WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The Northern Kentucky women's tennis program's record-setting season went down to the wire, but the year came to a bittersweet end as the Norse were knocked off by top-seeded Cleveland State in the Horizon League Semifinals, 4-3, in a hard-fought battle on Saturday.
NKU advanced to the conference semifinals for the first time in the Norse's NCAA Division I era and they almost took down the No. 1 seed to advance to the program's first championship match.
Northern Kentucky jumped out to a 1-0 lead as the duos of
Ashlee Fisk and
Catharina Cardoso and
Alyssa Cameron and
Mariajose Hernandez teamed up to win their doubles matches out of the No. 3 and No. 2 spots, respectively.
Cleveland State answered back with a win in No. 4 singles to tie the match at 1-1. Northern Kentucky responded right away with victories in singles No. 3 and No. 6 by Cameron and Cardoso to move back ahead 3-2.
The Vikings then closed the semis out with two straight wins to escape with the 4-3 victory.
THE FACTS
FINAL SCORE: No. 5 Northern Kentucky – 3, No. 1 Cleveland State – 4
LOCATION: Schwartz Tennis Center at Purdue University – West Lafayette, Indiana
RECORDS: NKU 6-12 (2-4 HL) – CSU 14-9 (5-1 HL)
MATCH BREAKDOWN
Singles Competition (Order of Finish: 4, 3, 6, 1, 2, 5)
1. Oihane Vicario (CLST) def.
Ashlee Fisk (NKU): 7-6 (7-5), 6-4
2. Sima Heren (CLST) def.
Darya Gneydina (NKU): 6-4, 7-6 (7-5)
3.
Alyssa Cameron (NKU) def. Tereze Vevere (CLST): 6-4, 6-2
4. Bethany Yauch (CLST) def.
Mariajose Hernandez (NKU): 6-2, 6-1
5. Ella Franz (CLST) def.
Angela Rinaldi (NKU): 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 6-3
6.
Catharina Cardoso (NKU) def. Filippa Frogner (CLST): 2-6, 6-1, 6-2
Doubles Competition (Order of Finish: 3, 2, 1)
1.
Alyssa Cameron and
Mariajose Hernandez (NKU) def. Oihane Vicario and Sima Heren (CLST): 6-4
2. Tereze Vevere and Ella Franz (CLST) def.
Darya Gneydina and
Angela Rinaldi (NKU): 6-1
3.
Ashlee Fisk and
Catharina Cardoso (NKU) def. Filippa Frogner and Selma Tounsi (CLST): 6-1
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