Women’s tennis opens season on new courts

The Lady Flames tennis team played East Carolina on the Hershey Tennis Courts March 1 at 7 p.m.

In their first home match of the season, the Lady Flames tied with the Lady Pirates in singles points, 3-3. The Lady Pirates secured the doubles points defeating Liberty overall, 4-3. Tuesday was the team’s ninth match of the season, bringing its record to 4-5.

“I was very proud of our girls as they played very hard,” head coach Christopher Johnson said. “(I) give a lot of credit to East Carolina for taking this one as it was very close. We have a very young team, and they are getting better every week. I look forward to watching their progress as we move toward tournament time.”

The match started off with the doubles games. Senior Jordan Jenkins and freshman Cameron Richard, playing at the No. 1 doubles position, had the only doubles win for Liberty. The duo defeated East Carolina’s Jessica Cook and Audrey LePottier 8-3.

“I felt like Jordan and I played well in our doubles match and it was encouraging to get a win, especially on our home courts,” Richard said.

Junior Carol Lobel and freshman Alexandra Sheeran played No. 2 doubles, losing 8-4.

“It was difficult to deal with the pressure of the first home match and with all the people who came to support us,” Lobel said. “I started off, but I lost confidence in my shots. The doubles match is shorter, so we did not have enough time to come back.”

Playing at No. 3 doubles, senior Hannah Fick and freshman Rebekah Jenkins lost a close 8-6 game that was the deciding game for the doubles point.

“We got a slow start in doubles, and that cost us the match,” Sheeran said.

Being down one point, the Lady Flames turned to the singles games, hoping to take the lead. No. 3 and No. 4 singles were quick, straight-set victories for East Carolina. Carolina’s Natalie Collins defeated Richard 6-2 and 7-5 at No. 3 singles and Sheeran lost to Carolina’s LePottier in No. 4 singles, 7-5 and 6-4.

Jordan Jenkins fiercely combated Liberty’s point deficit of 0-3 by defeating Cook 6-3, 3-6 and 6-4 in their No. 1 singles game. Freshman Annisha Domenech followed suit and gave Liberty another point by defeating Lady Pirate Manon Bissat in the No. 6 singles game. Domenech started slowly, losing her first set 1-6but recovered and was victorious in her second two sets, 6-0 and 6-1.

“I’m really proud of how I played,” Domenech said. “I never gave up.”

Lobel tied the match for Liberty at 3-3 by winning her No. 5 singles match against Carolina’s Nena Wanko, 3-6, 6-4 and 6-3.

In the deciding match of the day, playing No. 2 singles, Lady Flames senior Hannah Fick played Carolina’s Petra Vogel. Fick won the opening set 3-6, but Vogel pulled out victories in the final two sets, 6-2 and 6-1.

The Lady Flames will continue their season Friday, March 11 in its second Big South match up. They will play Presbyterian College on the Liberty home courts.

“It is a very important match for us, since it is our second conference match and we need a win after our loss against Winthrop in our first conference match,” Lobel said. “We are working on our weaknesses to correct some mistakes from the last matches.”