MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — WKU Tennis was defeated by Middle Tennessee by a score of 7-0 on Saturday afternoon at the Blue Raiders' Adams Tennis Complex.
The Lady Toppers dropped a tiebreaker for the opening doubles point, then fell in all six singles matches that followed.
"Give MTSU credit, it was senior day and they played well," head coach Greg Davis said. "Unfortunately we couldn't match their intensity level. I thought going into the match we were going to have to win the doubles in order to have a chance, then we weren't able to recover after losing all the first sets in singles."
After MTSU won 6-2 at the No. 3 doubles spot, the No. 1 WKU pair of Lisa Friess and Cora-Lynn von Dungern notched a 7-5 victory to even it up. That duo improved to 9-5 overall on the season and 4-1 against Conference USA opponents.
Then, the No. 2 doubles matchup went to a tiebreaker tied 6-6 in games. The team of Laura Bernardos and Samantha Martinez was defeated by a score of 9-7 by the Blue Raiders' Lee Barnard and Lidia Burrows. The Lady Toppers' pair fell to 9-3 together this season and 4-1 against league competition.
WKU fell to 4-12 on the campaign and 1-4 in C-USA matches, while MTSU improved to 10-9 overall with a 2-4 mark against league teams.
The Lady Toppers return to play on Sunday, April 11 with a match in Huntsville, Ala., at Alabama A&M and then face North Alabama the next day in Florence, Ala., on Monday, April 12. The Bulldogs have a 4-5 record, while the Lions are 6-10 thus far.
Final Results
Singles (Order of finish: 1,6,2,4,3,5)
1: Lee Barnard (MTSU) def. Cora-Lynn von Dungern (WKU) 5-2, retired
2: Lidia Burrows (MTSU) def. Laura Bernardos (WKU) 7-5, 6-4
3: Zani Barnard (MTSU) def. Lauren Joch (WKU) 7-5, 7-5
4: Lova-Star Alexis (MTSU) def. Tristen Bryant-Otake (WKU) 7-6 (3), 6-4
5: Noello Mauro (MTSU) def. Alexis Cramer (WKU) 7-5, 6-2
6: Muskan Gupta (MTSU) def. Lisa Friess (WKU) 6-3, 6-3
Doubles (Order of finish 3,1,2)
1: Friess/von Dungern (WKU) def. Alexis/Z. Barnard (MTSU) 7-5
2: L. Barnard/Burrows (MTSU) def. Bernardos/Martinez (WKU) 7-6 (7)
3: Mauro/Schmidt (MTSU) def. Bryant-Otake/Joch (WKU) 6-2
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