CHARLESTON, W.Va. – The West Liberty University women's tennis team jumped out to an early lead but couldn't hang on here Tuesday as top-seeded and No. 20-ranked Charleston rallied for a 4-1 win in an NCAA Division II Atlantic Region final at the Charleston Tennis Club.

    The Golden Eagles will join 15 other teams to compete in the 2023 NCAA Division II Nationals later this month. The 2023 NCAA D2 Nationals are scheduled for May 11-16 at the Collegiate Center on the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla.

    Coach Heather Gallagher's Hilltoppers, fresh off a thrilling win against West Virginia State in Monday's regional semifinal, picked up right where they had left off on Tuesday.

    West Liberty's No. 3 doubles tandem of Jacqueline Pena-Aceves and Nathalia Valencia blazed their way to 6-0 shutout win to get the match off to a flying start. The Hilltoppers' No. 1 tandem of Emma Arnal and Gemma Cliffe quickly followed suit with a 6-3 win to secure the doubles point and WLU headed into singles play just three wins away from a trip to Nationals.

    Unfortunately for the Black and Gold, the nationally-ranked hosts had other ideas and quickly righted the UC ship.

    Charleston took control of the match with straight-set wins at No. 1, No. 3 and No. 4 singles but found the fourth and deciding point a little harder to come by.

    The Hilltoppers' Evelina Martirosyan had posted a 6-1 win in the first set of her No. 2 singles match and Ishika Agarwal took the opening set of her No. 6 singles match by a 6-2 tally. Pena-Aceves dropped a tough 6-4 verdict in her first set at No. 5 singles but quickly rebounded for a 6-2 win in the second set.

    The Golden Eagles bounced back with second-set wins at No. 2 and No. 6 singles, sending all three matches to a third and deciding set with the regional title hanging in the balance. A West Liberty sweep would send the Hilltoppers to Florida while Charleston needed to win only one of the three.

    In the end it was freshman Riva Hondiashvilli who came up big for UC, pulling off a 6-0 win in the third set at No. 5 singles to close out the win for the top-seeded hosts.

    The other two matches were stopped in progress. Martirosyan had taken a 2-0 lead in the third set of her No. 2 singles match while Agarwal was still in the hunt, down just 5-4 at No. 6 singles.

    

WOMEN'S TENNIS

NCAA Division II Regional

Atlantic Region Final

(at Charleston Tennis Club)

No. 20 Charleston 4, West Liberty 1

Doubles

Arnal/Cliffe (WLU) d. Krasikova/Larsson, 6-3

Singh/Cameron (UC) vs. Martirosyan/Agarwal (WLU), 5-4, DNF

Valencia/Pena-Aceves (WLU) d. Balancho/Glaves, 6-0

Singles

Singh (UC) d. Arnal, 6-4 6-2

Martirosyan (WLU) vs. Krasikova (UC), 1-6 6-4 2-0

Larsson (UC) d. Cliffe, 6-3 6-2

Cameron (UC) d. Valencia, 6-1 6-1

Hondiashvilli (UC) d. Pena-Aceves, 6-4 2-6 6-0

Balancho (UC) vs. Agarwal (WLU), 2-6 6-3 5-4