A University of Memphis tennis squad lost for the second time in as many days in Little Rock, Ark., Wednesday, with the women’s team dropping its match, 5-2, to end its regular season.
Ironically, the Tiger men’s team had a six-game winning streak snapped Tuesday by Arkansas-Little Rock, losing by the same 5-2 score.
On Wednesday, the Lady Tigers (5-13) dropped the doubles point to begin play, losing at the No. 1 and No. 3 spots. Junior Sumitra Rao and senior Annika Westberg were the only doubles team to win Wednesday as they beat UALR’s Cecilia Poveda and Montserrat Flores, 8-4.
Memphis’ Monica Gonzalez-Gordo and Sabrina Lindemann, who were 15-1 in doubles play this season, lost, 8-5, to the Trojans’ Julieta Lillo and Layla Tohme while sophomore Rebecca Garner and senior Laura Hughes were defeated, 8-2, by Carmen Torres and Vanessa Nieto.
On the singles side, the Lady Tigers tied the score at 2-2 when Gonzalez-Gordo won, 6-0, 6-1, over Tohme at No. 2 singles and Rao won, 6-4, 4-6, (10-5), in a tiebreaker at the No. 3 spot.
But Arkansas-Little Rock (15-8) won the final three matches of the day, beating Westberg, Garner and Hughes in straight sets.
The match was the Lady Tigers’ last before heading to Fort Worth, Texas, next weekend for the Conference USA Tournament. The 12-team tourney is single elimination with consolation brackets. Each match will consist of three doubles and six singles.
