Fort Wayne, Ind. - The Western Illinois women's tennis team's season was ended in the semifinal round of The Summit League championship by Oral Roberts for the second straight season as the Westerwinds lost to the Golden Eagles, 4-0, at the Dr. Rudy and Rhonda Kachmann Tennis Center.
"I think our men's match affected our women a little bit," said Western Illinois head coach Michael Hunt. "They were out there, cheering their hearts out for 4 1/2 hours and it had to take away a little of their own energy. We dropped the doubles point and there was just too much momentum for us to turn around. Amanda and Stephanie each won their first sets and I feel confident they would have both won their matches, as they did last time we played Oral Roberts. We needed a couple more people to step up and give us that boost. It just wasn't that day."
The Westerwinds (13-12) began the match by losing the first two doubles matches finished to lose the doubles point to Oral Roberts. The doubles team of juniors Stephanie Baumer and Yana Meinert led the Golden Eagles' duo of Taylor Pippen and Ana Costa, 6-5, at No. 2 doubles before the match was suspended.
In singles play, Western dropped the first three singles matched decided to clinch the match for Oral Roberts. Meinert battled during the first set, taking Ekaterina Kondrashova to a first set tiebreaker at No 6 singles before eventually falling 7-6 (3), 6-1. Junior Amanda Griffin split sets with Hayden Rush at the top singles spot before the match was suspended due to the match being decided.
"Our senior class consists of Zi, Amanda, and Kim. Between the three of them, they also raised the women's program to a new level - that of expecting to qualify for the conference tournament and being competitive with the top programs in the conference," Hunt said. "We'll be hard-pressed to find individuals with their competitive drive and heart."
Oral Roberts 4, Western Illinois 0
Doubles
1. Rush/Souza (ORU) d. Griffin/Wang (WIU) 8-3
2. Baumer/Meinert (WIU) leading Pippen/Costa (ORU) 6-5 DNF
3. Langston/Kondrashova (ORU) d. Lennartsson/Kennedy (WIU) 8-4
Singles
1. Amanda Griffen (WIU) v. Hayden Rush (ORU) 6-3, 5-7
2. Rafaela Souza (ORU) d. Kim Lennartsson (WIU) 6-0, 6-0
3. Taylor Pippen (ORU) d. Zi Wang (WIU) 6-1, 6-3
4. Stephanie Baumer (WIU) leading Anna Costa (ORU) 6-2, 1-5
5. Corrinne Langston (ORU) leading Kate Kennedy (WIU) 6-1, 5-3
6. Ekaterina Kondrashova (ORU) d. Yana Minert (WIU) 7-6 (7-3), 6-1
