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CULLOWHEE, N.C. - For the seventh time this season the Western Carolina women's tennis team had a match decided by the score of 4-3 and for the fourth time WCU came out on the losing end as the Spartans of UNCG topped the Catamounts Saturday afternoon at the Catamount Athletic Complex. Three of the six singles matches went to third sets including the match clinching No. 1 singles match.

"Today was definitely disappointing," said head coach Michaela Kissell-Eddins. "We needed to win one of the last three singles matches on court and we came up short in each one. A lot of credit goes to UNCG for hanging tough in the big moments, but a lot of the fault also goes to us for allowing the situation to affect our level. If we can ever put all the pieces of the puzzle together on the same day we are going to be very dangerous, but until then we are going to have a lot of heart breaks like this. Tomorrow is not going to be any easier, Gardner-Webb is actually probably a tougher opponent this year, so we will get to see how we respond after a loss like this."

The Catamounts picked up an early 1-0 lead after winning both No. 1 and No. 2 doubles. Freshmen Lauren McCall and Jordan Strickland opened the action with a 6-2 victory at No. 2 as junior Savannah Taranto and sophomore Alexa Webb clinched the point with a 6-2 win at No. 1. The Spartans pulled off a 7-5 victory at No. 3 but it was too late.

Singles began with the Spartans tying the match at one with a 6-3, 6-1 win at No. 2. WCU would retake a slim one point lead as McCall won at No. 6, 3-6, 6-1, 6-0. The victory was McCall's 10th singles win of the season giving WCU five student-athletes with double-digit victories which is a program record for a single season.

WCU extended its lead to 3-1 as junior Elizabeth Ansari won her 23rd career match to move into a tie for 10th for career singles wins at WCU. Ansari won her No. 5 singles match with a 6-2, 6-4 victory.

UNCG would win the next three matches including at No. 3, No. 4 and No. 1 to clinch the match. The No. 1 match which featured WCU's Strickland went to three sets as Strickland won the first set 6-4 before dropping the second set in a tiebreaker, 7-6 (2). The third set was tight as well as Strickland fought off a pair of match points to tie the set at five but UNCG's Masey DeMoss won the final two games to take a 7-5 victory.

The win gives UNCG a 3-15 overall record and a 2-3 Southern Conference mark. WCU dropped to 11-8 overall and 0-4 in league play.