DAYTON, Ohio - The Western Michigan women's tennis team picked up its second win in a row with a dominant effort on the road, with the Broncos defeating the Wright State Raiders 7-0 at the South Regency Tennis Center. With the win, the Broncos improve to 10-5 on the season.
WMU had total control of the match, dropping just one set in singles play and winning all nine matches on the slate on Friday. The No. 1 doubles pairing of Kathleen Hawkins and Caroline Aleck snapped a two-match losing streak with a strong effort against Linsey Verstrepen and Elaine Cloern, downing the Raiders' top duo by an 8-5 score. Nini Sujashvili and Tracy Kuhle were even better, improving to 9-3 as a doubles team on the season with an 8-0 victory at No. 3 doubles over Aby Madrigal and Megan Brdicka. The tightest doubles match of the day came at the No. 2 spot, but Meika Ashby and Yuriko Ono won a tiebreaker set 7-4 to defeat Vanessa Madrigal and Tori Turner and sweep the session.
Sujashvili faced the toughest test in singles play but passed with flying colors, surviving a second-set loss to Verstrepen to win No. 1 singles by a 6-3, 2-6, 1-0 (7). Hawkins halted a personal four-match losing streak in singles play with a dominant effort at No. 2 singles, beating Cloern in straight sets. The freshman class came up big for the Broncos, with all three players in the line-up recording singles wins; Ashby won a first-set tiebreaker with Turner en route to a 7-6 (1), 6-1 win in the No. 3 match, Kuhle took her eighth singles victory in 11 tries with a win over Aby Madrigal at No. 4, and Ono dominated Brdicka 6-1, 6-0 at No. 6 singles for her 15th singles win of the year. Aleck rounded out the field with a similarly dominant effort, beating Lauren Smith 6-2, 6-0 at No. 5 singles.
Singles Competition
1. Nini Sujashvili (WMU) def. Linsey Verstrepen (WSU) 6-3, 2-6, 1-0 (7)
2. Kathleen Hawkins (WMU) def. Elaine Cloern (WSU) 6-2, 6-3
3. Meika Ashby (WMU) def. Tori Turner (WSU) 7-6 (1), 6-1
4. Tracy Kuhle (WMU) def. Aby Madrigal (WSU) 6-2, 7-5
5. Caroline Aleck (WMU) def. Lauren Smith (WSU) 6-2, 6-0
6. Yuriko Ono (WMU) def. Megan Brdicka (WSU) 6-1, 6-0
Doubles Competition
1. Kathleen Hawkins / Caroline Aleck (WMU) def. Linsey Verstrepen / Elaine Cloern (WSU) 8-5
2. Meika Ashby / Yuriko Ono (WMU) def. Vanessa Madrigal / Tori Turner (WSU) 8-7 (4)
3. Nini Sujashvili / Tracy Kuhle (WMU) def. Aby Madrigal / Megan Brdicka (WSU) 8-0
