5:15pm | Senior Deborah Armstrong came up with a huge performance in her final women’s tennis Big West Championship, winning a key doubles match before clinching Long Beach State’s entry into the NCAA Tournament with a 4-1 win over No. 59 UC Irvine.

Armstrong, Long Beach State’s all-time doubles wins leader, had not played doubles since March 11, but in the absence of Klaudia Malenovska was reinserted into the No. 1 doubles team, winning 9-7 over Hannah Halladay/Rebecca Kwan with Anais Dallara. The 49ers then took the point with a win at No. 2 doubles as Jaklin Alawi and Rachel Manasse also won by a 9-7 margin over Courtney Byron/Smith in another tight doubles match.

In singles, Brooke Schweyer defeated Sarah Cantlay at No. 5 to even the match score at 1-1, but  Dallara put the 49ers back on top, winning the first set 6-4 over Byron and then rallying from being down 5-2 in the second set to win 7-6 in a tiebreaker.

Anna Jeczmionka, replacing Malenovska in the singles lineup and playing at No. 6, beat  Halladay 7-6 (5), 6-1 to bring the 49ers to within a match of the win. Then Armstrong, now playing at No. 2 singles, defeated Kwan 7-5, 6-2 to clinch the match for the 49ers.

With the victory, Long Beach State earns the conference’s automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. The bracket will be announced by the NCAA on Tuesday at 2 p.m.

Armstrong has been named the university’s athlete of the week.