MOBILE, Ala. – For the first time in program history, the Loyola Wolf Pack women's tennis team has captured the Southern States Athletic Conference Women's Tennis Championship, with an impressive run in the tournament featuring two top-10 wins. After beating No. 6 Middle Georgia in the semifinal Friday, the Wolf Pack took down the top seed, No. 5 William Carey, 4-2, in the final on Saturday.
Loyola improves to 16-5 this season and automatically qualifies for the NAIA National Championship Tournament. The national tournament runs from May 13 to May 17 and will also be held at the Mobile Tennis Center. The Wolf Pack reached the quarterfinals in last year's tournament.
It was a marathon of a match that took over three and a half hours to complete, with the doubles portion alone lasting over an hour. Micaela Ponce and Adele Fereres got things started, winning 6-2 on court 2. Carey got one back on court 2, so doubles came down to court 1 with the No. 5-ranked team of Chloe Henderson and Lucy Carpenter.
The top doubles team came through for the Pack, winning their 18th match of the year, 7-5, to clinch the doubles point.
In singles, No. 6-ranked Carpenter matched up with the SSAC Player of the Year, No. 4 Victoria Vieten on the first court. While Vieten won the previous meeting on April 2, Carpenter dominated in the championship match, 6-4, 6-1, to start singles Saturday. The graduate student is now 3-1 against Vieten in the last two years in singles. It was also Carpenter's 15th win of the year, as she improved to 15-3.
Fereres got the next win for the Pack, 6-3, 6-4 on court 4 to improve to 16-2 this season and put Loyola up 3-0. Carey won matches on courts 3 and 5 to make the score 3-2.
The championship was clinched on court 6, where Avrora Volkova won the first set, lost the second, and rallied to win the third 7-5, 3-6, 6-3.
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Results
No. 8 Loyola – 4
No. 5 William Carey – 2
Doubles
1. #5 Carpenter/Henderson (LOYNO) def. Chang/Lin (WCU) 7-5
2. #49Vieten/Lechuga (WCU) def. Briggs/Frierson (LOYNO) 6-2
3. #46 Fereres/Ponce (LOYNO) def. Kang/Abarkane (WCU) 6-2
Order of finish: 2, 3, 1
Singles
1. #6 Lucy Carpenter (LOYNO) def. #4 Victoria Vieten (WCU) 6-4, 6-1
2. #47 Micaela Ponce (LOYNO) vs. JiAn Kang (WCU) 7-5, 6-6, unfinished
3. #31 Isabella Lechuga (WCU) def. Chloe Henderson (LOYNO) 6-4, 7-5
4. Adele Fereres (LOYNO) def. Malak Abarkane (WCU) 6-3, 6-4
5. Tiffany Chang (WCU) def. Avery Frierson (LOYNO) 6-0, 3-6, 7-5
6. Avrora Volkova (LOYNO) def. Li-Hsien Lin (WCU) 7-5, 3-6, 6-3
Order of finish: 1, 4, 3, 5, 6
