HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – The West Liberty University women's tennis team pulled out a thrilling 4-3 victory against West Virginia State on Tuesday in a late-season battle of regionally-ranked Mountain East Conference rivals at the Fox Tennis Center on the campus of Marshall University.
    Ranked No. 5 in the most recent NCAA Division II Atlantic Region poll, Coach Heather Gallagher's Hilltoppers (11-4, 5-0) came up big in singles play on Tuesday to hand the No. 3-ranked Yellowjackets (11-5, 5-1) their first MEC loss of the season.
    West Liberty got off to a good start by claiming the doubles point. Bouncing back from a 6-1 loss at No. 3 doubles, WLU's No. 2 pairing of Evelina Martirosyan and Gemma Cliffe breezed to a 6-3 win and the No. 1 duo of Emma Arnal and Daria Shchoma prevailed, 7-5, to send the Hilltoppers into singles play with a 1-0 lead.
    That proved to be a crucial point as the Yellowjackets reeled off straight-set wins at the 3, 4 and 5 singles spots to move within one win of taking the match but West Liberty responded to the challenge.
    Arnal kept WLU's hopes alive with a 6-3 3-6 6-3 victory at No. 1 singles and the remaining two matches went to third-set tiebreakers with the Hilltoppers coming out on top each time.
    Martirosyan rebounded from a lopsided 6-1 loss in the first set of her No. 2 singles match to post a 6-4 win in the second set. The third set ended in a 6-6 deadlock but Martirosyan delivered a 7-4 victory in the tiebreaker.
    Shchoma also had to come from behind for her crucial win at No. 6 singles. After dropping a 7-5 decision in the opening set, she forced a third set with a convincing 6-2 win in the second set. Tied at 6-6 at the end of the third set, Shchoma fought her way to a 10-8 win in the tiebreaker to help seal the match.
    The Hilltoppers' challenging week continues on Thursday with a 4 p.m. match against No. 4-ranked Slippery Rock (Pa.) at Washington (Pa.) Park.
     Arnal/Shchoma (WLU) d. Solomon/Malo, 7-5
Martirosyan/Cliffe (WLU) d. Moore/Haidari, 6-3
Wallin/Roland (WVSU) d. Valencia/Pena-Aceves, 6-1 Arnal (WLU) d. Solomon, 6-3 3-6 6-3
Martirosyan (WLU) d. Wallin, 1-6 6-4 7-6(4)
Malo (WVSU) d. Cliffe, 6-0 6-2
Haidari (WVSU) d. Valencia, 6-4 6-2
Beltramino (WVSU) d. Pena-Aceves, 6-3 6-3
Shchoma (WLU) d. Daszkiewicz, 5-7 6-2 7-6(8)