Liberty University
Elon
Lady Flames Halt Three-Match Skid, Saturday
2/6/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
The Liberty Lady Flames tennis squad ended its three-match losing skid on Saturday when the Lady Flames took down Elon on the road by a score of 6-1 in Elon, N.C.
With the victory, Liberty improves to 2-3 on the year while the Phoenix fall to 0-5.
The Lady Flames earned the doubles point in a clean sweep. Evangeline Crist and Valerie Thong improved to 4-1 on the season as a doubles unit, besting Taylor Casey and Erica Braschi in the No. 1 doubles slot, 6-1.
Rebekah Anderson and Aleksandra Panchenko clinched the doubles point for Liberty after defeating Natalia Janowicz and Maria Paraja by a score of 6-3 in the No. 3 doubles position.
Just for good measure, Anna Dollar and Maria Khval defeated Kirsten Ward and Suzanne Zenoni from the No. 2 doubles position, 6-4.
Elon knotted the contest at one apiece after Braschi upended Belen Rivera in straight sets from the No. 2 singles position, 6-4, 6-3.
Liberty maintained composure, rattling off five consecutive singles victories to clinch the match. The Lady Flames took the lead for good when Crist bested Zenoni in straight sets, 7-6(2), 6-4 from the No. 3 singles position.
Emily Groeneveld provided Liberty with some breathing room from the No. 5 singles slot, downing Kamilla Beisenova by a score of 6-2, 7-6(6) to give the Lady Flames a 3-1 advantage.
Khval clinched the match for Liberty from the No. 1 singles position, defeating Ward in three sets. Khval handled Ward in the first set, 7-5, before falling in the second set by a score of 6-3. Khval then rattled off six consecutive games to take the third set 6-0, giving the Lady Flames the 4-1 lead and clinching the match.
Thong and Dollar each won their matches in three sets, competing at the No. 4 and No. 6 singles positions, respectively. The Liberty duo each dropped their first sets, but rallied to win sets two and three to give Liberty the 6-1 victory.
"All of these tough matches are beginning to pay off as I saw a lot of grit today," commented head coach Jeff Maren. "Elon is a very good team and so the girls had to have a lot of intensity, effort, and desire in order to come out on top. I'm proud of our girls and the way they are responding to our difficult practices and matches."
The Lady Flames return to action on Friday at 2 p.m. when they host West Virginia at the Sports Racket to begin a three-match home stand.
Liberty 6, Elon 1
Doubles
- Crist/Thong (LU) def. Casey/Braschi (Elon), 6-1
- Dollar/Khval (LU) def. Ward/Zenoni (Elon), 6-4
- Anderson/Panchenko (LU) def. Janowicz/Paraja (Elon), 6-3
Singles
- Khval (LU) def. Ward (Elon), 7-5, 3-6, 6-0
- Braschi (Elon) def. Rivera (LU), 6-4, 6-3
- Crist (LU) def. Zenoni (Elon), 7-6(7-2), 6-4
- Dollar (LU) def. Casey (Elon), 4-6, 6-3, 6-3
- Groeneveld (LU) def. Beisenova (Elon), 6-2, 7-6(8-6)
- Thong (LU) def. Paraja (Elon), 2-6, 7-6(7-4), 6-4
Team Stats
#1 Doubles Match
#2 Doubles Match
#3 Doubles Match
Order of Finish:
1,3,2
#1 Singles Match
#2 Singles Match
#3 Singles Match
#4 Singles Match
#5 Singles Match
#6 Singles Match
Order of Finish:
2,3,5,1,6,4