BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – WKU Women's Tennis beat Belmont 4-3 in a thriller on Saturday at the Warren County Tennis Facility at Michael O. Buchanon Park.
Sayda Hernandez, Anna-Marie Kopecka, Sunskrithi Damera, and Sofia Blanco each claimed victories in the win, which improved the Lady Toppers to 5-1 at home and 6-5 overall this season.
"What a great victory," WKU Head Coach Greg Davis said. "Belmont competes really well and I thought today the doubles point was going to be really, really crucial. Any time you're in it in doubles and feel you have a shot to finish it and you don't, it's kind of like knocking the air out of you. I didn't know how we'd respond in singles, but hey, we fought until the end. To win this down at 3, 4, 5, and 6 and Sofia coming down a set and 5-2, it's just a great effort by the team.
"We've got to turn it around quick just like last weekend. We play IUPUI tomorrow and when you play your alma mater, it's always special. I'm looking forward to playing them outside tomorrow for our first outside match of the year."
Blanco closed out her team's win by coming back in her match against Belmont's (6-5) Anastasiya Zholdakova to win on the third court. After dropping the first set, Blanco eventually closed out the 2-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7-5) victory.
"I would say (the biggest key) was never giving up," said Blanco, who trailed 5-2 in the second set and improved to 9-1 this season with the win. "I was down the whole match, was 5-2 down, but I was always believing in myself, I had this hunger to win, and I knew if she wanted to beat me, she had to do the impossible.
"I never gave up. I ended up winning the second set 7-5 and the third set was really tight, really challenging, but I won it 7-6. There were no easy points – it was just fight and fight and fight."
The Lady Toppers dropped the doubles point in close matches and fell down 3-1 in the match with losses on the first two courts and Hernandez's 6-4, 6-2 win against Belmont's Viktoria Kliimand, but pulled out the victory. Damera defeated Libbie Hamilton 6-2, 6-3, and Kopecka defeated Hana Sokolovic 6-0, 3-6, 6-1, before Blanco finished off her match to give the Lady Toppers the 4-3 victory.
WKU will remain home Sunday for the fourth match of a six-match homestand. The Lady Toppers are set to face IUPUI at 1:30 p.m. CT at the WKU Tennis Complex.
Final Results
Singles (Order of finish: 1, 4, 2, 6, 5, 3)
Mariia Hlahola (BEL) def. Paola Cortez (WKU) 6-3, 6-2
Vesa Gjinaj (BEL) def. Rachel Hermanova (WKU) 6-3, 7-5
Sofia Blanco (WKU) def. Anastasiya Zholdakova (BEL) 2-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7-5)
Sayda Hernandez (WKU) def. Viktoria Kliimand (BEL) 6-4, 6-2
Anna-Marie Kopecka (WKU) def. Hana Sokolovic (BEL) 6-0, 3-6, 6-1
Sunskrithi Damera (WKU) def. Libbie Hamilton (BEL) 6-2, 6-3
Doubles (Order of finish: 3, 2, 1)
Mariia Hlahola/Anastasiya Zholdakova (BEL) def. Paola Cortez/Anna-Marie Kopecka (WKU) 7-6 (10-8)
Viktoria Kliimand/Vesa Gjinaj (BEL) def. Sofia Blanco/Sayda Hernandez (WKU) 7-5
Samantha Martinez/Mariana Zegada (WKU) def. Hana Sokolovic/Libbie Hamilton (BEL) 6-2
For all the latest on WKU Women's Tennis, follow @WKUTennis on Twitter and Instagram.
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