KEARNEY, Neb. – The No. 7 University of West Alabama women's tennis team defeated No. 4 Flagler College in the opening round of the 2023 Intercollegiate Tennis Association Division II Indoor National Championships, 4-1, Friday afternoon from the Ernest Grundy Tennis Center on the campus of the University of Nebraska at Kearney.
The Tigers improve to 3-2 on the season with the win, while the Saints drop to 0-1.
"This was a very big win against a very big team; we played doubles the way we wanted to play. We were very energetic and aggressive at the net, and that energy went into singles," said head coach
Jeff Beaman.
The top two doubles flights put UWA on the board first with identical 6-1 set scores. At the No. 1 position,
Shaira Rivera and Hardija Videnere won the first four games.
At the No. 2 flight, after splitting the first two games,
Khim Iglupas and
Heden Ly took the next five games to win the doubles point.
Moving into singles, Rivera and Ly made it a 3-0 lead. Rivera cruised to a 6-1, 6-3 win at the No. 2, while Ly posted a 6-2, 7-5 result.
Despite Laura Jipescu cutting the UWA lead to 3-1, Iglupas, the reigning GSC Player of the Week, used a three-set victory over Nadja Meier, 6-4, 1-6, 6-4, to clinch the match for the Tigers.
"Flagler is a very good team, and there was no giving up, and at the end, it could have gone either way, but we are happy with the result today," added Beaman.
After top-seed and national No. 1 Barry University took down University of Nebraska at Kearney, 5-1, the Tigers will next prepare for the Buccaneers on Saturday at 5:30 p.m.
Check out the video below of the clinching point. Click
here if you are unable to view the post.
