WILMINGTON, Del. - - It came down to the last match, but No. 42 St. Thomas Aquinas defeated the No. 12 Wilmington University women's tennis team, 4-3, on Sunday afternoon at the Delcastle Tennis Center.
After winning the doubles point, the Wildcats (14-3) dropped four of the six singles matches to fall to the Spartans (11-4) in a key East Region matchup.
Siana MacDonald and Liza Sylka started the match with a 6-3 win at No. 2 doubles. It came down to Ines Oliveira and Gloria Barcaro at No. 3 doubles, and they pulled out the close victory in a tiebreak, 7-6 (8-6), to win the doubles point.
Siana MacDonald kept rolling into the singles match, winning at No. 1 singles, 6-2 and 6-4, to give the Wildcats a 2-0 lead. The Spartans came back to tie the match, 2-2, with wins at No. 2 and No. 6 singles, but then Ming-Fu Chen brought the Wildcats to within a point of the match, winning, 6-4 and 6-2 at No. 4 singles.
Molly Carlberg dropped a second set tiebreaker at No. 3 singles as the Spartans tied the match, 3-3. Kushi Khandoji took the first set at No. 5 singles, 7-6, but then lost the second set, 6-0, to set up a deciding third set. Mar Caneves Bufi took the third set, 6-3, to win at No. 5 singles and give the Spartans the victory, 4-3.
The Wildcats return to action next Sunday afternoon, welcoming Indiana (Pa.) to the Delcastle Tennis Center for a 1:00 p.m. first serve.