Oct. 6, 2014 Chattanooga, Tenn. - The Western Carolina women's tennis team traveled to Chattanooga, Tenn. over the weekend to compete in the Steve Baras Fall Classic. Senior Megan McLinden led the Catamount contingent by winning her singles draw. She defeated student-athletes from Middle Tennessee, Lipscomb and UAB.

Juniors Erin Maguire and Nicole Nielly took third in their respective draws while junior Shannon Bettiol advanced to the semifinal round of her draw.

"The girls played really well overall this weekend and I'm very happy with the direction everyone's game is headed," said second-year head coach Michaela Kissell-Eddins. "It is a great feeling as a coach to see everyone on your team get better week to week. For Megan (McLinden) to win her bracket is a huge achievement for her individually and for our team and I couldn't be happier for her."

McLinden opened the weekend against Sarah Sediri of Middle Tennessee in the Lookout Mountain Draw. McLinden defeated Sediri 6-4, 6-3 to advance to the next round against Jenny Borck of Lipscomb. Borck took the opening set 6-2 before McLinden rattled off two sets 6-2, 6-1 to take the match and advance to the championship round. Waiting for McLinden in the championship match was Elaine Simon of UAB. Simon had not dropped a set all tournament but it was McLinden who won the day. McLinden took the opening set 6-2 before falling 6-1 in the second set. The final and deciding set 6-3 in favor of the Catamounts.

Both McGuire and freshman Montse Mesalles competed in the Single Mountain Draw. McGuire opened against Courtney Conley of Jacksonville State and took the match 6-3, 6-1. She then moved on to the semifinal round where she fell in a hard fought match with Jessica Silva of Tennessee-Martin. Silva took the first set 6-4 before McGuire won the second set in a tiebreaker 7-6 (2). The deciding set went to Silva 6-2. McGuire then moved to the third place match where she faced Abbie Grant of Kennesaw State. Grant had defeated WCU's Mesalles in the opening round 6-1, 6-0 before falling in the semifinals to a student-athlete from Jacksonville State. McGuire took the third place match 6-2, 6-3. Mesalles advanced to the fifth-place match where she fell to Conley 3-6, 6-4, 1-0 (5).

Nielly competed in the North Shore Draw and opened up against Katherine Evans of Lipscomb. Nielly won the first set 7-5 before cruising in the second set 6-2. She then fell to Amy Lowther of UAB 6-3, 6-2. Her opponent in the third place match had to withdraw due to injury giving Nielly the third place finish.

Bettiol took on Alexandra Mercado from Kennesaw State in the opening round of the Gold Draw. In a back-and-forth match, Bettiol took the opening set 6-4 before dropping the second set 6-3. She closed out the round with a 6-3 victory in the third set. Her next match was against Marcela Jimenez of Eastern Kentucky. Jimenez took the round 6-4, 6-3 sending Bettiol to the third place match against Samantha Caswell of Chattanooga. Bettiol was toe-to-toe with Caswell in the opening set but the Moc took the set 7-5. Caswell then cruised in the second set 6-1.

The final singles competitor for the Catamounts was freshman Elizabeth Ansari who took seventh in the Tennessee River Draw. After dropping her first two matches to Rachele Gazzola of Chattanooga and Gabriella Bueno of Kennesaw State, Ansari took the seventh place match over Isabella Castro of Kennesaw State, 6-1, 6-0. The win was the first of her career at WCU.

All three doubles teams for the Catamounts struggled on the weekend but Ansari and Mesalles were able to win their first match of the competition in the White Draw against Sadey St. Amant and Courtney Conley 8-6 before dropping their final two matches.

Western Carolina returns to fall tournament action Oct. 31-Nov. 2 as the Catamounts travel to the Wofford Invitational.