BALTIMORE – The deciding doubles match went to a tiebreaker, and three singles matches extended to a third set, on Wednesday afternoon as Villanova University got past host Loyola University Maryland, 6-1, at the McClure Tennis Center.
Olivia Tracey and
Liza Tankimovich teams for a 6-2 win over Emma Brogan and Bella Steffen at No. 2 doubles, but Villanova's Emi Callahan and Maggie Gehrig defeated
Lauren Manwiller and
Christine Richiez, 6-3, to tie the doubles at 1-1. The Wildcats took the point as Valieriia Kornieva and Amanda Rivera-Gonzalez slipped past
Taylor Kuncl and
Addison Kemerer, 7-6 (2) in the third match.
Manwiller leveled the team match at 1-1 with a 6-4, 6-2 victory at No. 2 singles over Callahan, but the Wildcats won all five of the other matches, coming from behind in two of them.
Tracey took the first set from Brogan, 7-5, but the Villanova No. 1 player came back to claim the last two sets, 6-4, 6-4. Richiez also went up a set with a 7-5 win over Gehrig in No. 3, but Gehrig won the last two, 6-3, 6-3, for a win at that flight.
Kovieva took a lead over Tankimovich, 6-1, in the first, but the Greyhounds' freshman evened the score with a win by the same spread in the second. Kornieva then took the No. 4 match with a 6-3 win in the third set.
Steffen and Rivera-Gonzalez each won in straight sets at No. 5 and 6 for the Wildcats. The former beat
Katie Moorhead, 6-2, 6-2, and the latter topped Kuncl, 6-4, 6-4.
