Women’s Tennis Handed Crushing 4-3 Loss by Concordia in the CACC Semifinals

Women's Tennis | 10/20/2018 12:00:00 AM

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(box score)

Goldey-Beacom could not hold onto a three-point lead in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference semifinals and its two-year reign as league champion ended with a 4-3 loss to Concordia (NY) in Middlebury, CT.

The Lightning were in a familiar position for the ninth time this fall by taking the doubles point. Sophomores Lotte Lesscher y Post (Arnhem, Netherland), the CACC Player of the Year, and Catarina Zheng (Oporto, Portugal), also named first team, got it going with a 6-1 win at No. 1 doubles over Angelica Hantzis and Josefina Martin. Freshmen Maria Bruno (Maracay, Venezuela) and Elin Anderson (Conwy, Wales) won the point with a 6-2 triumph at third doubles over Kristel Kalm and Katrina Sta Cruz.

Zheng continued the momentum at second singles with a 6-3, 6-1 triumph over Kalm, followed by freshman Andrea Fresneda (Valencia, Spain) recording a 6-2, 6-1 win at No. 6 singles over Hillary Sherpa.

That gave the Lightning a 3-0 lead, needing just one more rubber to win the tie. The Clippers climbed within 3-1 as Tadi Mrewa got a 7-5, 6-4 win at fourth singles over Bruno and then made it 3-2 with Martin defeating junior Anna Hortelano Pey (Castelldefels, Spain), 2-6, 6-1, 6-3 at third singles.

Concordia then leveled the tie, 3-3, when Franziska Putschbach rallied for a 2-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7-4) triumph at fifth singles over Anderson to make everything come down to first singles.

Lesscher y Post and Hantzis battled into a third set and the former had a 2-1 lead with a service break in the set. But Hantzis won the last five games for a stunning 6-3, 6-7, 6-2 triumph to end it.

The loss ends an outstanding fall for Goldey-Beacom (8-2, 7-1 CACC), which captured at least a share of the league's regular-season crown for a third straight year and was making its 11th straight appearance in the conference semifinals.

GBC, which has played in the NCAA Tournament seven times, also has won 24 of its last 25 regular-season league matches.

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