LATROBE, Pa. (Oct. 3) – The Saint Vincent women's tennis team dropped a tightly contested 4-3 decision to visiting Waynesburg University in Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) action on the Bearcats senior day Saturday morning at the SVC Courts.
The Bearcats (0-7, 0-4 PAC) earned three singles victories, including wins from Sydney McWreath, Rachel Zgurich and Emily Meltzer, but the Yellow Jackets (6-5, 2-4 PAC) swept doubles competition and captured three singles matches to secure the narrow victory.
Waynesburg opened the morning by sweeping all three doubles matches to earn the opening point. At No. 1 doubles, McWreath and Sofia Tehrani fell 6-3, while the senior duo of Zgurich and Cecilia Hickin suffered an identical 6-3 setback at No. 2 doubles. At the third doubles position, Cloie Causer and Meltzer fell by a 6-2 score.
Saint Vincent responded with a strong showing in singles competition, winning three of the six matches.
At No. 1 singles, McWreath battled to a straight-set victory over Celeste Matsaudza. After claiming a tightly contested opening set in a tiebreaker, 7-6 (7-3), McWreath secured the victory with a 6-4 win in the second set.
Zgurich also turned in an impressive performance on Senior Day, defeating Julia Luzar in straight sets at No. 2 singles. Zgurich controlled the match from start to finish, earning a 6-3, 6-3 victory.
Waynesburg answered with victories at the third, fourth and fifth singles positions. Tehrani fell 6-4, 6-3 at No. 3 singles, while Hickin dropped a 6-1, 6-2 decision at No. 4. Causer suffered a 6-1, 6-0 setback at the fifth position.
In the final match of the afternoon, Meltzer rallied from a set down to earn a thrilling three-set victory at No. 6 singles. After dropping the opening set 6-1, Meltzer bounced back with a 6-3 win in the second set before prevailing in a third-set tiebreaker, 7-6 (7-0), to secure the Bearcats' third point.
Despite the three singles victories, Waynesburg's doubles point proved to be the difference as the Yellow Jackets escaped with the 4-3 conference win.
Prior to the match, Saint Vincent honored their two seniors Rachel Zgurich and Cecilia Hickin with a senior day ceremony.
The Bearcats return to action on Thursday, October 8 with a road matchup at Franciscan. The match is scheduled to begin at 4:30 p.m. in Steubenville.
