BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — WKU Tennis defeated North Alabama by a score of 5-2 on Sunday afternoon at the WKU Tennis Complex.
"For this being our first match outside and considering that we had only played outside two or three times all year, I thought the effort and everything was pretty good today." head coach Greg Davis said. "The conditions were not great. Anytime you have a 20 mile per hour wind, you are not going to play your best. It all comes down to who manages the conditions the best, and I think we did a good job of that."
WKU is now 8-8 all-time against the Lions, winning the last two meetings.
The Lady Toppers won the doubles point for the sixth time this season, winning on Court 1 and Court 3. The No. 3 duo of Sofia Blanco and Samantha Martinez finished first on Court 3, winning 6-3. WKU was able to clinch the doubles point shortly after, with the No. 1 pair of Cora-Lynn von Dungern and Paola Cortez taking the victory 6-1, on Court 1. They improve to a team-best, 6-1 in doubles play.
Entering singles play with the 1-0 lead, the Lady Toppers continued stellar play, starting at the No. 1 spot. Cora-Lynn von Dungern won the first set, 6-1, when her opponent had to retire due to injury. Taylor Shaw followed that up, winning the decision at No. 5 6-2, 6-0. Alexis Cramer was then able to secure the win for WKU winning 6-1, 6-2 at the No. 6 spot. She improves to 4-1 overall in singles matches.
Leading 4-0, the last three singles matches were played out. North Alabama won at the No. 2 position in a third-set super tiebreaker to get on the board. Then at No. 4, Rachel Hermanova finished by winning a third-set super tiebreaker of her own. She improves to a team-best, 8-1 in singles play. The final match of the day went in favor of the Lions, winning another third-set super tiebreaker at the No. 3 slot. This made the final score, 5-2, getting the Lady Toppers back in the win column.
"We fought hard at every position today. I thought that made a difference. It was good to see our doubles play really well today." coach Davis said. "I thought we played some of the best doubles that we have played all year, today. We kind of kept that momentum going into singles. Once we got up 3-0, I think that helped us a lot, it took a lot of pressure off. It was a big difference in us being victorious today."
WKU improved to 6-3 on the season, while North Alabama fell to 0-10 thus far.
WKU returns to play next weekend with a doubleheader on Sunday, Feb. 27 with home matches against UT Chattanooga at 1 p.m. and Tennessee State at 6 p.m. The weather conditions will determine where the matches will be played.
Final Results
Singles (Order of finish: 1,5,6,2,4,3)
1: Cora-Lynn von Dungern (WKU) def. Payton Andrews (UNA) 6-1, default (injury)
2: Sydney Flesch (UNA) def. Laura Bernardos (WKU) 3-6, 6-4, (10-5) (super tiebreaker)
3: Juliette Talieu (UNA) def. Paola Cortez (WKU) 7-6, 4-6, (10-8) (super tiebreaker)
4: Rachel Hermanova (WKU) def. Gabriella Cevallos (UNA) 3-6, 6-3, (10-7) (super tiebreaker)
5: Taylor Shaw (WKU) def. Lee Taylor Bishop (UNA) 6-2, 6-0
6: Alexis Cramer (WKU) def. Nicole Reilly (UNA) 6-1, 6-2
Doubles (Order of finish 3,1,DNF)
1: von Dungern/Cortez (WKU) def. Flesch/Talieu (UNA) 6-1
2: Bernardos/Hermanova (WKU) vs. Andrews/Cevallos (UNA) 4-3, unfinished
3: Blanco/Martinez (WKU) def. Bishop/Loubser (UNA) 6-3
Western Kentucky University Athletics
- Champions Climb Here
- WKU Athletics
- Athletic Director
- Academic Services
- Annual Report
- Athletic Communications
- Athletic Hall of Fame
- Athletic Training
- Big Red
- CLIMB Program - NIL
- Compliance
- Facilities
- Financial Reports
- For Students
- Student Employment
- Forms/Requests
- Book Big Red
- Donation Requests
- Site Feedback
- For Fans
- Hilltopper Highlights
- Gameday Promotions
- Alumni Tailgates
- Big Red's Rascals
- Basketball Gameday
- Football Gameday
- Mobile Tickets
- Travel Center
- Tickets
- Give
