MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The Loyola Wolf Pack women's tennis team's quest for a conference title was stopped short on Thursday as No. 14 William Carey narrowly defeated the Pack 4-3 in the 2024 Southern States Athletic Conference (SSAC) Championship semifinal match.
The Wolf Pack (10-7), currently the eighth-ranked team in the NAIA, will now need to secure an at-large selection to get into the NAIA Women's Tennis National Championship.
The match started out well for Loyola on Thursday, as both of the top doubles courts were taken by the Pack before court 3 could finish. Micaela Ponce and Ariana Salgueiro-Estela were strong on court 1 with a 6-2 win. Lucy Carpenter and Elly Carpenter took down the NAIA's No. 40-ranked doubles team, 6-3 on court 2.
The Pack had a 1-0 lead in the match heading into singles, but couldn't close out the win as Carey picked up singles victories on courts 2, 4, 5, and 6.
Loyola's singles wins came from the first and third courts, where Lucy Carpenter and Chloe Henderson both won in straight sets. Carpenter, who is now ranked 10th in singles by the ITA, once again defeated No. 5-ranked Victoria Vieten to improve to 13-3 on the season, 11-1 in NAIA matches. Henderson also has 11 NAIA wins and is 12-5 overall.
Subscribe to Pack Tracks, a Loyola Athletics Newsletter, for all of the latest information >> https://loyolawolfpack.com/subscribe.aspx. You can also keep up with the Pack by following Wolf Pack Athletics on Facebook at Facebook.com/LoyolaWolfPack, Twitter and Instagram @LoyolaWolfPack, and by checking out our website at LoyolaWolfPack.com.
Results
No. 8 Loyola – 3
No. 14 William Carey – 4
Doubles
1. Ponce/Salgueiro-Estela (LOYNO) def. Logan/Westkamp (WCU) 6-2
2. E. Carpenter/L. Carpenter (LOYNO) def. #40 Lechuga/Vieten (WCU) 6-3
3. A. Fereres/Henderson (LOYNO) vs. Chang/Lin (WCU) 1-5, unfinished
Singles
1. #10 Lucy Carpenter (LOYNO) def. #5 Victoria Vieten (WCU) 6-3, 6-4
2. Tiffany Chang (WCU) def. #53 Micaela Ponce (LOYNO) 6-1, 6-1
3. Chloe Henderson (LOYNO) def. Li-Hsien Lin (WCU) 6-1, 6-1
4. Isabella Lechuga (WCU) def. Avrora Volkova (LOYNO) 6-3, 6-4
5. Sunny Logan (WCU) def. Adele Fereres (LOYNO) 6-3, 6-4
6. Nina Westkamp (WCU) def. Fatima Vasquez (LOYNO) 6-3, 7-5
