PITTSBURGH – The Duquesne women's tennis team fell to Youngstown State, 6-1, in its home opening dual match on Sunday afternoon at Alpha Tennis and Fitness. The Dukes fall to 1-1 on the season, while the Penguins improve to 3-4.
Meredith Lee picked up her second win in singles play this season to lead the Dukes. Ellen Shanahan and Daniela Latoni also earned a victory in doubles action.
"We were so excited to be competing on our home courts again," said Duquesne Director of Tennis Vanessa Steiner. "YSU came out strong and was overall just more precise than we were. I was very pleased with how the women played, in both doubles in singles. Most impressively, I was happy to see all six lines of singles start out strong after losing a close doubles point. We definitely have some work to do on court, but we are continuing to improve every day and get back into match mode. We have some time before our next competition to focus on individual work and overall team goals."
YSU started out strong in the doubles, getting an early lead on all three courts. On Court One, YSU grabbed a 3-0 lead in dominating fashion. Court Two and Court Three were tightly fought throughout the entire match. On Court Three, the Dukes had some trouble capitalizing and lost a close one, 6-3. On
On Court 2, Ellen Shanahan and Daniela Latoni showed perseverance and came back down 3-4, to win three straight games to win the match, 6-4. Court One battled back to 3-5 and lost the next game on a deuce point.
The Dukes regrouped and started strong in singles play. Courts one and six were the first to finish. Both Natasha Novak and Amulika Gottiparthy (first singles match as a Duke), were ultimately outmatched by their opponents. The last four courts left could have gone either way. Two out of the four matches went to three sets and Ana Utrilla Benito had an extremely close two setter.
Meredith Lee was able to pull a victory in her singles match, downing YSU's Lucia Zagar, by a score of 7-6, 6-3.
"Meredith played with confidence and executed her shots," said Steiner of the senior from Pottstown, Pa. Even without fans, the atmosphere inside Alpha was exciting and the team is ready to get back to work this week."
Both the Dukes' women's and men's team are next scheduled to compete on Sunday, March 7th at home against Mercyhurst.
