VIENNA, W.Va. – The regionally-ranked West Liberty University women's tennis team came from behind to hand Bluefield State a 4-3 loss here Tuesday in the Black and Gold's final tune-up for this weekend's Mountain East Conference championships.

    Coach Heather Gallagher's Hilltoppers (12-6), fourth in the latest NCAA Division II Atlantic Region rankings, found themselves in an early 1-0 hole on Tuesday after the Big Blues (6-10) swept all three doubles matches to take the doubles point.

    Trailing 1-0 heading into singles play, West Liberty had to win four of the six singles matches to come away with the win and that's exactly what the Hilltoppers did.

    Evelina Martirosyan sprinted off to a 6-1 6-1 victory at No. 1 singles and Emma Arnal contributed a dominant 6-0 6-3 win in her No. 2 singles match.

    Gemma Cliffe gutted out a hotly-contested 6-4 7-5 verdict at No. 3 singles and West Liberty veteran Nathalia Valencia took a 6-4 6-3 straight-set nod at No. 4 singles as WLU wrapped up regular season play with its 12th win of the season.

    After going 5-1 in Mountain East Conference action, the Hilltoppers have earned the No. 2 seed in the MEC Tournament. West Liberty opens MEC Tournament play in Charleston on Saturday with a noon semifinal match at No. 3 seed West Virginia State.