Women's tennis blows by Wright State and Dayton in opener • The Louisville Cardinal

By Dalton Ray —

In their season opener, women’s tennis downed Wright State (7-0) and Dayton (7-0).

“It was a good day,” coach Mark Beckham said. “I haven’t had senior, junior team in a long time. It’s a good sign to see them take care of business.”

Against Wright State, Louisville swept the doubles, winning on all three courts.

Sophomore Raven Neely recorded her first spring singles win (6-0, 6-1), giving U of L a 2-0 lead.

Senior Abbie Pahz clinched the match with her 6-0, 6-0 win on court three.

The Cardinals didn’t allow the Raiders any breathing room, closing all sets 6-2, 6-1 or 6-0.

Shifting to the evening match, Louisville’s 7-0 win didn’t come as easy as it appeared.

Winning the doubles point, Louisville quickly jumped 3-0 on Dayton with wins from Mariana Humberg and Neely.

Ariana Rodriguez clinched the match with her 6-1, 6-0 win.

The final three matches were all tight, nearly getting pushed to three sets in each.

Pahz, Anna Collins and Aleksandra Mally were all tested against the Flyers but didn’t drop a set.

“A lot of times in the past, we would let teams hang around, lose a couple sets and sometimes matches, but today we didn’t let it happen,” Beckham said. “We got pressed in a couple of sets, but we were able to pull them out and that’s what I was looking for.”

The Cardinals have another doubleheader Friday, Jan. 26 against Texas A&M Corpus Christi (10 a.m.) and Northern Kentucky (5 p.m.).