WILMINGTON, Del. - - The Wilmington University women's tennis team earned a hard-fought regional victory over Adelphi on Monday, 6-1, at the Delcastle Tennis Center.
Despite Adelphi being down a student-athlete which meant only two doubles teams and five singles matches, the Wildcats needed to scratch and claw their way to victory, with four singles matches going to three sets and three of those going to a third set tiebreaker.
While only needing to win one of the two doubles matches to claim the point, the Wildcats took care of business by winning both anyway, as Marley Trifunovic and Alva Norberg won, 6-2, at No. 2, to claim the point. Valentine Ivankovic and Fenna Swaan made it a sweep anyway, winning at No. 1 doubles, 6-3, as well.
Adelphi got on the board with a two-set victory at No. 5 singles, 6-4 and 6-1, cutting the deficit in half, 2-1, after the forfeit at No. 6.
The Wildcats won the first set at No. 1, No. 2, and No. 4 singles, while the Panthers won the opening set at No. 3 singles. All four matches went to a third set though, as both teams battled back and forth.
Kushi Khandoji moved the Wildcats to within a point of the match with a win at No. 4 singles, 6-3, 4-6, and 6-3. The final three matches would need to be finished inside as a storm rolled through, but the short break didn't stop the intense tennis.
The remaining three matches each went to a third set tiebreaker. Valentina Ivankovic was the first to finish the tiebreaker, pulling off the comeback after being down a set, 3-6, 6-2, and 7-6 (7-4) to clinch the match for the Wildcats, 4-1.
Alva Norberg sealed the victory at No. 2 in the third set tiebreaker as well, winning 6-3, 4-6, and 7-6 (7-2) before Jess Purdy won the close match at No. 1, 6-4, 2-6, and 7-6 (7-5), to set the score at 6-1.
Both the Wildcats and Panthers are locks in the NCAA East Regional Tournament by virtue of winning their respective conference tournament. The Wildcats head to Indiana (Pa.) on Friday to take on the Hawks from IUP in one of their final regular season matches. The first serve is set for 4:00 p.m. at the Maple Street Courts.
