Lady Toppers Doubles Shine; Split Sunday Doubleheader

Sunday, January 29

Bowling Green, Ky.

12 PM

Western Kentucky University

Western Carolina

1/29/2023 9:07:00 PM | Women's Tennis

Box Score 1 Box Score 2 Photo Gallery

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — WKU Tennis continued its 2023 campaign splitting its second doubleheader of the season on Sunday against Western Carolina and Western Illinois. The Lady Toppers move to 4-3 on the year, while the Catamounts improve to 2-0 and the Fighting Leathernecks drop to 2-1.

Western Carolina Recap
The Lady Toppers started fast, winning the doubles point for the third time this season. The No. 1 duo of Sayda Hernandez and Sunskrithi Damera earned their first win of the season as a duo, winning 6-1. Sofia Blanco and Rachel Hermanova clinched the first point, winning their match on court two, 6-3. The No. 2 pair got its third win on the year, improving to 3-1.

In singles, the momentum did not carry over for the Lady Toppers. Losing four of six singles matches to make the final decision, 4-3 in favor of Western Carolina.

Sophomores Sofia Blanco and Mariana Zegada both obtained their third singles win on the year. Blanco won in straight sets at No. 3, 6-4, 6-0, while Zegada won 6-4, 6-4 on court five.

Final Results vs. Western Carolina
Singles (Order of finish: 1,3,4,5,6,2)
1: Isabella Sambola (WCU) def. Sayda Hernandez (WKU) 6-0, 6-4
2: Madison Schwarz (WCU) def. Rachel Hermanova (WKU) def. 3-6, 7-5, 6-3
3: Sofia Blanco (WKU) def. Leilany Ipunesso (WCU) 6-4, 6-0
4: Jade Groen (WCU) def. Sunskrithi Damera (WKU) 6-1, 6-3
5: Mariana Zegada (WKU) def. Angela Perez (WCU) 6-4, 6-4
6: Andrea Radondo (WCU) def. Samantha Martinez (WKU) def. 6-4, 0-6, 7-5

Doubles (Order of finish: 1,2)
1: Damera/Hernandez (WKU) def. C. Schwarz/M. Schwarz (WCU) 6-1
2: Blanco/Hermanova (WKU) def. Perez/Sambola (WCU) 6-3
3: Martinez/Zegada (WKU) vs. Redondo/Groen (WCU) 5-4, unfinished

Western Illinois Recap
WKU won the doubles point for the second time today and the fourth time this season. The No. 2 duo of Sofia Blanco and Rachel Hermanova claimed its second doubles win of the day, winning 6-1. Samantha Martinez and Mariana Zegada clinched the point after their 6-2 win on court three. The final match on court one was played out, resulting in the No. 1 pair of Sayda Hernandez and Sunskrithi Damera getting the 7-5 win.

In singles play, the Lady Toppers kept it rolling, not dropping a single set on the way to a 7-0 sweep.

Zegada was the first to finish on court five, only dropping two games in the first set. The sophomore won 6-2, 6-0 to improve to 4-2 on the season. Shortly after, Martinez won 12 straight games at No. 6 winning 6-0, 6-0 to improve to 3-1 in singles. Blanco delivered the match-winning point, only losing a single game 6-0, 6-1 and improving to 4-3 on the year.

With the match decided, the final three matches were played out. Damera claimed her fourth win of the season, winning 6-1, 6-0 on court four. Hernandez earned her first win at the No. 1 spot winning 6-1, 6-3, and gets her third win of the season. Hermanova finished off the sweep for the Lady Toppers, winning 6-2, 6-4. The sophomore improves to 5-2 on the season and 24-7 in her career. Her 24 singles wins are tied for nineth all-time with former teammate Cora-Lynn von Dungern (2020-2022).

"I thought in the first match our intensity was good. I thought we played really good doubles today, first and second match. We wanted to get in position to win the match and we did that. We just had trouble finishing it," Davis said. "I give credit to Western Carolina. They have a really good team, and they are deep one through six. There really was not an easy match out there the whole day in the first match. We will learn from it and get better. In the second match we came back, and I am glad we had that type of performance that was consistent one through six and our doubles as well. One thing I talked about a couple weeks ago was our doubles getting better and it improved a great deal in these last few matches we have had."

Final Results vs. Western Illinois
Singles (Order of finish: 5,6,3,4,1,2)
1: Sayda Hernandez (WKU) def. Paige Grice (WIU) 6-1, 6-3
2: Rachel Hermanova (WKU) def. Lara Diniz de Souza (WIU) 6-2, 6-4
3: Sofia Blanco (WKU) def. Lorena Catellanos (WIU) 6-0, 6-1
4: Sunskrithi Damera (WKU) def. Aina Cortina-Pou (WIU) 6-1, 6-0
5: Mariana Zegada (WKU def. Agatha Carbonell (WIU) 6-2, 6-0
6: Samantha Martinez (WKU) def. Lucky Kancherla (WIU) 6-0, 6-0

Doubles (Order of finish 2,3,1)
1: Damera/Hernandez (WKU) def. Rybka/Diniz de Souza (WIU) 7-5
2: Blanco/Hermanova (WKU) def. Grice/Carbonell (WIU) 6-1
3: Martinez/Zegada (WKU) def. Cortina-Pou/Kancherla (WIU) 6-2

The Lady Toppers will be back in action next Sunday, February 5 in Nashville against the Belmont Bruins at 2 p.m. CT.

How to follow WKU Tennis: For complete information on WKU Lady Topper Tennis, visit WKUSports.com or follow the program via social media @WKUTennis on Twitter and @WKUTennis Instagram.