MURRAY, Ky. — WKU Tennis came up victorious in come-from-behind fashion on Sunday, pulling a 4-3 upset over host Murray State. Trailing 3-1 halfway through singles play, the Lady Toppers reeled off wins from Cora-Lynn von Dungern, Lucia Diaz Saez and Laura Bernardos to clinch the win.
WKU snapped a five-match Racers' win streak and dropped the in-state rival to 7-2 on the season. Meanwhile, the Lady Toppers improved to 5-5 and capped a 2-1 weekend of play.
"Great win for the ladies against a very, very good team on their home courts," head coach Greg Davis said. "We really won this by getting contributions from all six players in doubles and singles; we were down 3-1 but never quit fighting."
For the second-straight day, WKU started off by winning the doubles point to take a 1-0 lead. The No. 1 pair of Lisa Friess and von Dungern, as well as the No. 2 duo of Tristen Bryant-Otake and Lauren Joch, took care of their matchups by decisive scores of 6-2 and 6-1, respectively.
After dropping the first three results of singles competition to Murray State, von Dungern came through with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 win over Sara Loncarevic at No. 1 to give the Lady Toppers some momentum. Then, Diaz at No. 6 defeated Sara Bjork by a score of 6-4, 6-4 to even up the team tally at 3-3 and put Bernardos in a do-or-die situation at No. 5.
The Segovia, Spain, native came through with flying colors, defeating Samantha Muller in straight sets (6-4, 7-5) to earn the match-clinching point for a 4-3 WKU win. Although the Lady Toppers all-time mark against the Racers now sits at only 4-16, they have won consecutive matches over Murray State in the head-to-head series.
WKU continues its 2020 season with road matches next weekend at Tennessee State on Friday, Feb. 21 at 1 p.m. and at Miami (Ohio) on Saturday, Feb. 22 at 3 p.m. CT.
Final Results
Singles (Order of finish: 2,4,3,1,6,5)
1: Cora-Lynn von Dungern (WKU) def. Sara Loncarevic (MUR) 6-4, 4-6, 6-4
2: Stasya Sharapova (MUR) def. Tristen Bryant-Otake (WKU) 6-0, 6-4
3: Anja Loncarevic (MUR) def. Lauren Joch (WKU) 7-5, 2-6, 6-2
4: Marit Kreugel (MUR) def. Lisa Friess (WKU) 6-3, 6-3
5: Laura Bernardos (WKU) def. Samantha Muller (MUR) 6-4, 7-5
6: Lucia Diaz Saez (WKU) def. Sara Bjork (MUR) 6-4, 6-4
Doubles (Order of finish 2,3,1)
1: Friess/von Dungern (WKU) def. Muller/Sharapova (MUR) 6-2
2: Bryant-Otake/Joch (WKU) def. Loncarevic/Loncarevic (MUR) 6-1
3: Bjork/Kreugel (MUR) def. Bernardos/Diaz Saez (WKU) 6-1
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