Women's Tennis Sweeps Northern Kentucky

Friday, January 26

LOUISVILLE, KY

5 p.m.

University of Louisville

NORTHERN KENTUCKY

January 26, 2018 | Women's Tennis

Cards win second match of doubleheader 7-0

By: Nancy Worley

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Following a morning shutout victory over UTEP, the University of Louisville women's tennis team completed a doubleheader sweep with a 7-0 win over Northern Kentucky University Friday evening at the Bass-Rudd Tennis Center. With the victory, the Cardinals (4-0) have still not dropped a set during the early portion of the season.

"Northern Kentucky is a streaky team. They get hot in stretches and we had to weather the storm. It was good for me to see Raven Neely fight her way through. Her opponent was giving her a lot of resistance and Raven got the win. Tiffany Huber was way up and then her opponent got hot and fought her way back for the win. There were a lot of positives, because NKU's style is very tricky."

In the doubles portion, Mariana Humberg and Abbie Pahz continued their terrific play with a quick 6-0 victory at first position over Taylor Culbertson and Maria Koo. After Aleksandra Mally and Ariana Rodriguez clinched the point with a 6-1 win at No. 3, Sena Suswam and Raven Neely needed to rally from a 4-2 deficit to pull out a 6-4 victory.

Mally led off the singles round with another fast contest, topping Margita Sunjic, 6-0, 6-1 at No. 1 position, followed by Maya Smith, who posted the same score in a No. 6 win over Alyssa Defiglio. Pahz then clinched the match for the Cards with a 6-2, 6-0 third position result against Culbertson. At No. 4, Tiffany Huber held off a second-set rally to post a 6-0, 7-5 tally against Tiffany Power.

In the remaining two matches, the Cards faced a pair of challenges from the Norse (0-2), but were able to pull away with wins. At second position, Humberg eventually fended off a tough battle from Koo to win 6-2, 6-3. Finally, Neely battled for a first-set tiebreaker win before taking the match 7-6(4), 6-2 against Hannah Watton.

The Cards conclude their season-opening homestand Sunday morning against Western Kentucky at 11 a.m. at Bass-Rudd. Live stats will be available on GoCards.com.
SINGLES

Aleksandra Mally (UL) def. Margita Sunjic (NKU), 6-0, 6-1
Mariana Humberg (UL) def. Maria Koo (NKU), 6-2, 6-3
Abbie Pahz (UL) def. Taylor Culbertson (NKU), 6-2, 6-0
Tiffany Huber (UL) def. Sydney Power (NKU), 6-0, 7-5
Raven Neely (UL) def. Hannah Watton (NKU), 7-6(4), 6-2
Maya Smith (UL) def. Alyssa Defiglio (NKU), 6-0, 6-1

Order of finish: 1, 6, 3, 4, 2, 5
DOUBLES

Mariana Humberg/Abbie Pahz (UL) def. Taylor Culbertson/Maria Koo (NKU), 6-0
Raven Neely/Sena Suswam (UL) def. Katja Dijanezevic/Sydney Power (NKU), 6-4
Aleksandra Mally/Ariana Rodriguez (UL) def. Margita Sunjic/Hannah Watton (NKU), 6-0

Order of finish: 1, 3, 2