EWING, N.J. – The TCNJ women's tennis team gave nationally ranked Wilmington a stern test in a mid-week matinee inside the Rec Center, but the visiting Wildcats proved to be too much in a 6-3 cross-Division tilt on Wednesday.
Charlotte Roarty won both of her matches for the Lions (7-2), who saw their five-match winning streak come to an end at the hands of the Wildcats, who are ranked 26
th in Division II and won the CACC championship in the fall.
Both of TCNJ's losses this season have come against non-Division III opponents: Lafayette and the Wildcats.
Doubles was a hotly-contested affair and a turning point for the Lions, who fell into a quick 1-0 and were down a break on the number one court. But TCNJ turned the tables by winning at No. 1 and No. 3 – on consecutive points – to claim a surprise 2-1 advantage.
Anusha Rangu and
Aira Abalos led 5-2 at No. 3, only for Marley Trifunovic and Valentina Ivankovic to get the break back and hold for 5-5 and 6-6. Rangu punctuated an Abalos hold with a powerful overhead to nose in front, 7-6, before the Wildcat duo looked set to force a tiebreaker with a 40-0 lead in the ensuing service game. Somehow, Rangu and Abalos came back, getting to a decisive deuce point and clinching the match with a break on another Rangu smash.
Seconds later, Roarty and
Jenny Landells polished off a rally of their own, winning the final three games – two by break of serve – to steal an 8-6 decision off Neus Ramos Moreno and Jess Purdy. After conceding a break to go down 6-5, the Lions' top pairing grabbed the break right back and held serve for a 7-6 lead, then overturned a 30-0 deficit on the Wilmington service game to secure a hard-fought 8-6 victory on an overhead by Roarty.
Roarty pushed the Lions' advantage to 3-1 with a thoroughly impressive 6-1, 6-2 rout of Ramos Moreno on the number one court.
That was as good as it got for TCNJ, however, as Wilmington ran off the next five matches in straight sets to pull away.
Morgan Grimmie came closest for the Lions, taking Trifunovic to a 10-8 tiebreaker in the first set of their matchup in the sixth singles flight.
The Lions head to NJCU on Saturday for an NJAC tilt.
