By Travis G. Lyles '15
Communication Studies Major-Mass Media
FARMVILLE, Va. - Wins by Taylor Newman and Meg Napolitano in singles, and the combo of Napolitano and Grace Sarver as well as Gisela Garcia and Sara Andrade led visiting Radford University to a 5-2 Big South Conference women's tennis victory at Longwood University on Tuesday in Farmville. Freshmen
Anna Pelak/McLean and
Mason Thomas/Buchanan Dam, Texas picked up the two points for the Lancers (2-7, 1-5 Big South) in singles competition against the Highlanders (6-8, 1-2 Big South). Longwood will play at Norfolk State University of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference on Tuesday, April 1 at 1 p.m. in Norfolk.
"The conditions were certainly not the greatest, but it was an awesome feeling playing in front of our LancerStrong crowd," said first-year Longwood head coach
Casey Wharton. "Thank you for everyone that made it out! I thought we played well enough that we should have won the doubles. The energy was high, and we played really solid ... we just didn't get it done. But, to Radford's credit, they are a tough doubles team. In singles, I thought we had some great match ups, but we weren't able to get enough of the momentum back after losing the doubles point. I remain steadfast that our hard work will pay off, we just have to keep doing our part and working to create those opportunities."
In doubles play, Napolitano and Sarver defeated the duo of junior
Malin Allgurin/Värnamo, Sweden and senior
Sarah Moomau/Winchester 8-1 in the No. 1 slot, while Garcia and Andrade defeated freshman
Paloma Alatorre/Katy, Texas and Pelak at No. 2, 8-7 (9-7), and the twosome of Taylor Newman and Taylor Fay defeated Thomas and senior
Bethany Law/Ona, West Virginia at No. 3, 8-7 (8-6).
In singles, Newman defeated Allgurin at No. 1, 6-4, 6-3, while Napolitano defeated Alatorre 7-5, 6-3 at No. 2. In the third position, Sarver defeated Moomau 6-1, 6-0 but Pelak defeated Garcia 6-1, 6-0 at No. 4 and Thomas defeated Andrade 6-3, 1-6, 1-0 (10-8) at No. 5. At No. 6, Fay defeated Law to round out singles competition 6-3, 6-1.
Doubles
1. Meg Napolitano/ Grace Sarver (RU) def.
Malin Allgurin /
Sarah Moomau (LONG), 8-1
2. Gisela Garcia/ Sara Andrade(RU) def.
Paloma Alatorre /
Anna Pelak (LONG), 8-7 (9-7)
3. Taylor Newman/ Taylor Fay (RU) def.
Mason Thomas /
Bethany Law (LONG), 8-7 (8-6)
Singles
1. Taylor Newman (RU) def.
Malin Allgurin (LONG), 6-4, 6-3
2. Meg Napolitano (RU) def.
Paloma Alatorre (LONG), 7-5, 6-3
3. Grace Sarver (RU) def.
Sarah Moomau (LONG), 6-1, 6-0
4.
Anna Pelak (LONG) def. Gisela Garcia (RU), 6-1, 6-0
5.
Mason Thomas (LONG) def. Sara Andrade (RU), 6-3, 1-6, 1-0 (10-8)
6. Taylor Fay (RU) def.
Bethany Law (LONG), 6-3, 6-1
