The Western tennis teams traveled to Nashville, Tenn. this past weekend to take on Lipscomb in a doubleheader. While the Lady Toppers managed to put together a 4-3 win, the Hilltoppers were not as lucky, falling 4-3 to the host Bisons.

?The Lady Toppers (7-7) surrendered the doubles’ point to Lipscomb, but managed to pick up four singles victories to earn their seventh win of the season. Freshman Karina Ledaja improved to 12-1 on the season by defeating LU’s Jessica Bowman at No. 1 (6-1, 6-1). Ledaja also teamed with freshman Ieva Balcus to earn an 8-2 victory at No. 1 doubles.

The Hilltoppers (4-12) dropped all three doubles matches, but nearly pulled out a win by capturing three singles matches, while dropping a highly-contested bout at No. 1. Senior Evalds Jurans edged LU’s Andrew Harriss (6-4, 4-6, 6-2) for a win at No. 2. Freshmen Stan Rabinovics and Ryan Durham followed with wins at No. 4 and No. 6, respectively. Senior Mikus Paipars almost scored Western’s fourth point but was defeated in a close match at No. 1 (2-6, 6-3, 6-4).

Both teams were scheduled to take on Tennessee State University on Sunday but had their matches rained out. The Lady Toppers next play Belmont on Friday, while the Hilltoppers hit the road to face Memphis.

– Kyle Hightower