MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - Middle Tennessee jumped out with three quick points thanks to winning the doubles point and two singles matches but couldn't quite finish the deal, falling 4-3 to 71st-ranked Louisville Sunday in women's tennis action at the Bass-Rudd Tennis Center.
Middle Tennessee (2-3) won the doubles point by winning all three matches, including a default at No. 3, and opened singles play with two quick points, a victory at No. 1 by Hala Sufi and a default at No. 6. But the homestanding Cardinals won two matches in three sets, including the deciding match at No. 3, to post the victory.
"We played well today, very well as a team and everyone except for maybe one match gave us a chance to win," head coach Alison Ojeda said. "We just couldn't quite get that final point. We played well and battled hard and came up short, but we'll learn from this experience and it will help us sometime in the near future because the schedule doesn't get any easier."
In doubles, sophomore Marlene Chemin and junior Ann-Kristen Siljestrom defeated Bianca Gorbea and Jo-Ann Van Aerde, 8-4, at No. 2, before Sufi and Claudia Szabo won 8-5 at No. 1 against Natalie Laszkowski and Robyn White.
With the default at No. 2 and Sufi's 6-1, 6-0, victory over White at No. 1, the Blue Raiders were up 3-0 in the match.
But the Cardinals began chipping away, starting with a 6-2, 6-1, win at No. 5 by Natalia Baez over Elvira Yusupova. UL's Gorbea then defeated Stephanie Parkison, 6-2, 6-1, at No. 4 before Laszkowski evened the match with a 4-6, 6-2, 6-1, triumph over Siljestrom at No. 2.
Van Aerde and Chemin was the final match, with Van Aerde pulling out a 4-6, 6-1, 6-3, victory at No. 3 for the final point of the match and the win for the Cardinals.
Middle Tennessee next faces Vanderbilt in Nashville on Friday at 2:30 p.m. at the Brownlee O. Currey, Jr., Tennis Center.
#71 Louisville, Middle Tennessee 3
SINGLES
1. Hala Sufi (MT) def. Robyn White (UL), 6-1, 6-0
2. Natalie Laszkowski (UL) def. Ann-Kristen Siljestrom (MT), 4-6, 6-2, 6-1
3. Jo-Ann Van Aerde (UL) def. Marlene Chemin (MT), 4-6, 6-1, 6-3
4. Bianca Gorbea (UL) def. Stephanie Parkison (MT), 6-2, 6-1
5. Natalia Baez (UL) def. Elvira Yusupova (MT), 6-2, 6-1
6. MT won by default
Order of Finish: 6,1,5,4,2,3*
DOUBLES
1. Sufi-Szabo (MT) def. White-Laszkowski 8-5
2. Chemin-Siljestrom (MT) def. Gorbea-Van Aerde 8-4
3. MT won by default
Order of Finish: 3,2*,1
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