Women’s Tennis Falls Short Against Samford

Friday, April 16

Macon, Ga.

3 p.m.

Mercer University

Samford

4/16/2021 8:55:00 PM | Women's Tennis

Box Score

Bears fall to Samford 4-3, on Friday afternoon

By: Travis Rae

MACON, Ga. – The Mercer women's tennis team lost a heartbreaker to Samford, 4-3, on Friday afternoon at the LeRoy Peddy Tennis Center.

The Bulldogs jumped out to a quick lead in doubles. Samford won No. 2 doubles, 6-0, No. 3 doubles, 6-2, and No. 1 doubles 6-2.

Samford extended its lead to 2-0 after a win in a No. 1 singles, 6-1, 6-1.

Trailing 2-0, Mercer battled back, tying the match. Lauren Rich got the Bears their first point with a No. 4 singles win over Cindy Oest, 6-2, 6-2. Mary Courville tied the match at 2-2 with a win of her own. Courville won 6-4, 6-2 at No. 2 singles.

Samford bounced right back taking No. 6 singles and reclaiming the lead. Again Mercer responded by taking the match at No. 3. Alara Hollyfield won her match, defeating Alexis Lopez., 6-3, 7-6 (3).

With the match tied at three the deciding happened in the fifth flight. Lekha Varudandi took the first set over Olvia Jablonski, 6-2. However, Jablonski battled back to win set two and force a third set. Just like the second set, Jablonski came away with the set win and clinched the victory for Samford.

How It Happened
SINGLES (Order: 1, 4, 2, 6, 3, 5)
1. R. Van Rensburg def. Maeva Roquebert, 6-1, 6-1
2. Mary Courville def. Natalia De Ugarte, 6-4, 6-2
3. Alara Hollyfield def. Alexis Lopez, 6-3, 7-6 (3)
4. Lauren Rich def. Cindy Oest, 6-2, 6-2
5. Olivia Jablonski def. Lekha Varudandi, 2-6, 6-0, 6-3
6. Samantha Nanere def. Ashley Popham, 6-3, 6-2

DOUBLES (Order: 2, 1, 3)
1. Alexis Lopez/R. Van Rensburg def. Mary Courville/Maeva Roquebert, 6-2
2. Natalia De Ugarte/Cindy Oest def. Lauren Rich/Alara Hollyfield, 6-0
3. Olivia Jablonski/Samantha Nanere def. Kristin Yordanova/Lekha Varudandi, 6-2

Up Next
The Bears return to action on Sunday when they host Western Carolina at the LeRoy Peddy Tennis Center. First serve is set at 2:30 p.m.

Follow the Bears
For complete coverage of Mercer Tennis, please follow the Bears on social media at @MercerWTennis and @MercerMTennis (Twitter) and /MercerWTennis and /MercerMensTennis (Facebook) or visit the official home of Mercer Athletics at MercerBears.com.