Lady Toppers Fall Against No. 69 Liberty

Saturday, April 6

Bowling Green, Ky.

1 p.m.

Western Kentucky University

Liberty

4/6/2024 5:15:00 PM | Women's Tennis

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Mariana Zegada/Samantha Martinez Interview

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – WKU Women's Tennis lost 4-0 to No. 69 Liberty on Saturday at the WKU Tennis Complex.

The match was the first of the season against a Conference USA opponent for the Lady Toppers, who fall to 13-9 overall and 10-3 at home.

WKU picked up a doubles victory from Samantha Martinez and Mariana Zegada from the No. 2 position. Martinez and Zegada defeated Priscila Janikian and Maria Turchetto 6-1. However, the Lady Toppers were unable to come away with the doubles point, and dropped the first three singles decisions in the 4-0 loss to the Lady Flames.

"I'm glad to see Mariana and Sam play some of the best doubles they've played all year," WKU Head Coach Greg Davis said. "They play well as a combo and they have all year, whether it has been 3 doubles or 2 doubles. It's good to see them play well. Liberty is a top-65 team in the country. They came in here and showed us why. They were very consistent and a very intense team. We were able to sustain during a lot of the match. It's just overall we had trouble sustaining for the whole match, both sets. I thought we were in almost every first set we played. We were right there with them. Good teams like this – like Liberty – they've got that fifth gear, so when they got that first set in a lot of these matches, they elevated to that fifth gear and that made a difference in this match.

"It was a good match for us. This gets us ready for the conference tournament. They're one of the top two teams in the conference and we feel like we can play at that level. It was a good match for us today."

WKU will be back in action at home on Wednesday, April 10, for a Senior Day match against Middle Tennessee. The match is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. CT.

Final Results
Singles (Order of finish: 3, 5, 6)
Paola Cortez (WKU) vs. Maria Juliana Parra Romero (LIBERTYW) 6-7 (5-7), 0-3, unfinished
Rachel Hermanova (WKU) vs. Tiffany Nguyen (LIBERTYW) 6-4, 4-5, unfinished
Esther Lovato (LIBERTYW) def. Sayda Hernandez (WKU) 6-4, 6-1
Sunskrithi Damera (WKU) vs. Marina Davtyan (LIBERTYW) 4-6, 1-5, unfinished
Daniella O'Neill (LIBERTYW) def. Samantha Martinez (WKU) 7-5, 6-2
Maria Turchetto (LIBERTYW) def. Mariana Zegada (WKU) 7-5, 6-2
Doubles (Order of finish: 2, 1, 3)
Maria Juliana Parra Romero/Tiffany Nguyen (LIBERTYW) def. Paola Cortez/Sayda Hernandez (WKU) 6-2
Samantha Martinez/Mariana Zegada (WKU) def. Priscila Janikian/Maria Turchetto (LIBERTYW) 6-1
Esther Lovato/Sadie Daavettila (LIBERTYW) def. Sofia Blanco/Rachel Hermanova (WKU) 7-5

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