MOBILE, Ala. – The Embry-Riddle women's tennis team put forward a solid effort in its first ever national final, but in the end, they were unable to get by top seed Auburn Montgomery, falling 5-2 to the Warhawks in the title match of the 2012 NAIA Women's Tennis National Championship. The Warhawks won two doubles and three singles matches to claim their 12th national title in women's tennis and finish at 26-2 overall. One of only two schools still playing on the final day of 2012, ERAU closed out the season with a 23-4 overall record.
“I thought we had a slow start overall in doubles,” ERAU Head Coach Dave Paschal said. “They jumped on us at No. 1 and No. 3 and it was hard to get back. We did exactly what we wanted to in singles and that was to put pressure on them to win matches. The girls played hard and we gave ourselves a chance. I'm very proud of our effort today.”
The Warhawks got the first point of the day at No. 3 doubles as Morgane Zowczak and Kveto Hajkova downed
Kristina Marova and
Paola Montero 8-0. AUM extended its advantage to 2-0 when Ana Veselnovic and Jade Curtis topped
Yi Ching Chen and
Josefine Strom 8-1 at the top doubles spot.
The Eagles' first point of the match came at the second doubles spot where
Rocio Frej Vitalle and
Ekaterina Kamendova sprinted out to a 6-1 lead on the way to an 8-2 win.
Showing no ill effects from playing a four-hour match on Friday, Kamendova wasted little time in dispatching Tiffany William 6-0, 6-0 in less than an hour at No. 3 singles to level the team score at 2-2.
The Warhawks reclaimed a two-point advantage when Zowczak held off Marova 6-3, 6-3 on court four and Hajkova topped Strom 6-0, 6-3 at the fifth spot.
The ERAU players who were not in action split time between courts one, two and six in an effort to rally their teammates. On court six, Montero notched an easy 6-1 win over Caro in the first set, but the AUM senior came back to take the second 6-2 and force a third set. The match at No. 2 singles saw Curtis top Frej Vitalle 6-1, but the ERAU senior battled back to take the second 6-4 and send the match into a third set.
Top-ranked Ana Veselnovic got the better of sixth-ranked Chen at the start, taking the first set 6-2, but Chen held her ground against the AUM senior and matched her service game for service game in the second, resulting in a 5-5 tie.
Montero also played Caro to a tie in the third set, but back on court two, Frej Vitalle could not get past Curtis and the AUM sophomore clinched Warhawk win with a 6-1 decision in the third.
Despite the loss, the 2012 campaign will go down as one of the best in program history. The Eagles' 2012 accomplishments include a perfect 7-0 conference run, a program record for single-season wins (23) and the program's first ever trip to the NAIA National Championship title match.
“This was obviously the best season in program history,” Paschal concluded. “We had the most wins in a single season at Embry-Riddle and totally dominated the conference this year. To get to the finals of the national tournament is a testament to our senior class. Our four seniors put Embry-Riddle women's tennis on the map. We're sad to see them leave, but I was proud to see them battling out there for each other and I'm proud of the strong finish they had to their careers.”
