LYNCHBURG, Va. – The Longwood women's tennis team dropped their Big South Conference-opening match at route 460 rival Liberty on Wednesday afternoon at the Crosswhite Athletic Club.

For the second-consecutive match, freshmen Jamie Breunig and Marija Venta competed at the No. 1 and 2 seeds falling in hard-fought matches. Venta fell to Liberty's Aleksandra Panchenko 6-4, 6-4 and Breunig fell to Rebekah Anderson by scores of 6-0, 6-1.

"To compete against the top teams in the conference you have to be mentally disciplined to execute your best strategy in every point in every position in the lineup without giving points away," said first-year head coach Maria Lopez. "Liberty was able to do that today." 

Seniors Paloma Alatorre and Anna Pelak battled in their first singles bouts of the season after serving as the doubles duo in Sunday's 4x1 at VCU. Pelak had the early 4-3 lead over Eugenua Camacho, but fell just short 6-4, 6-4 at the No. 6 slot. Alatorre served as the No. 4 role – where she predominantly played last season as a junior – falling to Emily Groeneveld by scores of 6-2, 6-1.

Fellow senior Mason Thomas fell to Liberty's Anna Dollar at the No. 3 seed 6-2, 6-0.

In doubles competition, Pelak and Thomas were paired together at the No. 3 slot falling 6-1. The two seniors were also paired together for much of their junior campaigns in
2015-16.

Breunig and Burger took on Anderson and Panchenko in the No.1 slot while Venta and Alatorre faced off against Mariely Hassey and Groeneveld at the two spot.

"We have a lot of room to grow as a team and understand what work needs to get done to get better and how to execute their individual assignments on the court," Lopez said. "Finding that consistency will be our challenge now moving forward."

Liberty (1-0, 1-0 BSC) opened their season on Wednesday while the Lancers (0-2, 0-1 BSC) will get 11 days off before hitting the road for Rock Hill, S.C. when they take on Big South Conference preseason favorite Winthrop on Feb. 12.

Liberty 7, Longwood 0
Feb. 1, 2017
Lynchburg, Va. (Crosswhite Athletic Club)

Doubles Competition
Rebekah Anderson/ Aleksandra Panchenko def. Jamie Breunig/Fallon Burger 6-2
Mariely Hassey/Emily Groeneveld def. Paloma Alatorre/Marija Venta 6-1
Anna Dollar/Eugenia Camacho def. Mason Thomas/Anna Pelak 6-1
???????
Singles Competition
Rebekah Anderson def. Jamie Breunig (6-0, 6-1)
Aleksandra Panchenko def. Marija Venta (6-2, 6-4)
Anna Dollar def. (6-2, 6-0)
Emily Groeneveld def. Paloma Alatorre (6-2, 6-1)
Mariely Hassey def. Fallon Burger (6-2, 6-1)
Eugenia Camacho def. Anna Pelak (6-4, 6-4)

Order of Finish
Doubles: 2, 3, 1
Singles: 1, 5, 3, 4, 2, 6

#GoWood