Wilmington, Del. - It all came down to the final singles bout, but the No. 42 ITA Division II Ranked St. Thomas Aquinas Women's Tennis team edged out No. 12 Wilmington University, 4-3, on Sunday at the Delcastle Tennis Center.
STAC improves to 11-4 overall, while Wilmington slips to 14-3 following the battle between East Region Women's Tennis powers.
In doubles action, Wilmington would take two of three bouts to capture the all-important first team point. No. 2 Liza Sylka & Siana MacDonald doubled up Kateryna Kryuchkova & Sun Zhuoxuan, 6-3. However, STAC would strike back at the No. 1 position with Courtney Fyvie & Elita Silins besting Molly Carlberg & Ming-Fu Chen, 6-4. The Wildcats would take the deciding matchup at No. 3, as Ines Oliveira & Gloria Barcaro defeated Mar Caneves Bufi & Elise Semmartin, 7-6 (8-6).
Once the sides turned their attention to singles competition, the hosts from Delaware would once again strike first, taking the first match to go up 2-0, with No. 1 Siana MacDonald beating Courtney Fyvie 6-2, 6-4. The Spartans battled back with No. 2 Elita Silins leading the charge. She would dispatch Liza Sylka 6-2, 6-3 to break up the shutout, making it 2-1. No. 4 Ming-Fu Chen's 6-4, 6-2 win over Kateryna Kryuchkova put the Wilmington back up by two at 3-1, but it would be short-lived as No. 3 Elise Semmartin would narrow the deficit to 3-2 on the strength of a 7-5, 7-6 (3) victory against Molly Carlberg. A strong performance by No. 6 Sun Zhuoxuan over Gloria Barcaro (6-3, 6-1) knotted things up at three wins apiece, with the final outcome to be determinted by the last singles clash between No. 5 Mar Caneves Bufi and Kushi Khandoji. Caneves Bufi would drop the first set, before winning two straight to clinch the team triumph, 6-7 (5), 6-0, 6-3.
STAC 4/WILMINGTON (Del.) 3 - OFFICIAL RESULTS
DOUBLES