TicketsCINCINNATI - The University of Cincinnati women's tennis team saw its run in the American Athletic Conference Tournament halted on Friday afternoon with a loss to the top-seeded Tulsa Golden Hurricane at the USTA National Campus in Lake Nona, Florida.
// DOUBLES
Order of Finish: 1,2
No. 1 | Dadireddy/Laskutova (Tulsa) def. Bellinger/Poggensee-Wei (Cincinnati), 6-0
No. 2 | Leenabanchong/Matoula (Tulsa) def. Hutchinson/Miller (Cincinnati), 6-0
No. 3 | Okalova/Ploner (Tulsa) vs. Bramato/Morton (Cincinnati), 3-4 unfinished
Tulsa opened the match by taking the doubles point with wins at No. 1 and No. 2. Play on court No. 3 was halted once the point was decided.
// SINGLES
Order of Finish: 1,5,6
No. 1 | Ksenia Laskutova (Tulsa) def. Lauren Bellinger (Cincinnati), 6-1, 6-0
No. 2 | Rongrong Leenabanchong (Tulsa) vs. Kelly Poggensee-Wei (Cincinnati), 4-6, 3-2 unfinished
No. 3 | Mahitha Dadireddy (Tulsa) vs. Antonella Bramato (Cincinnati), 6-2, 2-4 unfinished
No. 4 | Martina Okalova (Tulsa) vs. Caroline Morton (Cincinnati), 6-7(5) unfinished
No. 5 | Martha Matoula (Tulsa) def. Ana Philip (Cincinnati), 6-1, 6-4
No. 6 | Marcelina Cichon (Tulsa) def. Harley Hutchinson (Cincinnati), 6-0, 6-3
The Bearcats were unable to recover from the slow start in doubles, as Tulsa went on to win the first three singles matches and clinch the match with a 4-0 score. The Golden Hurricane got wins on courts No. 1, No. 5 and No. 6 to advance to the American Conference Championship match Saturday.
// COACH TOTH ON THE BEARCATS
"We just executed so poorly in doubles unfortunately and you cannot do that against good teams like Tulsa," stated head coach Eric Toth of the loss. "We settled in much better in singles and were playing extremely well on several courts, but it just wasn't enough today."
"All you can do at this point is take a step back and realize what an incredible season we have had. We pretty much accomplished everything we set out to do when we began last August and that is not an easy thing to do. Most notably, we beat our rivals and made a major jump in the American Conference. These are the things everyone in our program can be proud of."
"I owe such a huge debt of gratitude to our seniors, Harley, Katya, Kelly and Lauren. They have really moved the needle in terms of the culture of our team and are leaving this program in terrific shape. Their impact and contributions as Bearcats will reverberate in future teams. I will never forget these four seniors and am quite sad that our time together as player/coach is over.
"The future, is on one hand, unknown since we will have six newcomers trying to fill the void our seniors leave, but I know how bright things are within our program because of who returns. A lot will be expected of Ali, Anna, Antonella and Caroline to continue to move this program in the right direction and to keep us in a position so we are playing for championships like we were this weekend."