Spartanburg, S.C. – Western Carolina junior Jade Groen capped off an unblemished season in Southern Conference singles play on Saturday afternoon, but the Catamounts dropped their regular-season finale 5-2 against Wofford at the Reeves Tennis Center.

The Catamounts claimed the early doubles point but were unable to find a path to victory in the final regular-season match, dropping two straight to complete the schedule after winning eight straight.

Wofford (16-3, 5-2 SoCon) used the victory to secure the third seed in next week's SoCon Women's Tennis Championship in Chattanooga, Tenn. The Catamounts (14-9, 4-3 SoCon) will compete as the fourth seed, which remains an all-time best for the program despite the loss. WCU faces No. 5 Mercer in game two at 1 p.m. on Thursday, April 17, while Wofford gets sixth-seeded Chattanooga at approximately 3 p.m.

Shifting the lineup early, the pairings of Madison Schwarz & Jade Groen and Angela Perez & Hokualohi Lui clinched the doubles point with wins on courts one and three, respectively. Groen and Schwarz are now 6-2 as a duo this season following their 6-1 victory, while Lui and Perez are a perfect 2-0 when competing together after their 6-4 win.  

Groen put the finishing touches on her perfect SoCon singles regular season in dramatic fashion, battling Wofford's top-seeded Breda Brennan through a tightly contested first set. Pushed to her first tiebreaker since a spring break matchup with Lamar (March 12), Groen claimed a 7-6 (9-7) first-set win before rolling through the second for a 6-0 win. The junior has four shutout second sets this season and is now 16-2 in solo play overall and 15-2 on the top court.  

Isabella Sambola nearly came away with a singles win, taking the first set against Brianna Wilbur at No. 2 singles. However, after being blanked 6-0 in the opening set, Wilbur rallied in the second for a 6-1 win before securing the victory with a 7-5 decision in the third.  

Up Next for the Catamounts:

After securing its highest seeding at the Southern Conference tournament in program history, the WCU tennis team is set to battle the fifth-seeded Mercer Bears to open play in Chattanooga next Thursday, April 17 at 1 p.m. The Catamounts took the regular season meeting 5-2 in Macon, Ga., back on April 5.

The winner of Thursday's quarterfinal match will face the winner of #1 Furman vs. #8 UNCG at 2 p.m. on Friday, April 18.  WCU defeated UNCG 6-1 in Cullowhee on March 29, and faced Furman way back in February to open league play, falling in Greenville, S.C., 5-2.