MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Senior Lucia Diaz Saez moved up to the No. 5 position and notched a singles victory, but WKU Tennis fell by a score of 5-2 vs. Ball State on Friday in a neutral-site match.
Diaz Saez defeated the Cardinals' Victoria Sec by a score of 6-2, 6-3, as the Sevilla, Spain, native came up victorious in her first challenge at the No. 5 spot in the order after going 1-2 at the No. 6 spot in the Lady Toppers previous four team matches.
WKU opened up the scoring by winning the doubles point, despite suffering a loss as the No. 3 position to start the competition. The Lady Toppers' No. 1 duo of Lisa Friess and Cora-Lynn von Dungern won by a score of 6-3, then the No. 2 team of Laura Bernardos and Tristen Bryant-Otake outlasted their opponents by a score of 7-5.
Ball State (2-1) recorded the first three singles wins before Diaz Saez tallied another point to bring WKU within 3-2, but the Cardinals closed out the final two singles matches of the afternoon to reach the 5-2 final result.
"It was a tough match against a very good Ball State team – we had a great performance in doubles and Lucia had a dominating performance at No. 5," head coach Greg Davis said. "We still have to focus on a better start in singles as a team but it's good to see we improved from our previous match in our team play. Now it's about putting it all together on the same day."
The Lady Toppers (3-2) will have the opportunity to do just that in less than 24 hours, as WKU travels to Clarksville, Tenn., on Saturday, Feb. 1 for a 1 p.m. match at Austin Peay. The head-to-head against the Governors was originally scheduled to be at home in Bowling Green, but was moved due to weather concerns.
Final Results
Singles (Order of finish: 3,2,6,5,4,1)
1: Jessica Braun (BSU) def. Cora-Lynn von Dungern (WKU) 7-5, 6-4
2: Emma Peeler (BSU) def. Tristen Bryant-Otake (WKU) 6-4, 6-2
3: Rebecca Harrington (BSU) def. Laura Bernardos (WKU) 6-2, 6-0
4: Amy Kaplan (BSU) def. Lisa Friess (WKU) 6-3, 7-5
5: Lucia Diaz Saez (WKU) def. Victoria Sec (BSU) 6-2, 6-3
6: Livia Lukacs (BSU) def. Zoe Wende (WKU) 6-0, 6-1
Doubles (Order of finish 3,1,2)
1: Friess/von Dungern (WKU) def. Lukacs/Peeler (BSU) 6-3
2: Bernardos/Bryant-Otake (WKU) def. Braun/Kaplan (BSU) 7-5
3: Desai/Harrington (BSU) def. Diaz Saez/Joch (WKU) 6-2
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