Belmont University women’s tennis team lost a close 4-3 match to Eastern Kentucky on March 22 at the Beaman Family Tennis Complex in Nashville. The visiting Colonels secured the doubles point and held on during singles play, handing the Bruins their twelfth loss of the season.
The outcome was determined at No. 5 singles, where Izem Elif Olcer of Eastern Kentucky won a three-set contest against a Belmont senior, finishing with scores of 2-6, 6-2, 6-3. Although Belmont split the six singles matches with their opponents, it was not enough to overcome losing the initial doubles point.
Belmont responded strongly in singles at the top three positions. A redshirt freshman at court one, a graduate player at court two, and a sophomore at court three each won their matches in straight sets. However, both a junior competing at No. 6 singles and a freshman playing No. 4 were defeated by EKU’s Marilou Cote and Anastasiia Cherniakova in closely contested matches.
The decisive doubles point came down to No. 2 doubles where Cherniakova and Ceylin Ipek from EKU edged out Grant and Tapia-Cruz of Belmont with a score of 6-4. On court one for doubles, Webster and Popiol trailed Fedenko and Parkhomenko from EKU when play concluded after EKU clinched the opening point elsewhere.
Looking ahead, Belmont will begin Missouri Valley Conference play next weekend by hosting Northern Iowa on Saturday afternoon followed by Drake on Sunday morning at their home complex.
