Liberty University
No. 61 Louisville
Lady Flames Fall in Road Contest at Louisville, Sunday
2/5/2017 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
The Liberty women's tennis squad dropped a 6-1 decision at Louisville on Sunday afternoon at the Bass-Rudd Tennis Center.
The Cardinals remain perfect on the year at 6-0 with the win, while the defeat drops the Lady Flames to 2-1.
The Cardinals started the afternoon by taking two of three matches in doubles to earn the doubles point and went on to win five of six singles contests. At No. 1 doubles, Louisville's team of Abbie Pahz and Mariana Humberg upended Liberty's Rebekah Anderson and Aleksandra Panchenko, 6-3.
The Lady Flames' Anna Dollar and Evangeline Crist topped Sena Suswam and Olivia Boesing, 6-4, in the No. 2 position. The win was the duo's 10th as a pair in the 2016-17 season.
However, the Cardinals won at No. 3, as Jessie Paul and Ariana Rodriguez defeated Mariely Hassey and Emily Groeneveld, 6-4, giving the hosts a 1-0 advantage.
Louisville's Paul provided the Cardinals a strong start to singles action, besting Liberty's Hassey, 6-1, 6-1, at No. 6 singles to give the home side a 2-0 lead.
The Cardinals gained another point from Humberg in the No. 2 slot, knocking off Dollar in straight sets, 6-1, 6-3. Louisville clinched the match victory at No. 1 singles, as Aleksandra Mally earned a straight-sets triumph over Anderson, 6-3, 6-1, to give the Cardinals a 4-0 lead on the Lady Flames.
Suswam scored another point for Louisville over Panchenko, winning in two sets, 6-4, 6-4.
Both the No. 4 and No. 5 singles matches went to a third set and were determined by a tiebreaker to 10 points. Crist scored Liberty's lone point of the day, as she won the tiebreaker over Boesing, 10-8, for a 6-7 (3), 6-2, 1-0 (10-8) victory.
In the No. 5 spot, Tiffany Huber overcame a first set loss to Groeneveld for a 4-6, 6-3, 1-0 (10-7) victory to settle the final score at 6-1.
"We fought hard today but were consistently beaten on key points by a very strong, well-coached Louisville team. These types of matches will make us tougher and more battle-hardened," said Liberty Head Women's Tennis Coach Jeff Maren. "Although I don't like losing, I'm encouraged by the fact that we are a better team than we were before the match."
Liberty's upcoming schedule features two more road contests, next Saturday and Sunday at Wake Forest and Tennessee.
Team Stats
#1 Doubles Match
#2 Doubles Match
#3 Doubles Match
Order of Finish:
1,2,3
#1 Singles Match
#2 Singles Match
#3 Singles Match
#4 Singles Match
#5 Singles Match
#6 Singles Match
Order of Finish:
6,2,1,3,4,5