BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – WKU Women's Tennis opened a six-match homestand with a 4-3 victory over Wyoming on Saturday at the Warren County Tennis Facility at Michael O. Buchanon Park.
The Lady Toppers claimed the doubles point to take an early lead, before picking up singles victories from Sofia Blanco, Anna-Marie Kopecka, and Sunskrithi Damera to improve to 4-5 on the season.
"Great win for the program," WKU Head Coach Greg Davis said. "Wyoming last year won the regular-season Mountain West, and that's one of the toughest conferences in the country. This was just a great victory. We saw how important the doubles point was and we played with more energy today. This was by far the best team we've played up until now on our schedule. I think they'll end up finishing in the top 50, top 60 in the country, and they've got a shot at winning their conference this year.
"This is a great victory and we were very consistent in a lot of different positions. We had some really big wins out there today not only in doubles, but Sunskrithi finishing the match off for us, Sofia had another great performance at 3, and we had a great win by Anna-Marie at 5 winning in straight sets – that was a big win for us. Really proud of the team. We've got a quick turnaround with UIC tomorrow and they're an exceptional team."
With the match even, 3-3, Damera closed out Wyoming's (8-5) Lucia Malinak 7-6 (7-3), 6-2 on the sixth court to clinch the match for the Lady Toppers.
"Our doubles was really good – I think we played our best doubles today," Damera said. "In singles, we had some great matches. In my match, I was struggling in my first set and at the beginning of the second set, but I tried to be patient and try my shots and we won."
WKU got an early advantage in the match by getting doubles victories from Paola Cortez/Kopecka and Samantha Martinez/Mariana Zegada. Cortez and Kopecka defeated Sophie Zehender and Violetta Borodina 6-2, and Martinez and Zegada defeated Malinak and Jeselle Ante 6-4 to claim the point.
In singles, Blanco defeated Borodina 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 and Kopecka defeated Ante 6-4, 6-3 to give WKU its first two singles points, before Damera closed out the 4-3 win.
The Lady Toppers will continue the six-match homestand on Sunday, Feb. 25, with a 1 p.m. CT match against UIC at the Warren County Tennis Facility at Michael O. Buchanon Park.
Final Results
Singles (Order of finish: 1, 4, 5, 2, 3, 6)
Sophie Zehender (WYO) def. Paola Cortez (WKU) 6-3, 6-2
Noesjka Brink (WYO) def. Rachel Hermanova (WKU) 6-3, 6-4
Sofia Blanco (WKU) def. Violetta Borodina (WYO) 7-6 (7-5), 6-3
Nikol Dobrilova (WYO) def. Sayda Hernandez (WKU) 6-3, 6-4
Anna-Marie Kopecka (WKU) def. Jeselle Ante (WYO) 6-4, 6-3
Sunskrithi Damera (WKU) def. Lucia Malinak (WYO) 7-6 (7-3) 6-2
Doubles (Order of finish: 1, 2, 3)
Paola Cortez/Anna-Marie Kopecka (WKU) def. Sophie Zehender/Violetta Borodina (WYO) 6-2
Noesjka Brink/Nikol Dobrilova (WYO) def. Sofia Blanco/Rachel Hermanova (WKU) 6-4
Samantha Martinez/Mariana Zegada (WKU) def. Lucia Malinak/Jeselle Ante (WYO) 6-4
For all the latest on WKU Women's Tennis, follow @WKUTennis on Twitter and Instagram.
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
