Wednesday, March 9
Morgantown, W.Va.
10 a.m. ET
Michigan State University
4
at
3
West Virginia
Women’s Tennis Outlasts West Virginia in Marathon Match
3/9/2022 5:21:00 PM | Women's Tennis
Spartans win, 4-3, to end road trip in Mountaineer State
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – In a match that surpassed the five-hour mark, the Michigan State women's tennis team was able to come away with a 4-3 victory over host West Virginia on Wednesday at the Summit Tennis Academy.
Ranked 55th nationally by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, MSU moves to 8-2 on the season, the program's best 10-match start since 2017-18.
The Mountaineers took the first doubles match, as the No. 3 WVU pairing of Tanya Lipatova and Nastya Bovolskaia got out to a 4-0 lead against freshman Charlotte Gisclon and junior Dagmar Zdrubecka, eventually finishing off a 6-1 victory. MSU was able win on the second court, as senior Maja Pietrowicz and graduate student Mary Lewis were able to beat Michaela Kucharova and Kendall Kovick by a 6-4 score. On the No. 1 court, senior Nicole Stephens and sophomore Ayshe Can took an early lead, but Ting-Pei Chang and Camilla Bossi came back to win the match, 7-6 (3), and claim the doubles point for the hosts.
In singles play, Lewis knotted the team score at 1-1 when she defeated Kovick, 6-1, 6-3 on the top court, but WVU retook the lead after Lipatova scored a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Can in the No. 4 spot. Bossi earned another point for the Mountaineers on the sixth court, as she beat Gisclon in a 7-6 (3), 6-4 battle. The No. 3 position saw Pietrowicz get one back for the Spartans, winning a 6-3, 5-7, 6-1 match against Bovolskaia.
Due to court availability, Stephens on Court No. 2 and senior Lauren Lemonds on the fifth court had delayed starts to their matches, as those contests proved to be the deciding factors in the outcome. In a marathon opening set for Stephens, she came out on the winning end of a 16-point tiebreaker, eventually getting the 7-6 (16), 6-3 win over Chang and tying the dual at 3-3. Lemonds won via tiebreaker in her second set after losing the first set and pulled away in the third set to grab a 5-7, 7-6 (6), 6-2 victory over Kucharova, clinching a come-from-behind win for the Green and White.
"What a battle from our Spartan women," said head coach Kim Bruno. "When the chips were down and things looked grim, we found a way to win. That's the best part about today. These women are capable of anything."
Stephens extended her singles win streak to six on Wednesday, while Lemonds has now rattled off four-straight wins in singles play.
Michigan State hosts Columbia on March 12 in the Spartans' final non-conference match of the season, before turning around and welcoming Indiana to East Lansing on March 13 in MSU's Big Ten opener.
Ranked 55th nationally by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, MSU moves to 8-2 on the season, the program's best 10-match start since 2017-18.
The Mountaineers took the first doubles match, as the No. 3 WVU pairing of Tanya Lipatova and Nastya Bovolskaia got out to a 4-0 lead against freshman Charlotte Gisclon and junior Dagmar Zdrubecka, eventually finishing off a 6-1 victory. MSU was able win on the second court, as senior Maja Pietrowicz and graduate student Mary Lewis were able to beat Michaela Kucharova and Kendall Kovick by a 6-4 score. On the No. 1 court, senior Nicole Stephens and sophomore Ayshe Can took an early lead, but Ting-Pei Chang and Camilla Bossi came back to win the match, 7-6 (3), and claim the doubles point for the hosts.
In singles play, Lewis knotted the team score at 1-1 when she defeated Kovick, 6-1, 6-3 on the top court, but WVU retook the lead after Lipatova scored a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Can in the No. 4 spot. Bossi earned another point for the Mountaineers on the sixth court, as she beat Gisclon in a 7-6 (3), 6-4 battle. The No. 3 position saw Pietrowicz get one back for the Spartans, winning a 6-3, 5-7, 6-1 match against Bovolskaia.
Due to court availability, Stephens on Court No. 2 and senior Lauren Lemonds on the fifth court had delayed starts to their matches, as those contests proved to be the deciding factors in the outcome. In a marathon opening set for Stephens, she came out on the winning end of a 16-point tiebreaker, eventually getting the 7-6 (16), 6-3 win over Chang and tying the dual at 3-3. Lemonds won via tiebreaker in her second set after losing the first set and pulled away in the third set to grab a 5-7, 7-6 (6), 6-2 victory over Kucharova, clinching a come-from-behind win for the Green and White.
"What a battle from our Spartan women," said head coach Kim Bruno. "When the chips were down and things looked grim, we found a way to win. That's the best part about today. These women are capable of anything."
Stephens extended her singles win streak to six on Wednesday, while Lemonds has now rattled off four-straight wins in singles play.
Michigan State hosts Columbia on March 12 in the Spartans' final non-conference match of the season, before turning around and welcoming Indiana to East Lansing on March 13 in MSU's Big Ten opener.
Team Stats
#1 Doubles Match
#2 Doubles Match
#3 Doubles Match
Order of Finish:
3,2,1
#1 Singles Match
12
66
Kendall Kovick / 0 [WVU]
13
#2 Singles Match
12
76
Ting-Pei Chang / 0 [WVU]
63
#3 Singles Match
123
656
Anastasia Bovolskaia / 0 [WVU]
371
#4 Singles Match
12
44
Tatiana Lipatova / 0 [WVU]
66
#5 Singles Match
123
576
Michaela Kucharova / 0 [WVU]
762
#6 Singles Match
12
64
Camilla Bossi / 0 [WVU]
76
Order of Finish:
1,4,6,3,2,5
Players Mentioned
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
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