CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The University of Charleston avenged its only conference loss of the season in the MEC Women's Tennis Tournament final defeating West Virginia State, 4-1, on Sunday afternoon at Schoenbaum Courts.
WVSU defeated Charleston, 6-1, back on April 22, but the Golden Eagles were back at full strength for the championship match with 3 of their starters back in the line-up. State got off to a quick start winning at #2 doubles 6-2. UC replied quickly winning at the #1 spot 6-3. UC secured the doubles point with a 6-4 victory at #3.
Going into singles UC led 1-0. State won comfortably on court 2 with a 6-1, 6-0 victory over #2 Katie Swann to tie the match 1-1. The Golden Eagles bounced back into the lead with AlexiAnn Drouin winning 6-3, 6-1 at #3 singles. UC went on to win at #5 singles, with Haarini Balakrishnan putting in a convincing performance winning 6-0, 6-3. UC clinched the match at #6 singles as freshman Julia Lif showed no nerves winning 6-2, 6-2. #1 Prinkle Singh and #4 Barbara Balancho didn't get to finish their matches due to the score being 4-1 to UC. Prinkle Singh was winning 6-0, 5-5 against WVSU #22 in the nation singles player Abigail wild, and Barbara Balancho had just taken the lead in the third set (2-6, 6-2, 1-0) before the match was clinched .
In reflecting on the weekend, Head Coach Alec Foote said "The past month has been difficult for the ladies with injuries and COVID-19 protocols, but the ladies have battled through the struggles and took care of business when we needed to the most. I'm so proud of the effort the girls put in today and they truly deserve to be MEC tournament champions. We now have to focus on our goal of winning regionals next week."
It marks UC's second MEC Tournament title -- the first coming in 2016. UC play next on May 10
th in the Semifinals of regionals. regionals are being held by the University of Charleston and will be played at Schoenbaum Courts
Doubles
#1: Lif/Singh (UC) def. Solomon/Malo (WVSU), 6-3
#2: Wild/Moore (WVSU) def. Swann/Drouin (UC), 6-2
#3: Balakrishnan/Simon (UC) def. Kruhlova/Haidari (WVSU), 6-4
Order of Finish: #2, #1, #3
Singles
#1: Prinkle Singh (UC) vs. Abigail Wild (WVSU), 6-0, 5-5 (DNF)
#2: Gaya Solomon (WVSU) def. Katie Swann (UC), 6-1, 6-0
#3: AlexiAnn Drouin (UC) def. Chante Malo (WVSU), 6-3, 6-1
#4: Barbara Balancho (UC) vs. Hanna Kruhlova (WVSU), 2-6, 6-2, 1-0 (DNF)
#5: Haarini Balakrishnan (UC) def. Maya Haidari (WVSU), 6-0, 6-3
#6: Julia Lif (UC) def. Emily Moore (WVSU), 6-2, 6-2
Order of Finish: #2, #3, #5, #6