Huskies Come Up Just Short against Salem

HILTON HEAD, S.C. – The Michigan Tech women's tennis team opened competition at the annual Spring Tennis Fest Tournament in Hilton Head, South Carolina Saturday, falling in a non-conference match to Salem University 4-3. The contest is the first of five slated for this coming week.

"It was exciting for me to finally get to be at a match with the team," Michigan Tech Head Coach Kristin Yep said. "We struggled a bit out there today in a close loss where we started up 2-0 with the defaulted two singles matches from Salem and one doubles match. We had a hard time adjusting to the different elements compared to what we are used to in GLIAC matches. It was a learning experience for our team mentally and we hope to bring this knowledge into our matches moving forward."

Michigan Tech (9-5) took one of the doubles matches to start the day by default, but unfortunately suffered a couple of close setbacks in the No. 1 and No. 2 spots in the lineup. Salem (3-0), ranked No. 3 in the NCAA Division II Atlantic Region Poll, got doubles wins from the teams of Glowinska and Kunic and Rusyn and Kaligotla to take a 1-0 edge in the overall match.

In singles competition, sophomore Mirna Golac and freshman Bhavya Aggarwal were penciled in to the No. 5 and No. 6 spots in the lineup and the Huskies picked up points in those positions due to default. Freshman Neva Manas logged a key win for Tech in the No. 4 spot in the lineup Saturday thanks to a 6-3, 6-4 triumph over Rusyn of Salem.

Junior Ivona Gorgioski battled in the No. 1 spot but fell to Glowinska in a tightly contested match 6-7, 4-6. Freshman Dominika Bobik took Kunic to three sets in the No. 2 position, but dropped a tough decision 2-6, 6-3, 4-6. In No. 3 singles, freshman Lauren Opalewski came up just short to Kaligutla 4-6, 5-7.

The Huskies will take Sunday off before returning to the court Tuesday to face Kutztown for match two at the Spring Tennis Fest. The first serve is scheduled for 4 p.m. eastern time.