ORLANDO, Fla. - The Dickinson women's tennis team started their very busy Spring Break on Sunday with a pair of tightly contested non-conference matches against North Central College and local foe Moravian University. The Red and White dropped the opener to the Cardinals 5-2, before being edged 4-3 by the Greyhounds.
Match One - Cardinals 5, DEVILS 2
Doubles (Cardinals 3-0 | Count as one point in team score)
The top pair of
Jenna Crain and
Merve Uyumazturk battled hard, but fell 6-4 to Kensington Payne and Abigail Penados.
Chloe Heller along with
Loretta Szych grabbed three games off of Sophia Drozd-Meghan McSweeney. NCC finished off a clean sweep of doubles at the two slot as Liveta Ezerskis and Kate Herlihy posted a 6-0 win over
Natasha Sharnoff-
Alisa Steele.
Singles (Cardinals 2-4)
Dickinson secured a win at number two as Steele knocked off Payne 7-6 (8-6 tiebreak), 6-3. The Devils other victory happened in the six slot where Szych had too much for Anais Gernar (6-3, 6-1). The only other match to finish in straight sets was Ezerskis besting Sharnoff (6-3, 6-2). Crain at the top of the ladder dug out of a one set deficit to force a super tiebreaker. Unfortunately, Penados would take that 10-5 to claim the match. The remaining two contests also took the super tiebreak with Uyumazturk (4th) and Heller (5th) each taking the first set, before dropping the second and ultimately the tiebreak to Herlihy and McSweeney respectively allowing the Cards to take the match.
Match Two - Greyhounds 4, DEVILS 3
Doubles (DEVILS 2-1 | Count as one point in team score)
Dickinson opened up with a 6-3 win on the three line thanks to
Brenna Bussinger and
Avery Williamson. They then secured the point with the top duo of Anabel Romero and Uyumazturk edging out Izzy Szmodis-Leah Zolotareva (6-5). Moravian did take the second flight courtesy of Kaelyn Balko and Natalia Smith as they knocked off
Sara Jaklitsch and Steele 7-6 (7-4 in tiebreak).
Singles (Greyhounds 4-2)
The Red and White quickly jumped out to a 2-0 lead at third singles where Uyumazturk allowed three games to Smith (6-0, 6-3). Szmodis playing on the two line survived a close 6-4 first set with Sharnoff, before taking the second 6-1. The score would get tied 2-2 at the conclusion of the fifth flight where Szych and Balko traded 6-1 wins through the first two sets, but Balko claimed the 10-6 victory during the super tiebreaker. Zolotareva gave the Hounds their first lead of the day going 6-4, 6-0 against Steele at the top of the ladder. However, Dickinson did not go away as Jaklitsch needed two sets to takedown Fraukje van Baars (6-3, 6-2) tying the score at 3-3. Unfortunately, Sydney Shifman would win a tightly contested 6-4, 6-3 match against Heller to give the match to Moravian.
Up Next
Dickinson (4-4) return to action on Tuesday morning at 9am against Saint Mary's College (Ind.) in Cocoa Beach, Florida.
