WKU Tennis swept both matches in a weekend stretch against the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders 4-3 and the Saint Louis Billikens 6-1, improving its record to 17-8 on the year. 

The Lady Toppers set a program record of best home record, going 12-4 in Bowling Green. 

MTSU

The Lady Toppers beat the Blue Raiders 4-3 Saturday afternoon in Bowling Green, making this their second win against the Blue Raiders in program history and their first conference win of the season. 

The Lady Toppers secured the doubles point and the early lead with a close win. WKU won the match on Court 1, but it was followed by a win on Court 2 from MTSU. Redshirt junior Cora-Lynn von Dungern and redshirt sophomore Paola Cortez claimed a 6-2 victory, improving to 16-3 on the year. Freshman Sofia Blanco and sophomore Samantha Martinez clinched a 7-6 (7) win for the doubles point on Court 3 after the match went into a tiebreaker.

Dungern won in straight sets l on Court 1 6-1, 6-0. while Cortez also won in straight sets 6-1, 6-2 on Court 3. MTSU made a comeback on Court 6 and Court 4, winning both in straight sets to bring the score to 3-2. Blanco secured the victory for WKU, winning 6-4, 6-1. The final match was played out, going in favor of the Blue Raiders, giving a 4-3 victory to the Lady Toppers. 

“That is probably one of our biggest wins by far since I have been here,” WKU head coach Greg Davis said in a press release. “Middle (Tennessee) is a good team. They had a good win over Ball State earlier this year. They had a very good win, beating Samford 6-1. I mentioned to the team yesterday that doubles is going to be the key. We did a really good job getting up 5-2 on all three courts in doubles. We were in a tough spot at three and we pulled it out… This is going to help us with our seeding at the conference tournament in a couple weeks.”

Saint Louis

WKU celebrated its seniors on Senior Day with a dominant 6-1 win against the Saint Louis Billikens Sunday afternoon.  

Once again, the Lady Toppers secured the doubles point and gained the early edge in the match. The duo of Martinez and Blanco won their match 6-2 before redshirt senior Laura Bernardos and freshman Mariana Zegada won 6-4 to secure the doubles point for WKU. 

Freshman Rachel Hermanova was the first to finish, winning straight sets 6-4, 6-1, improving her singles record to a team best of 17-5 for the season. Cortez followed with a win in straight sets 7-5, 6-0, before Blanco won the match-deciding point, claiming a 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 win. 

The Billikens secured their only match point of the day during a match-up on Court 1. The final two matches went in favor of WKU. Zegada won 6-4, 4-6, 6-2, her first singles win of her collegiate career, while Bernardos won 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 to give the Lady Toppers a 6-1 victory.

“I thought that was one of our best performances of the year today,” Davis said in a press release. “I mean the freshmen really stepped up for us. I am really happy for them. Sofia clinched the match again, but Rachel and Mariana helped out a great deal. I could not be happier with the play of the team. We wanted to send the seniors home with a victory today and we did just that.”

The Lady Toppers will be traveling to Huntington, W.Va., next weekend to play their final match of the regular season against Marshall. The match will begin at 1 p.m. on Saturday. 

Sports Reporter Izzy Lanuza can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @izzylanuza.