Box Score

Columbia, KY - It was a battle between two top-15 teams on Tuesday afternoon with the Patriots traveling to take on Lindsey Wilson with the 10th-ranked Blue Raiders getting the win. UC battled their way till the end but their efforts were not quite enough in the 5-2 loss.

Doubles play began in UC's favor with them taking a lead to start things out. Tessa Gray and Meiri Okuwaki competed in the #2 spot in doubles and were able to grab the win over Lindsey Wilson's Reshma Challarapu and Salome Sposetti by a tally of 6-0.

The other two matches in doubles play ended up belonging to the Blue Raiders, helping them grab the 1-0 lead. The #1 spot in doubles was a clash between top tier tandems with Cumberlands having #19 Tomomi Nagao and Mikaela Fros square off against the #17 duo in Alexandra Parra and Lucia Mora Diaz. The two sides fought hard throughout their bout with Lindsey Wilson finishing on top 6-4.

The deciding contest for the first point was a hard-fought one that saw both sides unwilling to give in. UC sent out Johanna Beckmann and Satsuki Mitani to take on Parisa Rachdanone and Anastasiia Ivanchenko. Beckmann and Mitani did all they could to try to clinch the advantage, but to no avail with the Blue Raiders claiming a 7-5 victory.

Nagao started off singles play knotting up the score at one apiece as she was able to defeat Alexandra Parra in the #1 spot. It was a matchup between two of the best in the MSC and all of the NAIA as Nagao currently ranks as the 19th best play in the NAIA per ITA while Parra ranks 23rd. Nagao got the better of the match, winning easily as she defeated the Blue Raider's top competitor 6-2, 6-1.

Okuwaki's match was next to finish with her dropping her contest as the Patriot's #2. Meiri fell by a count of 6-2, 6-4 to give  the Blue Raiders a 2-1 lead. They then extended that advantage at #4 as Beckmann dropped her bout with Darija Mladenovic 6-2, 6-3.

Catherine Rae played in the #3 spot for the Patriots and helped them try to make a comeback, winning her match to make it a score of 3-2 in favor Lindsey Wilson. Rae's counterpart ended up being Challarapu with Catherine able to handle her well in the first set with a 6-2 win before having to battle to a 7-5 victory in the second stanza to pull a little closer.

The Blue Raiders were able to clinch the win at #5 as UC's Hana Shimeno fell by a count of 6-3, 6-1. Shimeno ended up with a tough assignment on her hands in the form of Parisa Rachdanone who currently sits ranked 37th by the ITA and it proved to be too tough of one as Hana fell to give Lindsey the win. Fan Shiau played as Cumberlands #6 and finished out the day with a loss as well. After dropping the first set 6-2, Shiau responded with a convincing 6-2 win of her own before dropping the tiebreaker by a final of 10-7.

This defeat moves UC to 11-4 on the season and 2-1 in conference play. UC will look to rebound in their next contest when they return home on Thursday, March 24th. The Patriots will host Austin Peay State University in that one with a start time of 1:00 p.m.

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