WINGATE, N.C. – In battle of two undefeated South Atlantic Conference rivals, No. 50 Queens University of Charlotte fell by the narrow final of 5-4 at No. 33 Wingate University on Wednesday, March 22.
Queens (6-2, 4-1) was unable to overcome a 2-1 deficit in doubles play to upset the highly regarded Bulldogs (9-1, 6-0) in battle for conference and in-region supremacy. All three matches in doubles competition were tight as QU's No. 3 team of
Caroline Nielsen and
Hannah Lehfeldt got the team's lone point, 8-5.
While only earning one point in doubles, the Royals came painfully close to winning outright. Queens' best spot to earn they key second point in doubles came in the top flight as
Marta Gonzalez and
Melissa Laing dropped a narrow 8-6 decision. Even the second flight match for
Carlotta Nassi and
Ana Bolson was a close 8-5 affair.
Queens still came really close to winning the match anyways as the dual moved to singles. The key match in singles ended up at the fifth flight where
Hannah Lehfeldt lost an insanely close 7-5, 3-6, 2-6 match to WU's Laya Tanik.
Queens'
Carlotta Nassi won a thrilling three-set (7-5, 1-6, 6-2) match over Wingate's Claudia De Andreis in the top flight. While
Marta Gonzalez (6-2, 6-4) and
Caroline Nielsen (6-4, 6-1) won fairly comfortably at No. 2 and No. 4, respectively.
The Royals close out the three-match road trip with a Saturday visit to Anderson University.
Doubles
1. Oroma Womeodu/Maria Garcia (WU) def.
Marta Gonzalez/
Melissa Laing (QUWTN) 8-6
2. Andrea Ternera/Sydney Homan (WU) def.
Carlotta Nassi/
Ana Bolson (QUWTN) 8-5
3.
Caroline Nielsen/
Hannah Lehfeldt (QUWTN) def. Claudia De Andreis/Layla Tanik (WU) 8-5
Singles
1.
Carlotta Nassi (QUWTN) def. Claudia De Andreis (WU) 7-5, 1-6, 6-2
2.
Marta Gonzalez (QUWTN) def. Andrea Ternera (WU) 6-2, 6-4
3. Elena Pellegrini (WU) def.
Melissa Laing (QUWTN) 6-1, 6-3
4.
Caroline Nielsen (QUWTN) def. Oroma Womeodu (WU) 6-4, 6-1
5. Layla Tanik (WU) def.
Hannah Lehfeldt (QUWTN) 5-7, 6-3, 6-2
6. Sydney Homan (WU) def.
Isabel Fornies (QUWTN) 6-1, 7-6
