MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Kennesaw State's women's tennis season came to an end on Thursday in a 4-1 loss to No. 6 seed Liberty at Middle Tennessee's Outdoor Tennis Center.
"That was a great college match that came down to the wire in both doubles and singles," said KSU director of tennis
Matt Emery. "Credit to Liberty for being able to close out both of them."
The Owls lost the doubles point to the Lady Flames with defeats on courts one and two.
Maria Ivankovic and
Irene Serrano Maestre fell 6-3 to Liberty's Daniella O'Neill and Milana Tsulygina on court two.
Rianna Coreisa and
Laura Nadaska gave KSU a shot with a 6-4 win over Candy Wai and Anika Lemus, but a nail-biter on court one went the way of the Lady Flames as
Ema Baraniakova and
Sofia Madrid fell 7-6 (8-6).
Baraniakova quickly bounced back to earn a point for KSU with a 6-3, 6-2 win over O'Neill in No. 1 singles.
Liberty retook the lead, 2-1, with Tsulygina overcoming Nadaska 6-2, 6-3 on four. Ivankovic and Serrano Maestre each battled back from set-one losses to force a third with 7-5 wins in set two. The Lady Flames clinched the match with a both courts three and five falling to them in set three.
Terezia Baraniakova and Madrid each had singles matches go unfinished. Baraniakova led 5-4 in the third set on court six after splitting the first two 6-4, 2-6. Madrid and Liberty's Maria Turchetto were locked at four in the third on court two after splitting sets one and two 4-6, 6-1.
"I want to thank our seniors, Sofia and
Izabelle Persson, for everything they've done for our program," Emery said. "Even though today didn't go our way, this is still a very special group and one of my favorite teams I've coached. A loss today does not diminish everything these women accomplished this season."
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