UNCG edged on the road by Liberty, 5-2
LYNCHBURG, Va. – Despite winning the doubles point to take the early lead, UNCG dropped five of the six singles matches, four of them going into three sets, as the Spartans fell to Liberty, 5-2, on Thursday afternoon at the Hershey Tennis Courts.
Things started off well for UNCG as it was able to secure the doubles point with wins at No. 1 and No. 2. Liberty took the first doubles match at No. 3 with a decisive 8-0 victory, but the Spartans came right back to win easily at No. 2, 8-1. The duo of Stephanie Macfarlane and Alex Whitehead trailed 3-2 in their match at No. 1, but fought back to win 8-4 and clinch the doubles point.
The Spartans were able to extend their lead to 2-0 in the match as Niltooli Wilkins won in straight sets over Hannah Fick at No. 1 singles, 6-3, 6-2. Wilkins is now 10-1 in the spring season at No. 1 singles.
From then on, though, it was all Liberty. The Flames won at No. 4 7-5, 6-3 before taking a narrow three-set match at No. 5 to tie the team score at two.
Another three-set win at No. 2 singles gave Liberty a lead it would never relinquish and the Flames would go on to clinch the match with another tough match at No. 6 singles. The Spartans dropped another three-set match at No. 3 singles to give Liberty the 5-2 victory.
The Spartans return home on Saturday for a 12 p.m. match against Charlotte at the UNCG Tennis Courts.
AGATE
Doubles:
No. 1: Stephanie Macfarlane/Alex Whitehead (UNCG) def. Alexandra Sheeran/Cameron Richard (LIB), 8-4
No. 2: Niltooli Wilkins/Lucy Dougherty (UNCG) def. Carol Lobel/Valeriya Klintsevich (LIB), 8-1
No. 3: Hannah Fick/Rebekah Jenkins (LIB) def. Devon Sutherland/Dilara Yurtkuran (UNCG), 8-0
Order of finish: (3,2,1*) *clinched doubles point
Singles:
No. 1: Niltooli Wilkins (UNCG) def. Hannah Fick (LIB), 6-3, 6-2
No. 2: Cameron Richard (LIB) def. Alex Whitehead (UNCG), 6-4, 3-6, 6-2
No. 3: Alexandra Sheeran (LIB) def. Stephanie Macfarlane (UNCG), 4-6, 6-2, 7-5
No. 4: Carol Lobel (LIB) def. Lucy Dougherty (UNCG), 7-5, 6-3
No. 5: Rebekah Jenkins (LIB) def. Annette Rios (UNCG), 7-5, 2-6, 6-4
No. 6: Annisha Domenech (LIB) def. Mikayla Rogers (UNCG), 6-3, 5-7, 6-3
Order of finish: (1,4,5,2,6*,3) *clinched match
- UNCG -