Greenville, S.C. – The Western Carolina women's tennis team went the distance with No. 40 Furman on Tuesday in the Southern Conference opener for both squads, but ultimately fell in a tough decision 5-2 at the Mickel Tennis Center. Two of the doubles matches went to an extra seventh point, while three singles matches were decided in either a third set or a tiebreaker.
The Catamounts battled in doubles play despite conceding the early point. Furman opened the day with a 6-1 victory on the second doubles court before Jade Groen and Chloe Schwarz evened the match with a 7-5 win on court No. 1. Their victory over 58th ranked Sara Snyder and Ellie Schulson was the first WCU doubles victory over a top 100 duo since Jordan Strickland and Jacy Smith downed Chattanooga's 76th ranked pairing of Emma van Hee and Caroline Gibbens back in 2019.
Angela Perez and Madison Schwarz mounted a furious rally on court three, but were unable to pull off the doubles win as they fell 7-5, conceding the initial point of the match to the home team for an early 1-0 lead.
Furman (7-2, 1-0 SoCon) pushed its lead to 3-0 with singles wins on courts No. 4 and No. 5 before WCU freshman Zoe Lui ripped off a straight-set victory on court six to make it a 3-1 affair. The win was the first SoCon victory of her career and her second consecutive singles win. The freshman is one of three Catamounts with a winning singles record on the season as Lui has gone 3-1 over her last four results.
The match ultimately came down to results from the top three seeds as No. 1 Jade Groen, No. 2 Isabella Sambola, and No. 3 Chloe Schwarz each pushed in extra play. The Paladins clinched the victory after a 7-5, 7-6 (7-3) victory on court two before Groen battled back for a three-set win on the top court. The junior Catamount dropped her first set 6-2 before bouncing back with a strong 6-2 set two victory before closing out the day with a 6-4 win. Groen is now 6-2 on the season including a 5-2 mark on the top court. The Dutch-born Groen improved her career mark to 3-0 against the Paladins in singles play.
Chloe Schwarz nearly came away with a come-from-behind victory herself as she forced a third set following a 7-6 (7-5) win in the second set. With the overall head-to-head match already decided, Schwarz and Furman's Marissa Pennings played a 10-point tiebreaker, which the latter won 1-0, edging the Schwarz, 10-8.
Up Next for The Catamounts:
WCU (5-6, 0-1 SoCon) pauses SoCon play for their next six outings as the Catamounts step back out of conference to face mountain-rival UNC Asheville (Feb. 28) and Kennesaw State (March 2) to close out the week. WCU then heads to Orlando, Fla. for a spring break tournament as it battles FDU (March 10), Lamar (March 12), and Fairfield (March 13) before returning home to host NC A&T on March 21.
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