WISE, Va. – UVa-Wise women's tennis was narrowly defeated 5-4 Thursday evening in Hickory, North Carolina, by a strong Lenoir-Rhyne University team. The Cavaliers (2-2) gave a valiant effort against the homestanding Bears (1-0) but were unable to come away with the win.
 
UVa-Wise surprised Lenoir-Rhyne in doubles play, taking two of the three matches before the Bears came back from the 2-1 deficit to claim four out of six singles matches. The freshman tandem of Aya Melhem (Rockvale, Tenn.) and Taylor Carter (Church Hill, Tenn.) earned the Cavs' first point of the match when they defeated Abbi Wood and Sophia Aguilar di Camillo 8-3 at No. 3 doubles. Then it was the duo of reigning Mountain East Conference player of the week junior Daria Tyshchenko (Kirovograd, Ukraine) and senior Bailey Christoforatos (Fredericksburg, Va.) who grabbed No. 1 doubles with an 8-4 win against Lenoir-Rhyne's Julia Ponomareva and Emily Murchland. The Bears' Sara Kalkevova and Taylor Fredrickson claimed Lenoir-Rhyne's lone doubles point when they topped junior Marti Gay (Denton, Texas) and sophomore Mackenzie Lawson (Wise, Va.) 8-2 at the second spot.
 
The Bears began their comeback quickly in singles play with two straight-set wins. Fredrickson defeated Gay 6-1, 6-3 at No. 5 singles before Kalkenova handed Tyshchenko a 6-2, 6-2 loss at the top spot. However, the Cavs tied up the team score at 3-3 when Carter grabbed a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Lenoir-Rhyne's di Camillo at No. 4 singles.
 
A 6-2, 7-5 victory by Lawson at sixth singles against the Bears' Wood gave UVa-Wise a slight 4-3 lead. After dropping the first set 6-0 at the third position, Christoforatos recovered and went toe to toe with Lenoir-Rhyne's Murchland in the second set but was defeated 7-5. In the deciding match at No. 2 singles, Melhem took the opening set 6-3 before the Bears' Ponomareva grabbed the second, 6-2. Playing a 10-point tiebreaker for the third set, Ponomareva held on to earn a 10-5 win and clinch the match for Lenoir-Rhyne.
 
The Cavs return to Wise and get back to Mountain East Conference play this Sunday when UVa-Wise takes on West Virginia State at 3 p.m.
 
Visit uvawisecavs.com for all Cavalier women's tennis news, statistics, complete schedule and more.
 
Full Match Results
Lenoir-Rhyne University 5, UVa-Wise 4
 
Singles
1. Sara Kalkenova (LRU) def. Daria Tyshchenko (WISE) 6-2, 6-2
2. Julia Ponomareva (LRU) def. Aya Melhem (WISE) 3-6, 6-2, 1-0 (10-5)
3. Emily Murchland (LRU) def. B. Christoforatos (WISE) 6-0, 7-5
4. Taylor Carter (WISE) def. S Aguilar di Camillo (LRU) 6-3, 6-4
5. Taylor Fredrickson (LRU) def. Marti Gay (WISE) 6-1, 6-3
6. Mackenzie Lawson (WISE) def. Abbi Wood (LRU) 6-2, 7-5
 
Doubles
1. Daria Tyshchenko/B. Christoforatos (WISE) def. Julia Ponomareva/Emily Murchland (LRU) 8-4
2. Sara Kalkenova/Taylor Fredrickson (LRU) def. Marti Gay/Mackenzie Lawson (WISE) 8-2
3. Aya Melhem/Taylor Carter (WISE) def. Abbi Wood/S Aguilar di Camillo (LRU) 8-3