TicketsDALLAS - The University of Cincinnati picked up a singles win from freshman Caroline Morton, but couldn't overcome No. 43 SMU Tuesday evening in the Bearcats first conference match of the season.
// DOUBLES
Order of Finish: 3,2,1
No. 1 | MonarrezYesaki/Perez-Lopez (SMU) def. Bellinger/Poggensee-Wei (CIN) 6-3
No. 2 | Buss/Elliott (SMU) def. Hutchison/Miller (CIN) 6-4
No. 3 | Sharapova/Wright (SMU) def. Bramato/Morton (CIN) 6-2
The Bearcats were unable to grab a point during the doubles play with SMU picking up victories on all three courts.
// SINGLES
Order of Finish: 1,4,6,3,5,2
No. 1. | Liza Buss (SMU) def. Lauren Bellinger (CIN) 6-1, 6-1
No. 2. | Sarai MonarrezYesaki (SMU) def. Kelly Poggensee-Wei (CIN) 3-6, 6-3, 5-1
No. 3. | Dasha Sharapova (SMU) def. Antonella Bramato (CIN) 7-5, 6-3
No. 4. | Caroline Morton (CIN) def. Ana Perez-Lopez (SMU) 6-4, 6-2
No. 5. | Charline Anselmo (SMU) def. Harley Hutchison (CIN) 6-7 (8-9), 6-2, 1-0 (10-5)
No. 6. | Mary Wright (SMU) def. Ali Miller (CIN) 7-5, 6-4
Caroline Morton (Dubuque, Iowa/Evert Tennis Academy) added the lone point for the Bearcats, earning a 6-4-6-2 win over Ana Perez-Lopez on court No. 4. Kelly Poggensee-Wei (Lake Villa, Ill./Grayslake North) won her opening set 6-3 but saw her opponent take the second and third set to earn a come-from-behind victory.
Harley Hutchison (Joliet, Ill./Joliet Catholic Academy) battled in a tight match on court No. 5, earning an opening set 7-6 win after narrowly taking the set tiebreaker by an 9-8 score. However, SMU's Charline Anselmo battled back to win the second set 6-2 and then took the tiebreaker by a 10-5 score.
// COACH TOTH ON THE BEARCATS
"I'm very pleased with today's effort," stated head coach Eric Toth. "SMU has a chance to be an NCAA tournament team this year and for us to compete with them the way we were able to today shows the strides we have made in our program. We simply need to elevate our play and execution more in these situations. I really believe our girls have it in them to step up and get that signature win. We'll keep putting our best foot forward to try and get it done."
// UP NEXT
The Bearcats continue the week in Dallas with a match against Georgia State on Thursday, March 16