Harrogate, TN - The #22 UC women's tennis team won overcame an early deficit to take five straight singles matches to defeat the University of Charleston Golden Eagles 5-2 in their season opener Saturday afternoon at the LMU Tennis Courts.

Charleston took the first doubles match with a 6-1 win at #2 doubles.  UC's #1 doubles team Tomomi Nagao and Mikaela Fros picked up the first win for the Patriots with a 6-2 win over Prinkle Singh and Haarini Balakrishnan to even the doubles win.  The Golden Eagles took the third match at 6-3 which gave the Golden Eagles a 1-0 lead heading into singles play.

Charleston quickly extended their lead to 2-0 with a straight set win at #2 singles.  From that point, Cumberlands started to rally as Hana Shimeno knocked off Julia Lif 6-0, 6-2 to score UC's first point and cut the deficit to 2-1.  Satsuki Mitani evened the score for the Patriots after she posted a 6-2, 7-5 win at #6 singles.  

At #5 singles, Johanna Beckmann dropped the first set 4-6 to Haarini Balakrishnan.  The freshman rallied to take the next two sets 6-4, 6-4 to win the point and put UC in front 3-2.  Cumberlands ace Nagao followed that up with a three-set win, 7-6, 6-1, 7-5 over Singh to clinch the match for the Patriots and extend their lead to 4-2.

Trailing by a set, newcomer Laura Marie rallied to defeat Barbara Balancho 7-6 in the second set to force a third set.  Marie fended off the fierce competition to win the third set 7-6 to secure her first collegiate victory and the 5-2 final.

The Patriots will return to the court on Sunday, February 4, in Harrogate, TN where they will face Bluefield State College. First serve is set for 2. 

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