Women's Tennis vs. IUSE Recap

The Johnson women's tennis team got off to an exciting, start pulling off the nail biting 4-3 win against their opponents from NAIA foe IU Southeast. 

The royals were initially pushed in their doubles point as the top two courts were split. The Royals got on the board first as the pair of sophomores Maria Ponce and Marina Lasneaux defeated their opponents 6-1. After the grenadiers tied things up with a win on the top court, eyes turned to court three where the Royals were making a comeback after initially getting down 4-1. Using clutch volleys by freshman Kambria Gore and big serves from Junior Bella Stigall, the Royals would be victorious 7-5 and take the point. 

From there the singles matches would be a back-and-forth affair. The Royals would strike first with Lasneaux taking her match on court 2 by a score of 6-3, 6-3. The Royals two-point lead wouldn't last long as the grenadiers would put two on the board, winning 3rd set tiebreaks on courts 1 and 3. Tied up at 2-2, the Royals were able to score another point with the victory from Freshman Francesca Crosa at court 5 winning 6-1, 6-2. Needing just one more match win, the Royals were able to get the clinching point from Maria Ponce with the 7-5, 6-2 win. The Royals would drop court 6 in another tiebreak to make the final score 4-3. 

Overall, coach Hale was pleased with the tight win, "I really loved how much we fought on every court all day. This was one of those really tricky matches where we could have lost if we dropped the doubles point or could have completely swept them with some better tiebreaks. That being said, we competed well on every court and when we compete like we did today good things are going to happen." 

The Royals are back in action this Wednesday as they travel to Emory and Henry.