ELON, N.C. – In a contest that saw all six singles matches go to a third set, the Elon University women’s tennis team was unable to come out on top and fell in a thriller against the Winthrop Eagles, 5-2, on Sunday afternoon, March 12, at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center.
The loss snapped Elon’s eight-match home winning streak as the Phoenix falls to 12-6 overall and 8-1 at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center. Winthrop’s mark improves to 11-3 on the season with the win.
THE RUNDOWN
Erica Braschi and Olivia Lucas highlighted doubles action with their 6-0 victory against Alya Mourad and Aida Kelic of Winthrop at the No. 3 spot. With the win, the tandem has now won three straight doubles matches and currently owns a team-best 10-4 record this season.
The Eagles claimed the 1-0 lead winning the doubles point. Winthrop’s Caitlin Cridland and Alisa Soloveva shut out Kirsten Ward and Suzanne Zenoni 6-0 at the No. 2 position. Alex Koniaev and Maria Paraja battled on the top court after trailing early, but Lauren Proctor and Megan Kauffman clinched the doubles point for the Eagles with a 6-2 victory.
Every court in singles play went to a third set. Winthrop was the first to get on the board in singles action as Soloveva rallied to defeat Lucas 1-6, 7-5, 6-2 on court two, giving the Eagles a 2-0 lead.
Zenoni got the Phoenix on the board at the No. 3 position defeating Cridland. She fought back for the win in the third set, 6-2, after dropping her second, 6-4. Zenoni improves her singles record to 10-6 overall and is the second Phoenix with double-digit wins in singles this season.
Matches began to conclude one after another and Koniaev’s match at No. 6 was next to finish. She fought back from two deficits in her match, rallying from a 5-4 hole in her first set to win 6-4. She also came back from a 4-1 deficit to take a 5-4 lead in the second, but Alya Mourad won two straight games in the set to win 7-5 and took the third with a 6-3 victory.
Winthrop’s No. 1 singles player Lauren Proctor won the team’s decisive fourth point and clinched the victory for the Eagles. Erica Braschi battled until the very end against Proctor, who was a nationally ranked singles player by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) just a month ago. Braschi came out on top in the first set 6-3, but Proctor responded with a win in the second by the same score. The final set was a back-and-forth affair, but Proctor would come out victorious prevailing 7-5 in the final set, giving Winthrop a 4-1 lead in the match.
Ward picked up Elon’s second point in the contest winning two straight sets at the No. 5 position to defeat Kelic 3-6, 6-4, 7-5. Ward has now won three straight singles matches, which is currently the longest singles-winning streak on the team.
Paraja’s match went to a third-set tiebreak on court four. Following a 6-4 win in the first set, Megan Kauffman of Winthrop took the second set 7-5 to force the decisive third. Paraja was trailing 6-5 in the third, but won a crucial game to force the tiebreak. However, Kauffman would go on to earn the victory winning the tiebreaker 7-0.
UP NEXT
Elon closes out its five-match homestand on Thursday, March 16, against Barton College. The match at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m.