MIDDLEBURY, Conn. – A competitive start to the day for Post University Women's Tennis in the Doubles gave the Eagles some hope on Thursday afternoon at the Edgewood Bath and Tennis Club as both Post and Franklin Pierce University were in search of their first win of the season. However, it would be the Ravens on the winning side of the coin by the end of the day as they took a tough Doubles point before sweeping through the six Singles matches to deliver Post their fourth straight loss to start the season, 7-0.
THE BASICS
Post University 0, Franklin Pierce University 7
Post University (0-4)
Franklin Pierce University (1-3)
HOW IT HAPPENED
Junior
Gioia Turco and freshman
Melanie Leussink would quickly drop the #3 Doubles against freshmen Ana Munoz and Polina Georgieva, 6-0, putting the Ravens on the cusp of the Doubles point, but the following two Doubles would nearly see Post take them both in comeback fashion. Freshman
Julie Merlin and senior
Nina Langenfeld came from behind to beat graduate student Victoria Azcona and senior Maria Paz Diaz Florentin, 6-4, in the #3 Doubles while over in the #2 Doubles senior
Megan Lombardt and freshman
Annelein Van Urk were a point away from taking down junior Gabriela Yamate and graduate student Zoe Asterio-Correa.
Leading 5-4, the match would end up going to a tiebreaker to decide the winner with Yamate and Asterio-Correa completing the comeback with a 7-6 victory after taking the tiebreaker, 11-9, securing the Doubles point for the Ravens.
The Singles would all go the way of Franklin Pierce with all but one ending in two straight sets which would be the #4 Singles between Langenfeld and Azcona. That would go three sets after both sides won a set each by scores of 6-4 before Azcona took the 10-point tiebreaker, 10-2, this was the fourth straight Singles match that has gone to the tiebreaker set for Langenfeld this year.
In the #2 Singles and #5 Singles, Van Urk and
Melanie Leussink would each drop their matches to Asterio-Correa and Paz Diaz Florentin respectively with scores of 6-0 and 6-1 in both sets they played. Merlin and Yamate would go at it in the #3 Singles with Yamate besting Merlin with a pair of 6-2 set wins while Munoz swept through Gioia in the #6 Singles with a pair of 6-0 set wins. Rounding out the matches for the day was Georgieva and Lombardt in the #1 Singles which went the way of the Ravens with wins of 6-1 and 6-2 in straight sets to cap off the 7-0 road victory.
BY THE NUMBERS
- Winning the sole match of the day for Post University, Julie Merlin and Nina Langenfeld picked up their first Doubles win as a duo this season
- Post University starts 0-4 on the season for the first time since the 2014-15 campaign in which they dropped their first 10 matches in a 1-11 campaign
- In Singles play dating back to last season, Megan Lombardt has lost 14 consecutive matches – Lombardt's last Singles win came against Molloy University last September
- This is the first time in program history in which Post University has lost to Franklin Pierce University after being a perfect 2-0 and never dropping a match to them in either of those matchups
WHO'S NEXT
Post University heads on the road for their next Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference matchup on Saturday afternoon against Chestnut Hill College at 1:00 PM. In the last four matches between the two teams, Post has split with the Griffins having lost both matchups in 2023 after winning the two before that during the 2022 season.
