MUNCIE, Ind. — WKU Tennis suffered a loss to Ball State on Sunday afternoon, falling to the Cardinals by a score of 6-1. Cora-Lynn von Dungern claimed the lone singles win of the day, defeating her opponent 6-1, 2-6, 1-0 in a third-set tiebreaker at the No. 1 position.
WKU dropped to 1-6 on the season, while the Cardinals improved to 7-2, winning their seventh consecutive match.
"We competed very well in doubles and just came up short, then we unfortunately couldn't switch the momentum once Ball State won five of the first sets in singles," head coach Greg Davis said. "The 15-day layoff certainly wasn't a help today and then you're playing against a veteran team that had four matches in the last week."
WKU began the match in a tightly-contested doubles portion of play. After Ball State won 6-2 at the No. 1 spot, the Lady Toppers' No. 3 pair of Tristen Bryant-Otake and Lauren Joch took their match by a score of 7-5. But the No. 2 matchup went the way of the Cardinals in a 7-5 result, giving the hosts the opening 1-0 lead.
Ball State won the first four singles matches in straight sets to clinch the overall competition and take a 5-0 lead. After von Dungern won her matchup, Lisa Friess and her opponent also went to a third-set tiebreaker but fell at the No. 5 position by a score of 4-6, 6-4, 0-1. It was von Dungern's second win of the season and eighth of her WKU career in her second season on The Hill.
"Great, great win by Cora at No. 1 – she really stepped up her singles game today which she is very capable of doing every match," Davis said.
Next up for the Lady Toppers will be a pair of Conference USA matches next weekend. The squad will face LA Tech and Southern Miss on Friday, March 5 and Saturday, March 6 – respectively – at a neutral site in Murfressboro, Tenn.
WKU last faced the Lady Techsters in the 2018 C-USA Tournament and came away with a 4-0 win. The Lady Toppers and Golden Eagles have never faced each other in women's tennis.
Final Results
Singles (Order of finish: 6,4,2,3,1,5)
1: Cora-Lynn von Dungern (WKU) def. Emma Peeler (BSU) 6-1, 2-6, 1-0 (10-8)
2: Mariya Polishchuk (BSU) def. Laura Bernardos (WKU) 6-2, 6-2
3: Jessica Braun (BSU) def. Tristen Bryant-Otake (WKU) 7-5, 6-4
4: Amy Kaplan (BSU) def. Lauren Joch (WKU) 6-2, 6-2
5: Rebecca Herrington (BSU) def. Lisa Friess (WKU) 6-4, 4-6, 1-0 (10-5)
6: Livia Lukacs (BSU) def. Alexis Cramer (WKU) 6-1, 6-1
Doubles (Order of finish 1,3,2)
1: Kaplan/Peeler (BSU) def. Friess/von Dungern (WKU) 6-1
2: Lukacs/Sec (BSU) def. Bernardos/Martinez (WKU) 7-5
3: Bryant-Otake/Joch (WKU) def. Martinez/Polishchuk (BSU) 7-5
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