RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – The Arkansas Tech women's tennis team avenged a hard-fought 4-3 loss in their season-opener against Northeastern State and returned the favor with a identical 4-3 win over NSU at home on Wednesday afternoon.
As they did in the earlier meeting, the Golden Suns (4-4) grabbed the doubles point in the match as they won the top-two flights. The No. 2 doubles pairing of
Aastha Dargude and
Madalena Silva were the first to finish, winning their match, 6-2. Northeastern State grabbed the No. 3 doubles match, 6-4. Not long after, the top doubles duo of
Lea Grinberg and
Daniela Baez won their match, 6-4, to give Tech the doubles point.
In singles play, the Golden Suns claimed the first two points with wins at No. 3 singles and No. 1 singles. Both Dargude, at No. 3, and Grinberg, at No. 1, won their matches in straight sets. Dargude made quick work of her opponent, 6-1, 6-2. Grinberg won her match, 6-3, 6-4.
Down in the match 3-0, NSU rallied back into contention as the RiverHawks (3-5) won at No. 6, No. 2 and No. 5 singles. The match at No. 6 was decided in straight sets while No. 2 singles needed a set two tiebreaker and No. 5 needing a decisive third set.
Now knotted at three-all, the match came down to the action in No. 4 singles.
After dropping the first set, 6-3, Silva bounced back with a hard-fought 7-5 win in set two, forcing the decisive third set. That set also went the way of Silva as she edged out her opponent, 7-5, winning the team match for the Golden Suns.
Tech will now prepare for their first conference match of the season on Thursday afternoon. The Golden Suns will be traveling to Arkadelphia to take on Ouachita. First-serve is scheduled for 2 p.m.
