ROCK HILL, S.C. – The Presbyterian College women's tennis team battled in its first-ever Big South Conference Women's Tennis Championship but could not overcome No. 7 Radford in the opening round at Winthrop, falling 4-2.
PC ends the season at 7-17. Radford improves to 7-15 and will play No. 2 Charleston Southern on Thursday at 12:30 p.m.
The Blue Hose delivered an intense season finale. Lucia Leahy (Charlotte, N.C.) and Caroline deLoach (Columbia, S.C.) earned singles wins to make the score 3-2 in favor of the Highlanders. With PC needing two wins to take the match, Greer Ransom (Athens, Ga.) and Patricia Alves (Campinas, Brazil) forced third sets before Radford edged PC at No. 1.
Leahy cruised to a win at the fifth flight, downing Taylor Fay in a 6-1, 6-1 verdict. The win gave Leahy her eighth of the season, a career-best for the junior. The result pulled PC even, 1-1.
Radford used a pair of wins at the fourth and sixth flights to go ahead, 3-1. deLoach then cut the Highlanders' lead in half as deLoach earned her 11th win of the season in a 6-2, 6-4 defeat of Hana Babic at the second flight. The sophomore ends the season as the team's leader in singles victories.
Crucial second sets from Ransom and Alves pushed the top two flights into third sets. Alves fought back to a 6-3 second-set win over Gemma Valls and Ransom downed Taylor Newman in the second flight as well, 6-4.
Both players put up tough battles. Ransom battled back from 5-2 before Newman sealed the day's result in a 6-3 third-set win.
In doubles action, Lindsay Krause (Roswell, Ga.) and Courtney Gardiner (Powder Springs, Ga.) dropped a tough No. 3 tilt, 8-6 , while deLoach and Haley Elliott (Greenville, S.C.) led before the match was abandoned, 6-5.
The Blue Hose graduate only one senior in Krause and will return seven of its eight players for 2013-14.
Singles competition
1. NEWMAN, Taylor (RAD) def. RANSOM, Greer (PCW) 0-6, 6-4, 6-3
2. VALLS, Gemma (RAD) vs. ALVES, Patricia (PCW) 2-6, 6-3, unfinished
3. deLOACH, Caroline (PCW) def. BABIC, Hana (RAD) 6-2, 6-4
4. NAPOLITANO, Meg (RAD) def. KRAUSE, Lindsay (PCW) 6-0, 6-1
5. LEAHY, Lucia (PCW) def. FAY, Taylor (RAD) 6-1, 6-1
6. MICHAEL, Allison (RAD) def. ELLIOTT, Haley (PCW) 6-4, 6-4
Doubles competition
1. NEWMAN, Taylor/NAPOLITANO, Meg (RAD) def. RANSOM, Greer/ALVES, Patricia (PCW) 8-3
2. MICHAEL, Allison/BABIC, Hana (RAD) vs. ELLIOTT, Haley/deLOACH, Caroline (PCW) 5-6, unfinished
3. FAY, Taylor/VALLS, Gemma (RAD) def. GARDINER, Courtney/KRAUSE, Lindsay (PCW) 8-6
