ERIE, Pa. – In a match of the top two teams in the Atlantic Region, No. 35 IUP women's tennis dropped a 6-3 decision to No. 47 Mercyhurst on Wednesday afternoon at the Pennbriar Athletic Club.
The match could also determine the winner of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Western Division regular season crown, as Mercyhurst leads with a 3-0 mark while IUP falls to 4-1 in the league.
The loss ended the Crimson Hawks' seven-match win streak as they're now 12-5 overall. Mercyhurst extended their streak to 12 straight wins and is now 13-1 on the year.
Mercyhurst takes 2-1 lead after doubles
The Crimson Hawks earned an early victory as
Jarka Petercakova and
Luise von Agris defeated Adrianna Jeffress and Kayla Frost 8-3 at the top doubles spot. Petercakova and von Agris entered as the top duo in the region and the 16th-ranked pairing in Division II. Jeffress and Frost are ranked third in the region.
The Lakers No. 2 doubles team of Annie Baich and Saioa Gomez – who are actually ranked second in the region, ahead of their top doubles team – defeated
Raquel Gonzalez and
Rachel Wood by a score of 8-1.
Sophie Butland and
Katya Minchenkova lost by an identical 8-1 score at No. 3.
Lakers win four straight singles to secure match win
IUP opened singles play with a pair of wins to take a 3-2 lead in the match. Von Agris started things off with a 6-1, 6-2 victory at the No. 2 spot while Gonzalez followed with a 6-2, 6-2 win at No. 3 over Frost, the 11th-ranked player in the region.
Petercakova then fell to Gomez, the 20th-ranked player in the country, by a score of 6-3, 6-4 at No. 1, which was the first of four straight Mercyhurst wins.
Up next
IUP has a home match scheduled with West Virginia Wesleyan on Thursday, followed by another non-conference opponent in Charleston on Sunday.
Follow
For up-to-date game information, visit www.IUPAthletics.com and follow IUP women's tennis on Twitter @IUPCrimsonHawk and @IUPtennis.
