FORT SMITH, Ark. – Southeastern women's tennis closed out its regular season on the wrong end of an 8-1 loss to No. 50 Arkansas-Fort Smith.
The loss dropped the Savage Storm to 7-13 overall, with the final two matches that were on the schedule for April 14 cancelled due to weather conditions in the state.
With the regular season in the books, SE will eye the Great American Conference tournament where it enters as the No. 3 seed and will open play on April 18 with a 10 a.m. match against Ouachita Baptist.
Against the Lions, however, the Storm got off to a good start with the duo of
Darija Catipovic and
Conchi Assiego picking up an 8-6 win at number one doubles.
UAFS proved to be even tougher at numbers two and three though, handing SE losses at each to lead the match 2-1 after doubles play.
Unfortunately, the momentum carried over for the Lions as the Storm was unable to recover in singles play, despite putting up a valiant effort.
Ilga Racika-Racko dropped a hard fought first set 7-5 at the number one position, but dropped the second 6-1.
Catipovic was tough in both sets at number two, but fell 6-4, 6-4.
Assiego suffered a 6-2, 6-2 loss at number three, while
Elba Haugen bounced back from a 5-7 loss in the first set to win the second 6-1, but dropped the third set in a tiebreaker format 10-6.
Cassaundra Braaten and
Marina Dias each suffered straight set losses at numbers five and six, respectively.
