BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — WKU Tennis continued its 2022 season Saturday afternoon sweeping the Eastern Illinois Panthers at home. The Lady Toppers improved to 13-6 on the season while Eastern Illinois moved to 2-12.
WKU got the lead early by winning the doubles point.
The No. 3 duo of Sofia Blanco and Samantha Martinez won their third match in a row, winning 6-2 to give the Tops an early edge. Cora-Lynn von Dungern and Paola Cortez took the decision on Court 1, also winning 6-2. This marks their 13th doubles win in 14 matches this season.
Up 1-0 going into singles play, the Lady Toppers played perfect the rest of the way.
Sofia Blanco finished first on Court 6, only dropping one game in two sets, winning 6-1, 6-0. The Freshman improved to 6-3 on the year. At No. 5, Samantha Martinez was flawless throughout the match, winning 6-0, 6-0. This marks three singles wins in a row for Martinez, all in straight sets. Paola Cortez was able to clinch the win for WKU, winning 6-2, 6-2 at No. 2. Cortez is undefeated at the No. 2 spot for the Lady Toppers this season and improved to 11-6 overall.
Up 4-0, the final three matches were played out.
Rachel Hermanova continued her stellar season, winning in straight sets, 6-4, 6-1 at the No. 3 position. This puts her overall record at 15-3, making it the first time a Lady Topper has won 15 singles matches in a season since Nina Kostava did it in 2000-01. Following that, Taylor Shaw won at No. 4 in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3. Up 6-0, Laura Bernardos was the last to finish playing at No. 1. The match went to a super tiebreaker for the third set after they split the first two sets. They each needed more than 10 points each to decide the tiebreaker, ultimately with Laura Bernardos coming out victorious, taking the match, 6-2, 2-6, 16-14. A great finish to a great team performance.
"I thought we played really well considering the conditions today. It was cold, cloudy, a lot of wind. We talked about it coming in, whoever can manage the conditions the best, would end up being the victor." head coach Greg Davis said. "We played really well. We emphasized getting off to a good start in doubles. We also came out and won six first sets in singles, which set the tone for the rest of the match. Really happy with the performance of the team on a tough day, condition wise."
WKU will play on the road next weekend in Indianapolis. On Friday, March 25, the Lady Toppers will visit Butler, starting at 10 a.m. Eastern Time. On Saturday, March 26, they will face off against Illinois-Chicago in Indianapolis, also starting at 10 a.m.
Final Results
Singles (Order of finish: 6,5,2,3,4,1)
1: Laura Bernardos (WKU) vs. Rachel Papavasilopoulos (EIU) 6-2, 2-6, 16-14 (super tiebreaker)
2: Paola Cortez (WKU) def. Elizaveta Bukraba-Ulanova (EIU) 6-2, 6-2
3: Rachel Hermanova (WKU) def. Christine Gouws (EIU) 6-4, 6-1
4: Taylor Shaw (WKU) vs. Addison Brown (EIU) 6-2, 6-3
5: Samantha Martinez (WKU) def. Brittany Steven (EIU) 6-0, 6-0
6: Sofia Blanco (WKU) def. Lauren Ellis (EIU) 6-0, 6-1
Doubles (Order of finish 3,1)
1: Cortez/von Dungern (WKU) def. Brown/Gouws (EIU) 6-2
2: Bernardos/Zegada (WKU) vs. Ellis/Papavasilopoulos (EIU) 5-2, unfinished
3: Blanco/Martinez (WKU) def. Steven/Bukraba-Ulanova (EIU) 6-2
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