DAYTON, Ohio - The Duquesne women's tennis team wrapped up a pair of Atlantic 10 matches this past weekend with two victories, defeating Saint Louis on Saturday and Dayton on Sunday. Both matches were hosted by Dayton at The 5 Seasons Club.
Against the Billikens on Saturday, the Dukes used new doubles pairings for the first time this year.
Priyanka Mitta and
Margot Pessy, playing #2 doubles, were the first to get a victory as they won 6-2.
Julianne Herman and
Meredith Lee saw action at the #1 position. They seemed to mesh very well together and were able to capture the doubles point for Duquesne.
Laurel Shymansky and
Maddy Adams were 5-3 up at #3 doubles when the point was concluded.
"I was very proud with how the girls reacted to a change in doubles lineups," said women's assistant coach
Hunter Callahan. "We have been struggling a little bit with our doubles so we felt like some fresh teams might spark something new and they all did a great job with the adjustments."
The Dukes saw a familiar singles lineup against Saint Louis. The Billikens earned a win at No. 2 singles before
Julianne Herman picked up a 6-4, 6-3 victory at the top slot. SLU collected a win at No. 3 singles, but senior
Maddy Adams was able to get a victory at No. 4 singles, playing a very hard fought first set before coasting to a 7-6, 6-1 win.
The hero of the night was freshman
Margot Pessy. She was able to battle back from 1-3 down in both sets in order to clinch the match for the Dukes with a 6-4 6-4 victory. Shortly after Pessy finished her match
Priyanka Mitta was able to secure a 6-4 2-6 6-3 win at #5 singles.
In doubles action against the Flyers, Herman/Lee were first off with a win at No. 1 by a score of 6-3. At #2 doubles the duo of Pessy/Mitta dropped a 6-4 decision. It came down to No. 3 doubles with Adams/Shymansky, claiming a 7-5 triumph.
With the Dukes securing the doubles point the momentum was all in their favor. At No. 1 singles Herman saw a retirement in her match when she was up 6-1, 0-0. Shymansky bounced back from her match on Saturday with a convincing 6-3, 6-0 win at No. 2 singles. Needing just one more point to win the match, Pessy was able to close out her opponent at No. 6 singles 6-1, 6-1 and clinch the match for the second straight day.
Head Coach Vanessa Steiner: "It was a solid weekend for the women's team. They came in focused and beat two conference opponents. It was a total team effort and we hope to continue this level of play going into another conference match next weekend. "
NEXT UP
Duquesne travels to Olean, N.Y. for an A-10 road matchup at St. Bonaventure on Saturday, March 30 at 11 a.m.
