RIVERSIDE, Calif.—The UC Riverside Women's Tennis Team fell in a hard fought battle Saturday morning as the Highlanders dropped their second conference match of the season to UC Irvine 5-2. UCR got out to a great start taking the doubles point, but the Anteaters would grab five singles wins to take the match.
"We came out with good energy in doubles and even after a slow start in singles, we came back to give ourselves a chance to win," Head Coach Mark Henry said. "UCI just played a little bit better down the stretch today."
Despite the doubles duo of sophomore Tia Elpusan and junior Sara Khattab taking their first loss of the season on court one, their teammates were there to pick them up earning wins on the other two courts to take a 1-0 lead in the overall match. Freshman Lindsey Gelinas and junior Lauren Wolfe earned a dominant 6-2 win on court three and the team of freshman Mahli Silpachai and senior Tracy Van sealed it on court two with a 7-5 victory.
The Highlanders fought in singles, but only Silpachai would be credited with a win as she held a lead heading into the second set before her opponent retired. Elpusan would take her court two battle into the third set, but ultimately fell 6-4, 0-6, 5-7.
