No. 6 Wolf Pack gets past No. 11 Marian at NAIA Championship

MOBILE, Ala. – The 2025 NAIA Women's Tennis National Championship kicked off this week at the Mobile Tennis Center, and after receiving a bye into the second round, the No. 6 Loyola Wolf Pack played their first match of the tournament Wednesday against the No. 11 seed Marian (Ind.) Knights. Loyola won its Round of 16 match 4-1, advancing to the quarterfinals for the second consecutive year. 

Loyola (17-5) will now face No. 3 seed Lindsey Wilson (17-2) in the quarterfinals on Thursday, with the match scheduled for 9 a.m. The Blue Raiders have won the Mid-South Conference in each of the last three seasons. This will be the first ever meeting between the two teams. 

The Knights started off the match with a 6-1 win at No. 2 doubles, but that win was quickly matched by Lucy Carpenter and Chloe Henderson, who also earned a 6-1 result on court 1. The doubles point came down to court 3, where Micaela Ponce and Adele Fereres jumped out to a 5-2 lead before eventually winning 6-3. 

In singles, Fereres kept the momentum going by winning her team-high 17th match of the year, and eighth straight, in a 6-1, 6-4 result on court 4. The Knights got one back, 7-5, 6-4 on court 5 to make the score 2-1, but Loyola responded with two more singles wins to end the match.

Henderson won the battle of No. 50 vs. No. 51 in the ITA singles rankings, 6-4, 6-4 on court 3. A few minutes later, Avrora Volkova prevailed in her match on court 6 after trailing 3-0 in both sets, clinching the team win at 7-5, 6-4. The matches on the first two courts remained unfinished, although Carpenter nearly was able to close out a win, 5-5 in the second set after finishing the first. 

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Results

No. 6 Loyola – 4

No. 11 Marian – 1

Doubles
1. #5 Carpenter/Henderson (LOYNO) def. Imamniyazova/Barborsa (MU) 6-1
2. #38 Lopes/Irigoyen (MU) def. Briggs/Frierson (LOYNO) 6-1
3. #44 Fereres/Ponce (LOYNO) def. Alinquant/Caceres (MU) 6-3
Order of finish: 2, 1, 3

Singles
1. #5 Lucy Carpenter (LOYNO) vs. #38 Yasmin Imamniyazova (MU) 6-4, 5-5, unfinished
2. #35 Micaela Ponce (LOYNO) vs. Ana Lopes Torres (MU) 6-7 (2-7), 2-5, unfinished
3. #50 Chloe Henderson (LOYNO) def. #51 Michelle Irigoyen (MU) 6-4, 6-4
4. Adele Fereres (LOYNO) def. Ana Barbosa Fernandez (MU) 6-1, 6-4
5. Liliane Alinquant (MU) def. Avery Frierson (LOYNO) 7-5, 6-4
6. Avrora Volkova (LOYNO) def. Paloma Caceres (MU) 7-5, 6-4
Order of finish: 4, 5, 3, 6