WASHINGTON, Pa. – The West Liberty University women's tennis team notched an impressive non-conference win on Tuesday, handing Mercyhurst (Pa.) a 5-2 setback at the Washington Park courts.
    It was the fourth straight win for Coach Heather Gallagher's Hilltoppers (6-2) while the visiting Lakers (5-8) saw a three-match winning streak go by the boards.
    The No. 2 doubles team of Gemma Cliffe and Evelina Martirosyan got WLU off to a good start with a 6-3 win but the other two doubles matches each went to tiebreakers.
    The Hilltoppers' Emma Arnal and Daria Shchoma prevailed by a 7-3 count in their tiebreaker at No. 1 doubles with the No. 3 doubles tandem of Nathalia Valencia and Jacqueline Pena-Aceves gutting out a 7-5 tiebreaker nod to complete the sweep, giving WLU a 1-0 lead at the start of singles play.
    Martirosyan (No. 1), Arnal (No. 2), Cliffe (No. 3) and Shchoma (No. 6) all delivered straight-set wins in singles play to provide the comfortable final margin.
    The West Liberty women will put their four-match win streak on the line Saturday with a noon match at perennial NCAA Division III power Carnegie Mellon (Pa.).
     Arnal/Shchoma (WLU) d. Dean/Murphy, 7-6(3)
Martirosyan/Cliffe (WLU) d. Jahr/Ostojic, 6-3
Valencia/Pena-Aceves (WLU) d. Theodora/Bertolez, 7-6(5) Martirosyan (WLU) d. Dean, 6-2 7-5
Arnal (WLU) d. Jahr, 6-3 6-3
Cliffe (WLU) d. Murphy, 7-6(6) 6-2
Ostojic (MU) d. Valencia, 6-0 6-3
Bertolez (MU) d. Pena-Aceves, 6-2 6-1
Shchoma (WLU) d. Budin, 6-0 6-1