WEXFORD, Pa. – The No. 5-seeded West Liberty University women's tennis team dropped a 4-0 decision to No. 4 seed Slippery Rock (Pa.) here Friday in an NCAA Division II Atlantic Region semifinal match at the Oxford Athletic Club.
The Rock (16-7) put Coach
Heather Gallagher's Hilltoppers (11-7) in an early hole by taking the doubles point.
Slippery Rock rolled to a 6-1 win at No. 3 doubles but the other two matches were much closer. The Pennsylvania squad finally locked up the doubles point with a 7-5 win over WLU's No. 1 doubles tandem of
Emma Arnal and
Daria Shchoma. The No. 2 doubles match was halted with the Black and Gold duo of
Evelina Martirosyan and
Gemma Cliffe trailing just 5-4.
Slippery Rock then posted straight-set wins at the No. 3, 4 and 5 singles spots to end the match.
Cliffe fell by a 7-5 6-2 count at No. 3 singles and
Nathalia Valencia came up short, 6-1 6-4, in the No. 4 slot. Jacqueline Pena-Aceves carried the first set of her No. 5 singles bout into a tiebreaker but a 7-4 loss in the tiebreaker followed by a 6-4 setback in the second set brought the match to a close.
At the time of the stoppage, Martirosyan was down 6-2, 6-5 in her No. 1 singles match but Arnal had carried her No. 2 singles match to a third set with a 6-1 romp in the second set after a narrow 6-4 loss in the opening set. West Liberty's Shchoma was leading her No. 6 singles match, taking the opening set in a tiebreaker and tied at 2-2 in the second set.
The Rock advances to play top-seeded Indiana (Pa.) in Saturday's regional championship match.
WOMEN'S TENNIS
NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional
Semifinal
Slippery Rock (Pa.) 4, West Liberty 0
Doubles
Gonzalez Sanchez/Page (SRU) d. Arnal/Shchoma (WLU) 7-5
del Val del Toro/Isherwood (SRU) vs. Cliffe/Martirosyan (WLU) 5-4, DNF
Heed/Lancaster (SRU) d. Valencia/Pena-Aceves (WLU) 6-1
Singles
Page (SRU) vs. Martirosyan (WLU) 6-2, 6-5, DNF
Gonzalez Sanchez (SRU) vs. Arnal (WLU) 6-4, 1-6, 0-0, DNF
del Val del Toro (SRU) d. Cliffe (WLU) 7-5, 6-2
Martin Lopez (SRU) d. Valencia (WLU) 6-1, 6-4
Heed (SRU) d. Pena-Aceves (WLU) 7-6 (7-4), 6-4
Lancaster (SRU) vs. Shchoma (WLU) 6-7 (5-7), 2-2, DNF
