Barbourville, KY - After a two week hiatus, the 15^th-ranked UC women's tennis team returned to the court in impressive fashion sweeping the doubles match en route to a 5-2 win over 17^th-ranked Union in a battle of top 25 teams Wednesday afternoon.  With the win, the Patriots improve to 2-1 on the season, while the Bulldogs drop to 1-2. 

It was the doubles teams that lead the charge, and ultimately secured the victory as all of the Patriots duos walked away with wins. The Patriots struck first at #1 doubles as Jaclyn Jewell and Tomomi Nagao earned the 8-4 victory over Ljiljana Pajcin and Isidora Petkovic, the third-ranked doubles team in the NAIA. The freshman duo of Tessa Perkins and Grace Steely extended UC's lead with an 8-5 win over the junior pairing of Carla Delgado and Alina Schweizer at #2 doubles. Cumberlands strong play continued at #3 doubles where Sydney White and Mikaela Fros took the 8-4 win against Christina Schoener and Mai Kitashita to lead 3-0 heading into singles matches.

In singles matches, Union cut the deficit to 3-1 with a straight set win at #2 singles. However the Patriots responded quickly as Steely earned the 6-4, 6-3 win over Kitashita at #4 singles to extend UC's lead to 4-1.  The Bulldogs notched a win at #3 singles 7-6, 6-2, before UC could clinch the match with a three set win at #1 singles.  In that match, 11^th-ranked Petkovic won the first set 6-1, however Nagao, ranked 45^th in the NAIA, battled back to take the second set 7-5. Nagao would take the decisive third set 6-3 to win the point and clinch the match for the Patriots. 

Luka Lyttle and Perkins played #5 and #6 singles for the Patriots, however their matches did not finish once the Patriots clinched the match.

The Patriots will return to the court Friday, March 1, as they face Thomas More in a non-conference road match.  The match is slated to begin at 4:30 p.m.

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