April 14, 2017 Box Score
OXFORD, Ohio - In its final home match of the regular season, Miami University's women's tennis team fell to the Ball State Cardinals, 4-3, on Friday afternoon.
The doubles point came down to the wire with juniors Anastasiia Vasiukhina and Hannah Shteyn getting the Red & White started on the right foot by claiming a 6-3 win over Audrey Berger and Julia Sbircea. Ball State evened things up at flight three where Isabelle Dohanics and Rosalinda Calderon rallied from a 5-3 deficit to pull off a 7-5 win. That brought it down to court one, where Nelli Ponomareva fought valiantly from a 5-2 deficit to grab a 6-5 lead. However, Carmen Blanco and Peyton Gollhofer fought off three match points and outlasted MU's top tandem in a tiebreaker, 7-6 (8-6) to put Ball State on top 1-0.
Blanco put BSU ahead 2-0 with a straight-set win over Ponomareva (6-3, 6-1), but Shteyn got MU on the board with a strong win over Dohanics (6-2, 7-5).Ball State continued to pull ahead as Berger beat out Vasiukhina (6-3, 7-6 (7-5)), widening the gap to 3-1.
The RedHawks fought back with two wins of its own at no. 3 and 4. On her senior day, Badileanu bested Toni Ormond in straight sets (6-4, 7-5) while Struble outlasted Rebecca Herrington at the fourth position with a 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) win, tying the match up at 3-3.
That left things up to court two, where Shapovalova fought in a constant back and forth against Gollhofer. Shapovalova dropped the first set (6-2), but the Russian-native proved her resilience after overcoming a slow start to grab the second set in an impressive tiebreaker 7-6 (7-3). Shapovalova ultimately fell after a heartbreaking third set, 6-4 that clinched the dual win for the Cardinals.
Singles competition
- Carmen Blanco (BALL) def. Nelli Ponomareva (MIAMI) 6-3, 6-1
- Peyton Gollhofer (BALL) def. A. Shapovalova (MIAMI) 6-2, 6-7 (3-7), 6-4
- Andreea Badileanu (MIAMI) def. Toni Ormond (BALL) 6-4, 7-5
- Emily Struble (MIAMI) def. Rebecca Herrington (BALL) 6-4, 7-6 (7-4)
- Hannah Shteyn (MIAMI) def. Isabelle Dohanics (BALL) 6-2, 7-5
- Audrey Berger (BALL) def. A. Vasiukhina (MIAMI) 6-3, 7-6 (7-5)
Doubles competition
- Carmen Blanco/Peyton Gollhofer (BALL) def. Nelli Ponomareva/A. Shapovalova (MIAMI) 7-6 (8-6)
- A. Vasiukhina/Hannah Shteyn (MIAMI) def. Audrey Berger/Julia Sbircea (BALL) 6-3
- Isabelle Dohanics/Rosalinda Calderon (BALL) def. Andreea Badileanu/Emily Struble (MIAMI) 7-5
