HILTON HEAD, SC - No. 39 ranked Slippery Rock went toe-to-toe with No. 47 ranked University of Charleston action between two of the top teams in the Atlantic Region, Thursday morning.
Mallika Mali (Brisbane, Australia) and
Kelsey Hensley (Ashland, KY) teamed up for the Golden Eagles first point of the day in No. 3 doubles play with an 8-2 victory, but SRU managed to secure two points in the No. 1 and No. 2 doubles matches.
UC managed to slip ahead of the their competition (3-2) with
Laura Smith (Townsville, Australia) grabbing a 7-6, 6-4 win in No. 3 singles play, while Hensley added to her impressive rookie season numbers with a 6-2, 6-3 victory in the No. 4 singles match.
Tough matches in the No. 1 and No. 5 slots put Slippery Rock back in control of the contest at 4-3 with two singles matches going to extra sets to determine the match winner.
Marieve Edwards (Toronto, Canada) dropped her first set in the No. 6 game but charged from behind with a 6-1 second set decision before locking up the point with the 1-0 tie-breaker. The final tie-breaker for the match point came in No. 2 singles play as
Sarah Monsheimer (Silver Spring, MD) battled with SRU's Dunja Drmac. Monsheimer grabbed the early lead with a 6-2 decision in game one, but she wouldn't be able to hold off a late rally by Drmac who secured her teams 5-4 victory using a third game.
The contest was likely an early peek at NCAA Tournament action to come later this spring as both squads rank among the top-5 in the Atlantic Region.
