TicketsCINCINNATI - The University of Cincinnati women's tennis team picked up a hard-fought win on the road Satuaday afternoon, defeating Wright State by a narrow 4-3 margin.
// DOUBLES
Order of Finish: 2,1,3
No. 1 | Bellinger/Poggensee-Wei (UC) def. Tumer/Culbertson (WSU) 6-2
No. 2 | Haller/Verstrepen (WSU) def. Morton/Philp (UC) 6-2
No. 3 | Morgan/Cloern (WSU) def. Hutchison/Miller (UC) 6-3
Wright State picked up the early advantage, claiming two wins during doubles play to hold the 1-0 lead. Kelly Poggensee-Wei (Lake Villa, Ill./Grayslake North) and Lauren Bellinger (Dublin, Ohio/Dublin Jerome) handed Wright State's top doubles team just their second loss of the season by a 6-2 score.
// SINGLES
Order of Finish: 5,6,4,3,1,2
No. 1 | Karoline Haller (WSU) def. Lauren Bellinger (CIN) 7-6 (7-5), 7-5
No. 2 | Kelly Poggensee-Wei (CIN) def. Linsey Verstrepen (WSU) 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-3)
No. 3 | Antonella Bramato (CIN) def. Taylor Culbertson (WSU) 6-2, 2-6, 6-0
No. 4 | Caroline Morton (CIN) def. Haily Morgan (WSU) 7-5, 6-3
No. 5 | Anna Philp (CIN) def. Elaine Cloern (WSU) 6-4, 6-0
No. 6 | Tori Turner (WSU) def. Harley Hutchison (CIN) 6-4, 6-3
Singles action was a back-and-forth affair with neither team pulling away. Anna Philp's (Burlington, Ontario/Burlington Central) team-leading fifth singles win of the season tied the score at one. The freshman remained undefeated with a 6-4, 6-0 win on court No. 5. WSU added a win on court No. 6 to pull ahead 2-1 before the Bearcats other freshman, Caroline Morton (Dubuque, Iowa/Evert Tennis Academy) won by scores of 7-5, 6-3 to even things up.
The Bearcats got a much needed victory from Antonella Bramato (Pachuca, Mexico/Elise Freinet) on court No. 3 to take a 3-2 lead. After dropping the second set, Bramato stormed back in the final set to sweep her opponent by a 6-0 score.
Wright State battled back to even the score at three after a win on court No. 1, setting up a match-deciding frame for Poggensee-Wei and Verstrepen on court No. 2. After winning the first set in a tiebreaker, Poggensee-Wei repeated the feat in the second set to avoid a third-set and clinch the match for UC.
// COACH TOTH ON THE BEARCATS
"I am very proud of the fight our girls showed to pull out this match," head coach Eric Toth stated. "Our team has a lot of respect for Wright State's program and realized what we were in for today. If they can stay healthy they have a heck of a shot of playing in May. Our level of play was very good and necessary today to earn win number three. Of course, Ball State will present us another strong challenge tomorrow. They are a championship program and we will have to produce another solid performance to come out on top."
// UP NEXT
The Bearcats will be right back at it tomorrow, hosting Ball State at 2 p.m. at the Western Tennis and Fitness Club. Live Stats will be available here - http://stats.statbroadcast.com/statmonitr/?id=166511