Women's Tennis Fights Hard but Falls in Dual Match Against Lincoln Memorial and Milligan

Harrogate, Tenn. - - Cumberland hit the road for a double-header against Milligan University and host school, Lincoln Memorial. Though the Phoenix battled, they lost both matches as a team.

The first match of the day was against the Milligan Buffaloes who the Phoenix have not matched up with in nearly two decades.

Falling behind early, Cumberland dropped the doubles point with losses at both #1 and #2, falling 6-2 at the pole position and 6-3 at second. The number three doubles match was also a battle, but the outcome did not matter as the Buffs had already clinched the doubles points.

Singles play saw the Phoenix bring more of a fight, taking Milligan to the brink. Maria Arbelaez came out firing at the number one singles positioning, just narrowly dropping her first set in a tiebreak, but couldn't recreate the same magic in the second set, losing 6-2.

The Buffs handled the Phoenix at #2 singles, winning 6-2 and 6-1, but Cumberland rallied, taking the #3 spot in strong fashion. A three set match saw CU grab their first point of the morning, 7-6, 4-3, 6-3.

Though the Phoenix were rallying, Milligan needed just a single win to take the team victory and they did that at the #4 spot with a 6-2, 6-0 victory. Cumberland did not go down without a fight though, managing victories at both the #5 and #6 spots.

After a long, hard-fought match to start the day Cumberland had to quickly turn things around and face strong NCAA DII opposition, Lincoln Memorial.

Straight from the doubles point, the Railsplitters pounced on the Phoenix, taking command early. Valentina Mendez and Kaede Hatano dropped their first service game and struggled to recover, dropping #1 doubles 6-1.

The other two pairings for Cumberland were able to battle deeper into the set, but were ultimately just short, giving Lincoln Memorial the early lead. Lara Zugasti and Juanita Mendez fell 6-2 at #2, and were followed by a 6-3 loss at #3 for Maria Arbelaez and Madeleine Darud.

Already down a point, the Phoenix had a lot of work to do to come back in this match and LMU made certain it would not be an easy thing to do. Arbelaez took the challenge of the #1 singles position as she often does and pushed her opponent, losing 6-3,6-4.

Valentina Mendez struggled to find any rhythm on the court, dropping her first set 6-1, and was swept in her second set, 6-0. Zugasti started slowly in the first set and fell 6-2, but her second effort came down to a single service game, falling 7-5 in the end.

Madeleine Darud was already on the court as the match was clinched for the Railsplitters so she would play a full two sets, though the Phoenix played a single 8-game set at the #5 and #6 singles positions.

Darud fell 6-1 in the first set and brought it back 6-3 in the second, but couldn't manage enough to get the victory. In the final matches of the day Kaede Hatano and Alexandra Leisibach both could not find any sort of late-match heroics, losing 8-1 and 8-3 respectively

It was late night and early turn around this morning for the team as they have a ranked match up with Union starting at 10 am.

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