Blazers Fall to WKU in Conference USA Opener

Saturday, March 10

George Ward Park

9:00 AM

UAB

WKU

Blazers Fall to WKU in Conference USA Opener

3/10/2018 2:21:00 PM | Women's Tennis

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The UAB women's tennis team saw its three-match winning streak snapped on Saturday when the Blazers dropped a 4-1 decision to WKU in the Conference USA opener at George Ward Park.

WKU won the opening doubles match when Natalia De Ugarte and Cindy Oest posted a 6-1 victory over Hana Sisirak and Dominika Hrabalova at No. 3 to gain an early edge. UAB, however, responded at No. 2 as Sophie Dodds and Alexandra Shchipakina bested Violetta Shatalova and Elpida Malamou 6-4.

The Hilltopper duo of Moka Ito and Monica Malinen clinched the point following a 6-4 win over Marlene Herrmann and Sonia Grzywocz at No. 1.

Ito gave WKU a 2-0 advantage after she defeated Shchipakina 6-2, 6-1 at the No. 1 singles position, but Herrmann responded for UAB and downed Malamou 6-3, 6-2 at No. 2 to cut the Hilltopper lead in half.

Malinen put the Hilltoppers ahead 3-1 at No. 4 with a 6-1, 7-5 win over Hecking, and Oest clinched the match after defeating Sisirak 6-3, 6-2 at No. 6.

"We came up against one of the best teams in our conference today," UAB head coach Mark Tjia said. "They play with a tremendous amount of poise and confidence. They are better than us right now, but we now know what we need to do in the next month to get in that class. We are close and our very young team is improving and learning with every match."

UAB returns to action Tuesday at 1 p.m. when the Blazers travel to Boone, N.C., to face Appalachian State to begin a stretch of three straight road matches.

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