Riverside, Calif.- The UC Riverside Women's Tennis Team (1-10) fell 6-1 to Villanova (2-5) Monday afternoon in a tight competition, as every singles match went to a 3rd set decider.

The Highlanders came out with some momentum in doubles play as the duo of freshman Tia Elpusan and sophomore Sara Khattab took a win on court one downing their Wildcat opponents 6-3.

Villanova would tie the doubles round with a match on court two, forcing the match on court three to decide the double point. The team of senior Karla Dulay and junior Tracy Van battled hard in a match that eventually went to a 10-point tie breaker, but fell 7-6 (7-3) giving the Wildcats a 1-0 lead.

The singles round was grind for both teams as each of the six courts were forced to play three sets.

Elpusan found success again in the match as she was the first to finish on court two. Despite starting her singles round down 4-1 in the first set, she would battle back to win the last two sets in dominant fashion. She would tie the match at 1-1 with a her 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 victory.

Van and junior Chloe Pham both fell in the 1st set on courts six and four, respectively, but both would grind out 7-5 wins in the 2nd to force a 3rd and final set.

The Highlanders will now prepare for a match on Wednesday at 1:30 PM with Toledo at the SRC Tennis Courts in Riverside, CA.