Cardinals Beat Wichita State 6-1

Sunday, February 7

Wichita, KS

10:00 a.m.

University of Louisville

Wichita State

February 07, 2021 | Women's Tennis

Box Score

Cards take doubles point and all but one singles point

By: Nancy Worley

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- The University of Louisville women's tennis team swept doubles and took all but one singles spot to put up a 6-1 win over Wichita State Sunday afternoon at Wichita Country Club.

"Good bounce-back win for us against a team that beat us last year with a lot of the same players," said Mark Beckham, UofL head coach. "We didn't have a lot of recovery time, since we played late yesterday and had to play early this morning but we played good tennis to get a bit of a payback win. Happy with how we responded after a really tough loss yesterday."

Louisville took control of the match early when the No. 1 pair of Rhea Verma and Andrea DiPalma rolled 6-0 to upset the No. 23 ranked pair of Sarvinoz Saidhuhaeva and Marta Bellucco. The No. 3 pair of Chelsea Sawyer and Dina Chaika defeated WSU's Natsumi Kurahashi and Alexandra Lazarova 6-2 to clinch the point. Raven Neely and Tatiana Simova made it a Cardinal sweep with a 7-5 win over Ting-Ya Hsu and Jie Xin Zheng 7-5 at the No. 2 slot.

Rhea Verma, who was the last player to finish yesterday, was the first to finish today with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Jie Xin Zheng. UofL's Chelsea Sawyer beat Ting-Ya Hsu 6-4, 6-3 to put the Cards up 3-0 and then Andrea DiPalma clinched the match at No. 2 with a 7-5, 6-4 win over Marta Bellucco. Raven Neely, playing No. 1 for the first time this season, took down Sarvinoz Saidhujaeva 6-1, 5-7, 6-4 and then Tatiana Simova scored the final point for the Cards with a 6-4, 5-7, 1-0 (10-2) win over Natsumi Kurahashi.

UofL will head out to face Vanderbilt on Feb. 12 at noon in Nashville.

Singles Competition
1. Raven Neely (LOU) def. Sarvinoz Saidhujaeva (WSU) 6-1, 5-7, 6-4
2. Andrea DiPalma (LOU) def. Marta Bellucco (WSU) 7-5, 6-4
3. Chelsea Sawyer (LOU) def. Ting-Ya Hsu (WSU) 6-4, 6-3
4. Rhea Verma (LOU) def. Jie Xin Zheng (WSU) 6-1, 6-3
5. Tatiana Simova (LOU) def. Natsumi Kurahashi (WSU) 6-4, 5-7, 1-0 (10-2)
6. Alexandra Lazarova (WSU) def. Jelena Vujanic (LOU) 4-6, 6-4, 1-0 (10-7)
Doubles competition
1. Rhea Verma/Andrea Di Palma (LOU) def. #23 Sarvinoz Saidhujaeva/Marta Bellucco (WSU) 6-0
2. Raven Neely/Tatiana Simova (LOU) def. Ting-Ya Hsu/Jie Xin Zheng (WSU) 7-5
3. Chelsea Sawyer/Dina Chaika (LOU) def. Natsumi Kurahashi/Alexandra Lazarova (WSU) 6-2
Match Notes:
Louisville 3-1
Wichita State 2-2
Order of finish: Doubles (1,3,2); Singles (4,3,2,1,6,5)