HILTON HEAD, S.C. – The Michigan Tech women's tennis team opened the spring portion of the 2017-18 season on Saturday with a 5-4 win over Belmont Abbey at the Spring Tennis Fest in Hilton Head, South Carolina. The Huskies earned their ninth victory of the season and are scheduled to play four more contests during the annual spring break trip.
"Our team played very well and earned a huge win to open the week," Michigan Tech Head Coach Kevin Kalinec said. "Vicky [Quinde] came through for us in the clutch today by securing the deciding point in singles. She made some good adjustments in the third set which enabled her to battle back for the win. Overall, this was a solid win for our team and all of our players stepped up big for us today."
Due to injury, Michigan Tech (9-7) was shorthanded coming into the match and had to spot Belmont Abbey a point in doubles and two points in singles. Vicky Quinde and Anabella Neri were able to record one of the five points for the Huskies with an 8-5 win over Erica Dorn and Morgan Nguyen in No. 2 doubles. Teagan McNamara and Riley Ellingson secured the other contested point in doubles competition for Belmont Abbey.
Michigan Tech went into the singles portion of the match needing all four points to get a win Saturday and that's exactly how things played out. In the No. 1 spot, Sandra Cvetanovic defeated Teagan McNamara 6-2, 6-4 while Neri and Natalia Parra Alvarez locked up wins in their singles contests as well. Neri defeated Nguyen 6-1, 7-5 in No. 3 singles while Alvarez topped Alex Weber 6-1, 6-2 in No. 4 singles competition.
After defeating Ellingson 6-2 in the first set in No. 2 singles, Quinde stumbled in the second set 2-6 which forced the contest into a tiebreaker. Both players traded point for point in the third until the end when Quinde outlasted Ellingson for the victory which decided the match in Tech's favor Saturday afternoon.
The Huskies will be back on the court Sunday morning when they take on Indiana (PA) at 8:30 a.m. in Hilton Head, S.C.
