BREVARD, N.C. - Unable to find the scoreboard during the doubles portion, fifth-seeded Anderson University women's tennis could not manage a comeback, falling to top-seeded Wingate, 5-0, in the semifinals of the South Atlantic Conference Tournament Friday afternoon at the McCoy Tennis Complex on the campus of Brevard College.
With the setback, the Trojans stumble to 15-6 on the season and drop their second match to the Bulldogs this year. WU, which finished a perfect 11-0 against the conference this season, improves to 15-4 overall.
In the doubles round, the No. 2 tandem of Mairead Cleary and Alexandra Ebner fell to Wingate's Oroma Womeodu and Maria Garcia, 8-1, while the sister team of Lindsay Gregory and Abigail Gregory, dropped an 8-5 decision to Caroline Holland and Layla Tanik at the No. 3 slot. Rounding out the doubles portion, sophomore Rebecca Bruning and freshman Ivey Welborn suffered a 9-7 setback to Andrea Ternera and Becca Thomas at No. 1.
For the singles portion, junior Nikkola Wichenko fell to Garcia, 6-2, 6-0, at the No. 6 position, while Tanik's 6-0, 6-4 triumph over Ebner clinched the tournament win and placed Wingate into the title match seeking its second consecutive tournament championship. The rest of the singles matches went unfinished.
Anderson learns its NCAA Tournament fate with the NCAA Women's Tennis Selection Show on Tuesday, April 28 at 8:30 p.m. After being slotted 10th in the previous two Southeast Regional Rankings, the Trojans look to advance to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history by earning a top-eight spot.
