WKU Women’s Tennis completed a successful run at the MTSU Invitational Oct. 6-8, which concluded Sunday with an undefeated day.
The Lady Toppers were one of six teams participating in the matches hosted by Middle Tennessee State University.
The Lady Toppers faced Tennessee State University in their first singles matches of the weekend. Senior Paola Cortez defeated Warona Mdlulwa 6-2, 6-0. Junior Rachel Hermanova followed with a win against Louise Ratiu 6-0, 6-3. Junior Sayda Hernandez also defeated Fran Gomez-Weiss 6-0, 6-2.
The doubles matches against Eastern Kentucky University, Bellarmine and Lipscomb later that day ended with similar success. The pair of Hermanova and junior Mariana Zegada defeated EKU’s pair of Madison Hill/Ezem Olce by a score of 6-3.
The Lady Toppers defeated all three of Bellarmine’s pairs and two out of three of Lipscomb’s pairs.
The Lady Toppers boasted a more successful doubles event on Saturday compared to their singles.
The Lady Toppers won six of their seven singles matches during the 9 a.m. time slot Saturday. Cortez defeated competitor Lena Peyer from MTSU 6-2, 6-4. Hermanova followed by defeating Lilly-Sophie Schmidt, also from MTSU, 6-2, 6-2. Senior Anna-Marie Kopecka defeated Hrudaya Shah of MTSU 6-3, 6-2.
The Lady Toppers breezed through Saturday’s doubles matches undefeated. Cortez and Kopecka defeated TSU’s pair of Warona Mdlulwa/Daniela Koleva 6-0. Pair Sofia Blanco and Samantha Martinez earned a win by defeating TSU pair Jovana Nikolic/Louise Ratiu 6-3. Rachel Hermanova and Mariana Zegada rounded doubles out by defeating TSU pair Aroa Castillo/Fran Gomez-Weiss 6-1.
The 2:30 p.m. time slot for singles did not bode as well for the Lady Toppers. WKU came out on top in three of eight contests. Blanco defeated Deborah Dominguez with scores of 6-2, 4-6, 10-7. Mariana Zegada also managed a victory against Lipscomb competitor Alina Cherniaieva with scores of 6-3, 3-6, 10-3. Samantha Martinez was the final winner of the singles on Saturday defeating Anja Trbeznik, scoring 6-4, 0-6, 10-8.
The Lady Toppers finished the invitational with an undefeated Sunday. They went 11-0 on the final day of the event.
“We wanted to finish strong and to leave 8-0 in singles and 3-0 in doubles was a great achievement.” WKU Women’s Tennis Head Coach Greg Davis said. “We wanted to have some momentum going into Friday’s tournament at Samford and we were able to perform at a high level today.”
Sunday’s singles contests at 9 a.m. came against EKU. Cortez defeated Marai Fedenko 6-2. Hermanza followed her lead by defeating Marilou Cote 6-2, 6-3. Sayda Hernandez helped the Lady Toppers remain undefeated by winning against Emmy Poleuoi 6-4, 6-1.
Doubles were played against MTSU and TSU. Cortez and Kopecka’s pair remained undefeated against MTSU pair Lena Peyer/Eloise Swarbrick with a score of 7-6. Blanco and Martinez helped WKU stay undefeated in doubles by defeating MTSU’s second pair consisting of Hrudaya Shah/Lilly-Sophie Schmidt with a score of 6-4. Hernandez and Zegada finished the day by defeating TSU’s pair of Natalie Walsh/Taylor Ellis 6-0.
The Lady Toppers will travel to Samford University for the Samford Invitational from Oct. 13-15.
Sports reporter Morgan Larkins can be contacted at [email protected]
