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KEARNEY, Neb. – The No. 7 University of West Alabama women's tennis team suffered a 4-1 decision to national No. 1 Barry University in the semifinals of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Indoor National Championships, Saturday from the Ernest Grundy Tennis Center on the campus of the University of Nebraska at Kearney.
Barry improves to 7-1 on the season and will play in the championship against Sunshine State Conference rival Nova Southeastern on Sunday.
West Alabama sees its three-match win streak come to an end and fall to 3-3 on the year. UWA will play in the third place match in the tournament against St. Leo.
Barry got the scoring going by clinching the doubles point. UWA battled with Dinara Alloiarova and Viktoriia Dema at the No. 2.
Khim Iglupas and
Heden Ly had the 2-0 lead early in the set. In the second game, the UWA duo only allowed BU to win two points.
Alloiarova/Dema won three straight games and five of the next six to take 5-3 lead, but Iglupas/Ly stormed back to even the set at five apiece. A double fault by Barry at 40-all knotted things up.
Unfortunately, Barry won three straight points to take the 6-5 lead and used the momentum in the next game to win the set, 7-5, and give Barry the 1-0 match lead.
In singles, after Angela Leweurs made it a 2-0 lead with her win at the No. 5 flight,
Shaira Rivera put UWA on the board with her 6-4, 6-1 win at the No. 2. In the second set, Rivera won the first five games to clinch the point.
However, it would be too late for the Tigers, as the Buccaneers won the No. 4 and No. 6 positions in the lineup to seal the match.
West Alabama will wrap up the weekend in Nebraska on Sunday afternoon against St. Leo University for third place at the indoor event. First serve is slated for 2:30 p.m.