Ann Arbor, Mich. - The Youngstown State women's tennis team won its third consecutive Horizon League title with a gritty 4-2 win over Wright State on Sunday afternoon at the Varsity Tennis Center at the University of Michigan.
YSU (12-12) dropped the doubles point and was forced to win four singles matches, the route it took to the title last year. The Penguins responded with singles wins by Noelly Nsimba, Nehel Sahni, Dominika Lackova and Annina Brendel to advance to the NCAA Tournament for the third straight year. It was YSU's fourth consecutive appearance in the title match.
After a tough doubles battle, the Penguins came out strong in singles play as Ana Stroe, Sahni, Nsimba and Lackova all won their first sets. But momentum swung to the Raiders who won the next three completed sets to tighten the match.
The first Penguin to clinch her match was Nsimba who picked up a 6-4, 6-1 win at No. 3 singles over Elaine Colern, which tied the dual at one.
At No. 6, Stroe dropped her final two sets to Aby Madrigal after winning the opening set 6-0. Madrigal won the final two sets 6-3, 6-2.
At No. 5, Sahni who won her first set 6-4, battled for a 7-6 (7-3) win over Vanessa Madrigal to give the Penguins a 2-1 lead.
The final three remaining matches all went to the third set.
Lackova won her first set 7-5 and led 5-1 in the second. But Karoline Haller fought off three match points and won the second set 7-5. In the third, Lackova battled back for a 6-4 win to claim the Guins' third singles victory.
Brendel, one of two seniors on the squad, rebounded after dropping a tough first set 7-6 (10-8) to Linsey Verstrepen. Brendel had two set points, but Verstrepen was able to claim the set. In the second set, Brendel won 6-3 setting up a winner-take-all third set. With the set tied at four, Brendel broke service to take a 5-4 lead. In the final set, Brendel jumped out to a 40-0 lead, and she claimed the 6-4 victory at 40-15.
When Lackova and Brendel were battling on south end of the indoor complex, one of the best matches was by Macias. Macias dropped the first set 7-5 to Tori Turner and was down 5-2 in the second set. Somehow she rallied from a 40-0 deficit to extend the match then fought off three more match points to win 7-6 (7-2). In the third set, the contest was tied 2-2 when Brendel won.
The Raiders claimed the doubles point with wins at No. 2 and No. 3.
At No. 1, Brendel and Nsimba overcame a 2-0 deficit by scoring six of the final seven points. In fact, the duo trailed 3-1 before scoring the last five points of the contest. At 3-2, a winner by Brendel broke the WSU serve and then a winner by Nsimba gave the Penguins a 4-3 lead. YSU broke serve again and held serve to win 6-3.
At No. 2, Lackova an Macias dropped a 6-2 decision. The pair trailed 3-0 before cutting the deficit to 3-1. Two straight points by the Raiders made 5-1 before the YSU was able to get within 5-2. However, the Raiders quickly clinched the match 6-2.
The No. 3 contest featured a back-and-forth contest for Stroe and Julianna Heino. YSU jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead but the Raiders won two straight points to pull within 3-2. The Guins went back ahead 4-2, but WSU scored the next three points to pull ahead 5-4. The Penguins held serve to the match at five.
At 40-all in the next set, Stroe's return clipped the net to give the Raiders a 6-5 lead. Stroe had two aces on her serve to force a tiebreaker at 6-6.
In the tiebreaker, WSU jumped out to a 3-1 lead. With the set 3-2, the Raiders scored four straight points to go in front 6-2. YSU staved off two match points, but eventually dropped the contest 7-4.
The NCAA selection show is Tuesday at 5 p.m. on NCAA.com.
