ERIE, Pa. – The West Liberty University women's tennis team outlasted Mercyhurst, 4-3, here Friday night in a non-conference match that went right down to the wire.

    Coach Heather Gallagher's Hilltoppers, who improved to 8-2 on the season, got off to a strong start by sweeping all three doubles matches to claim what turned out to be the all-important doubles point.

    Emma Arnal and Gemma Cliffe cruised to a 6-3 win at No.1 doubles while Evelina Martirosyan and Ishika Agarwal had to fight their way through a 7-5 tiebreaker to win their No. 2 doubles match. Nathalia Valencia and Jacqueline Pena-Aceves made it a clean sweep with a 6-3 decision at No. 3 doubles.

    In singles play, Cliffe rolled to a 6-0 6-3 win at No. 3 singles while Agarwal survived a first-set tiebreaker to take a straight-set nod at No. 6 singles, 7-6(5) 6-2. West Liberty needed one more point for the win and Martirosyan delivered with a 6-4 4-6 6-2 victory at No. 2 singles.

    The Hilltoppers will be back in action on Saturday, hosting perennial NCAA Division III power Carnegie Mellon in a 6 p.m. match at the Wheeling Park Bubble.