MOBILE, Ala. – No. 9-seeded Lindsey Wilson women’s tennis continued their winning form in NAIA Championship play today with a close 4-3 win over No. 8-seed Middle Georgia State at the Mobile Tennis Center.
Anastasiia Ivanchenko got the winning point on the afternoon to send the Blue Raiders into the quarterfinals after coming back from being down 7-5 in set one. Ivanchenko went on tie the match in set two with a 6-2 victory before winning 6-3 sending the Blue Raiders (23-3) to tomorrow’s quarterfinals for the first time since 2018.
It was a tough start to the day for the Blue Raiders after Lindsey Wilson lost the doubles point.
Reshma Challarapu and Salome Sposetti were the first to fall losing 6-1 to Alexia Desmet and Isadora Marcondes. The Knights captured the point with a 6-2 win as Anna Ruiz and Aya El Marrasse defeated Darija Mladenovic and Ivanchenko.
Already down 1-0 the Blue Raiders had to fight back in the singles competition.
Things went from bad to worse as the Knights went 2-0 up after El Marrasse defeated Mladenovic 6-3, 6-4 in the fourth-ranked singles match.
Alexandra Parra was the first Blue Raider to score a point for the team after she defeated Desmet 7-6, 6-3 in the top-ranked singles match.
The Knights took a 3-1 lead as Rebeca Lopez defeated Sposetti 6-4, 6-3. It is the first singles loss of the season for Sposetti.
Lucia Mora got the Blue Raiders back into it as she made it 3-2 with a 2-6, 6-3, 6-1 victory over Marcondes. Mora picks up her 60th career win in the third-seeded match to improve to 60-13 all-time — including 19-5 this season. Mora is now only one win away from matching Candela Castanon’s program-record 61 singles wins.
Challarapu gave the Blue Raiders a fighting chance after she tied the game at 3-3 with a hard fought 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 win over Anna Ruiz.
With the game tied at 3-3, it all came down to the sixth rated singles match between Paula Rodriguez and Ivanchenko who fought back to send the Blue Raiders into the quarterfinals for the first time since 2018.
Lindsey Wilson returns to action at 1 p.m. CT today (Thursday, May 19) in the quarterfinals of the NAIA National Championships against No. 1-seed Georgia Gwinnett.
