego women's tennis faced Penn in the first ever meeting between the two schools. However, the Toreros made sure they left the City of Angels with a win.  

USD started with the freshman pairing of Anni Pulls taking down No. 92 Esha Velaga and Lara Stojanovski from Penn, 6-1. Then, moments later, Toreros sophomore Kristina Nordikyan and freshman Gabby Gregg pulled out a 6-3 win over Penn's Gavriella Smith and Sasha Motlagh to earn the doubles point. 
 

In singles action, Rutlauka, ranked No. 27 in singles, got Penn on the board with a 6-1, 6-4 win over de las Heras to tie the dual match at one apiece. 
 
Then, Read and Gregg each got singles wins of their own after being victorious in their respective doubles matches. Read, ranked No. 105 in the country in singles, took care of Smith, 6-4, 6-4. Gregg had a dominating 6-0 first set and followed that up with a 6-4 second set sweep over Urata. That gave USD a 3-1 lead, needing only one point to secure the dual match. 
 
San Diego surrendered a point after freshman Anni Puls lost to Penn's Lara Stojanovsjki, 7-5, 6-4. However, the winning point of the match would ultimately come in a hard fought match.
 
Like Gregg and Read, Nordikyan was also able to have her momentum from doubles transition into singles. She needed seven points to win in straight sets, including shutting out Wang in the tiebreak to secure the point and the win for the Toreros. 
 
In addition, a couple of ranked singles players faced off but did not finish. Evans, ranked No. 31 faced off against Velaga, ranked No. 42. Evans took the first set 6-3 before Velaga took the second set, 6-4. As a result, it went to a decisive third set where Evans took a 3-1 lead before Nordikyan won her match and the dual match for USD, seeing their match unfinished.   
  
The Toreros now move to 2-2 on the season, as does Penn. 
 
Up Next 
The Toreros will travel to Texas A&M on Jan. 31 in College Station, Texas followed by a neutral site match against Arizona the next day in Houston. Last season, USD topped No. 2 Texas A&M 5-2 in San Diego before the Aggies would go on to win the team National Championship.
 
Results 
 
San Diego 4, Penn 2
Doubles 

1. Sabine Rutlauka/Eileen Wang (Penn) vs. #38 Kailey Evans/Claudia De Las Heras (USD), 4-4 (unfinished) 
2. Hannah Read/Anni Pulls (USD) def. #92 Esha Velaga/Lara Stojanovski (Penn)  6-1
3. Kristina Nordikyan/Gabby Gregg (USD) def. Gavriella Smith/Sasha Motlagh (Penn), 6-3 

1. #27 Sabine Rutlauka (Penn) def. Claudia De Las Heras (USD) – 6-1, 6-4 
2.  #31 Kailey Evans (USD) vs. #42 Esha Velaga (Penn) – 6-3, 4-6, 3-1 (unfinished)
3. Kristina Nordikyan (USD) def. Eileen Wang (Penn) – 7-5, 7-6 (7-0) 
4. Lara Stojanovski (Penn) def. Anni Puls (USD) – 7-5, 6-4
5. #105 Hannah Read (USD) def. Gavriella Smith (Penn) – 6-4, 6-4
6. Gabby Gregg (USD) def. Maya Urata (Penn) – 6-0, 6-4

 
Order of finish: Doubles: 2, 3; Singles: 1, 6, 5, 4, 3