Youngstown State University
UIC
Penguins Battle But Fall Short Against UIC in HL Final
5/2/2021 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
West Lafayette, Ind. - The Youngstown State women's tennis team dropped a tough 4-1 decision to UIC in the finals of the Horizon League Championship on Sunday at the Schwartz Tennis Center at Purdue University.
The top two teams in the Horizon League went toe-to-toe for more than three hours before the Flames were finally able to clinch the victory. The Penguins end the season with a 16-10 record.
The doubles point took more than an hour before UIC was finally able to gain the early advantage.
Doubles Recap
Both teams earned decisive wins to set up an epic clash for the point at No. 1 doubles.
At No. 3, Claudia Barboza and Jesica Stanmore defeated Neil Arendt and Marina Hermanny by a score of 6-1 to give the Penguins the first victory. At No. 2, UIC's Ana Jover and Lucie Prochazkova picked up a 6-3 victory over Cecilia Rosas and Lucia Zagar.
The No. 1 doubles match between Tamara Teufl and Eliska Masarikova and Agnes Gustafson and Tamra Malazonia featured great comebacks by both teams. YSU trailed 5-4 and faced two match points, but was able to break and eventually go ahead 6-5. However, UIC answered with its own break tying the contest at 6-all and forcing a tiebreaker.
In the tiebreaker, UIC jumped out to a 4-1 lead before YSU regrouped and took a 5-4 advantage on an error by the Flames. The team's exchanged points and YSU had a chance to close out the match taking a 6-5 lead on a Teufl forehand winner. UIC staved off defeat and took a 7-6 lead with back-to-back winners. A Masarikova smash tied the breaker up for the fifth time at 7-all. But a double fault and a return wide by the Guins gave the 9-7 win to the Flames. YSU had three untimely double faults in the tiebreaker.
Singles Recap
In singles play, three of the contests went three sets and Teufl fought off four Championship points in her second set.
The Flames earned a point at No. 3 singles as Gustafson beat Zagar by a score of 6-0, 6-0. UIC went up 3-0 when Arendt baet Barboza 7-5, 6-1. YSU would not go down without a fight after falling behind 3-0.
Cecilia Rosas picked up a win beating Gustafson 6-2, 0-6, 6-4 at No. 2 singles to keep the Penguins in the match. At No. 5, Jessica Stanmore won her first set 6-4 before falling 6-4 in the second to Georgia Gulin. In the third, Gulin went ahead 3-1.
The second set between Teufl and Tamara Malazonia drew the most attention. Teufl trailed 5-2 and fought off two Championship points to tie the contest 5-5. Teufl then trailed 6-5 before forcing a tiebreaker. In the tiebreak, Teufl fell behind 6-4, but scored three straight points to fend off two more Championship points. With the tirebreaker tied 8-8, Teufl scored the final two points to win 10-8 and even the match after losing the first set 6-1.
Upon the conclusion of Teufl's second set, the focus moved to No. 4 singles. Eliska Masarikova won her first set 7-5 over Ana Jover. Jover evened the contest up with a 6-4 win in set No. 2. On a deuce point at 5-2, Jover won the point to win the set 6-2 and claim the title for the Flames.
