Women’s Tennis Edged by Spring Arbor, 4-3
HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C.- The Eastern Nazarene College women's tennis team suffered a narrow 4-3 setback to NAIA side Spring Arbor Monday afternoon in the first match of the team's spring break trip to the Palmetto State.
The Lions dip to 12-3 on the season with the result while the Cougars climb to 7-11 on the year with the win.
Spring Arbor captured a 1-0 lead after clinching the doubles point with a pair of doubles wins.
Magdalena Hubel (Berlin, Germany) and Emily Ruttkowski (Castrop-Rauxel, Germany) dropped an 8-7 decision at the No. 1 position after falling 7-1 in a tie-breaker to Abby Ducharme and Sela Clifford.
Sharon Biondi (Barquisimeto, Venezuela) and Veronica Jimenez (Lynn, Mass.) earned an 8-6 victory at the second spot over Morgan Summons and Kenzie Weener.
The Cougars' Paige Trela and Emma Ruga claimed a win at the No. 3 slot by default.
Both teams notched three singles victories as Spring Arbor secured a hard-fought 4-3 win.
Biondi prevailed in a third-set super-tiebreaker over Ducharme at the top singles position. After dropping the first set 6-3, Biondi battled back to edge Ducharme 7-5 in the second frame before triumphing 12-10 in the super-tiebreaker.
Ruttkowski improved to 14-0 on the year in singles play with a 7-5, 6-3 victory at the No. 2 slot against Clifford.
Hubel defeated Trela 7-5, 6-4 at the third singles spot to record her ninth win of the season.
Jimenez fell at the fourth position in a third-set super-tiebreaker to Summons. After Jimenez captured the first frame 7-6 in a tiebreaker, Summons rebounded with a 6-0 decision in the second set to force a super-tiebreaker. In the third-set super-tiebreaker, Summons edged Jimenez 10-8.
Grantham endured a 6-0, 6-0 loss at the No. 5 slot to Lindsey Scott while Spring Arbor's Shae Wright won at the sixth position by default.
Up next, Eastern Nazarene will take on Roanoke March 3.