TicketsTUSCON, Arizona - The University of Cincinnati women's tennis team used the top of the lineup to start a weekend of play in Arizona with a 5-2 win over New Mexico Friday afternoon.
// DOUBLES
Order of Finish: 2, 1, 3
No. 1 | Bellinger/ Poggensee-Wei (CIN) def. Copas /Dulski (NM) 6-4
No. 2 | Burguiere/Chung (NM) def. Morton/Philp (CIN) 6-2
No. 3 | Hutchison/Miller (CIN) def. Olivier/Wong (NM) 7-6 (8-3)
The Bearcats jumped out to the 1-0 lead after securing the doubles point with wins on courts No. 1 and No. 3. After New Mexico took the first match, Lauren Bellinger (Dublin, Ohio/Dublin Jerome) and Kelly Poggensee-Wei (Lake Villa, Ill./Grayslake North) evened things up before Harley Hutchison (Joliet, Ill./Joliet Catholic Academy) and Ali Miller (Portsmouth, Ohio/Portsmouth) earned a tiebreaker victory.
// SINGLES
Order of Finish: 1,5,4,3,6,2
No. 1 | Lauren Bellinger (CIN) def. Ludivine Burguiere (NM) 6-2, 6-1
No. 2 | Kelly Poggensee-Wei (CIN) def. Ruth Copas (NM) 7-5, 5-7, 6-3
No. 3 | Antonella Bramato (CIN) def. Dominique Dulski (NM) 7-6 (10-0), 6-4
No. 4 | Caroline Morton (CIN) def. Cassie Chung (NM) 6-2, 6-1
No. 5 | Diana Wong (NM) def. Anna Philp (CIN) 6-2, 6-2
No. 6 | Rachana Bhat (NM) def. Harley Hutchison (CIN) 4-6, 6-2, 6-3
The top of the lineup carried the Bearcats during singles action with courts 1-4 recording victories. Bellinger added the first win by scores of 6-2, 6-1. New Mexico added their first point on court No. 5 to make the score 2-1 before Caroline Morton (Dubuque, Iowa/Evert Tennis Academy) and Antonella Bramato (Pachuca, Mexico/Elise Freinet) each recorded wins to secure the match for UC. Morton was a winner by scores of 6-2, 6-1 while Bramato used a first-set tiebreaker before winning the second set 6-4.
// COACH TOTH ON THE BEARCATS
"This is a great quality win for our team," stated coach Toth of the win. "I felt our girls handled the outdoor conditions very well, being it was our first match outside this year. Our schedule prepared us well for today. We've beaten some good teams and fallen short against some good teams. It was nice to put it all together and earn the victory today."
// UP NEXT
The Bearcats will finish off the trip out west with a match against the University of Arizona on Saturday, February 25. The match is set for a 4 p.m. ET start.