Huang Gets Ranked Win As Utes Improve to 5-0
CINCINNATI – Utah Women's Tennis picked up yet another win in its spring season over the Cincinnati Bearcats on Friday in Cincinnati, Ohio. The Utes finished the day with a 4-3 victory to maintain the team's undefeated record.
"I was proud of the team for finding a way to win tonight," remarked head coach Ric Mortera. "We certainly have some adjustments that need to be made, but being on the road for the first time and having a challenge like this is very beneficial for us as we look towards the future. We showed a lot of resilience in some key spots, and we will continue to do our best to build off of the momentum we are feeling as a group right now and come ready to play again on Sunday."
The Utes started the matchup with doubles play. The doubles team of Anastasia Goncharova and Emily Dush finished their match first, defeating their opponents, Emma Miceli/ Iona Guna, 6-2. Following closely behind, Lindsay Hung and Katya Hersh fought it out in an extremely tough match against Cincinnati team Callie Flanagan/ Kelli Niehaus. Hung and Hersh clinched their victory, 7-6, and won the doubles point. No. 1 doubles went unfinished as it was tied at 6-6.
The Bearcats started to mount a comeback in singles play as they took No. 5 and No. 6 singles before Hung came away with a win.
Hung and Goncharova continued their individual undefeated record today against the Bearcats. Hung played Cassie McLay in third singles. She defeated McLay, 7-6, in her first set and 6-3 in her second.
With the match tied at 2-2, the Bearcats took the lead 3-2 after winning No. 2 singles. Needing to win the last two matches to win the set. It started at the first singles position.
Linda Huang also claimed a singles victory over Bearcat, Elizabeth Pendergast, who is ranked 121st in the singles ITA rankings. She lost her first set, 2-6, against Pendergast but won the next two against her ranked opponent, 7-6, 6-2.
The Utes victory teetered on Goncharova's shoulders as she played in the last match of the day with the score tied, 3-3. Goncharova won her first set against Cincinnati player Maria Santilli, 6-3, but narrowly lost her second, 5-7. The match was sent into a third set where Goncharova came out victorious, 6-2, giving Utah the point they needed to win the match.
UP NEXT
Utah heads to Bloomington, Ind., to face the Hoosiers of Indiana. First serve is set for 9 a.m. MT on Sunday.
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