LEBANON, Ill. – The McKendree University women's tennis teams picked two wins on Saturday as they opened the day with a 4-3 victory over Oakland City at Triad High School in Troy, Ill., before earning a 6-1 win in an exhibition match against Kaskaskia College at the St. Clair Tennis Center in O'Fallon, Ill.
With the win over Oakland City, the Bearcats improved to 3-2 on the season, while Oakland City fell to 5-2.
In the match against Oakland City, the Bearcats opened by sweeping all three doubles matches to take a 1-0 lead in the match, including winning both No. 1 and No. 3 doubles by identical 6-0 scores.
After winning the doubles point, the players turned their focus to singles play and the Bearcats would win three of the singles matches to post the match victory.
Sophomore
Rhyan Cook (Pickerington, Ohio/Pickerington North) got the first singles point for the Bearcats as she defeated Isabela Todorovic in straight sets, 6-0, 6-4 to give the Bearcats a 2-0 lead.
Junior
Viola Cipriani (Arezzo, Italy/Liceo Classico Francesco Petrarca) picked up a 6-3, 6-1 win at the No. 2 spot over Norma Padilla Paola to take a 3-0 lead in the match.
The Bearcats would take 4-0 lead in the match following a win at the No. 4 spot by sophomore
Maria Vitoria Salomao (Minas Geralds, Brazil/Belo Horizonte) over Kataryne Kulynych, 6-4, 6-1.
OCU would win the next three singles matches to seal the Bearcats the 4-3 match win.
At the No. 1 spot, Liz Aristizabel would defeat sophomore
Camilla Fonseca (Rio de Janiero, Brazil/Colegio Saber), 6-3, 6-3, whole Pamela Barbosa defeated sophomore
Emily Kettering (Bloomington, Ill./Normal Community West) at the No. 5 spot, 6-4, 6-2 and Mara Fernandez defeated sophomore
Bailey Grigg (Marine, Ill./Triad), 6-4, 6-0.
Meanwhile, in the match against Kaskaskia, the Bearcats won six of the seven matches to earn the 6-1 win.
In doubles action, McKendree won two of the three matches as Fonseca and Cipriani picked up a 6-1 win at the No. 1 spot over Jasmine Smith and Emma Walden, while the No. 2 team of Cook and Salomao win 6-0 over Larissa Hoffman and Claire Griffith.
Kaskaskia would win 7-6 (7-5) at the No. 3 doubles spot to prevent a sweep by the Bearcats.
Following doubles play, the teams played singles and the Bearcats would win five of its six singles matches with the only loss coming at the No. 6 spot as junior
Anna Marison (Belleville, Ill./Mascoutah) fell 6-0, 6-1 to Maddi Capps.
The Bearcats would win four of its five singles matches in straight sets as they lost just five games in four of those five matches.
Kettering needed a third-set tiebreaker to win at the No. 4 spot over Walden as she fell 7-6 (3-7) in the first set, before winning 6-0 in the second set and then picking up a 10-4 win the tiebreaker.
The Bearcats will return to action on Wednesday, March 9 as they host Missouri Baptist for a 2 p.m. match at the tennis courts on the McKendree campus.
