Final Stats

Raleigh, N.C. - The Western Carolina women's tennis team returned to action Saturday morning after opening their season Friday afternoon with a victory over North Carolina A&T. The Catamounts traveled over to Raleigh, N.C., to face ACC foe North Carolina State. The Wolfpack is led by nationally-ranked singles player Joanna Nalborska. Senior Megan McLinden drew the tough task of facing the 66th-ranked singles player in the NCAA and put up a strong fight falling 6-0, 6-4. The match would not go WCU's way as the Wolfpack took a 7-0 victory.

WCU would not go down easy though as they battled in every single match. In doubles McLinden and junior Shannon Bettiol fell in the top spot 6-0, junior Nicole Nielly and freshman Elizabeth Ansari fell in the No. 2 match 6-1 and junior Erin Maguire and freshman Montse Mesalles dropped the No. 3 match 6-2.

"I couldn't be more pleased than I am about our effort today," said head coach Michaela Kissell-Eddins. "N.C. State is a great team of competitors and each point, game, and set that we won we had to really play our best game to do it. There are some things in our games we definitely need to still sharpen, but I think our girls leave this match with a lot of pride and motivation to hit the practice courts on Monday. This team has come so far since the beginning of this year and I'm excited to see how much further we can progress this semester."

The singles matches featured a number of tough battles. Bettiol won the opening set of the No. 2 singles match 6-3 over Liza Fieldsend. Fieldsend came back to take the second set 6-2 before topping Bettiol in the third and deciding set 6-4.

Maguire also battled till the end as she fell in the No. 5 singles match 6-3, 7-6. The tiebreaker was back-and-forth with N.C. State's Tayla Stenta pulling out the win 8-6. Nielly went toe-to-toe with Elisha Hande in the No.3 singles match. Hande pulled out the close victory 7-5, 6-3.

WCU's two freshmen, Ansari and Mesalles, were both blanked in their first sets 6-0 but they both came back in the second sets to pick up a few game wins. Ansari fell 6-0, 6-2 at No. 4 and Mesalles was defeated 6-0, 6-3 at No. 6.

The Catamounts will be back in action a week from today, Feb. 7 at mountain rival UNC Asheville. The match is scheduled to begin at 3 pm.