Hawks lose second match of spring season

The IUP women's tennis team suffered its second loss of the spring season Saturday to Concordia at the Ebensburg Tennis Center.

The Clippers are the top team in the East region this year and were coming off their first loss of the season, issued by the PSAC tennis powerhouse Cal U Vulcans.

The 7-2 loss snaps IUP's five-game win streak and puts it at 10-3 overall this season.

Recording the only wins for the Crimson Hawks were freshmen Ranvita Mahto and Tabtip Louhabanjong.

Mahto was the first to prevail, doing so at No. 4 singles over Concordia's Maria Ortiz, 6-3, 6-3.

Louhabanjong, last week's PSAC West Player of the Week, came away with a third-set tiebreaker victory over the Clippers' Yuliya Plevako, 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (7-5).

Plevako ranks sixth in the East region in singles.

Both Ortiz and Plevako were undefeated in singles this season prior to Concordia's 8-1 loss to Cal on Friday.

IUP's Katie Eaton fell short to Concordia's Ola Roberts, who ranks third in the East, 4-6, 6-1.

But the real battle occurred at No. 1 doubles as IUP's team of Louhabanjong/Eaton were matched up against Concordia's Roberts/Juliana Frey, the top doubles tandem in the East region and No. 9 in the nation.

The Crimson Hawks duo fell to 4-1 early on but scratched back to being one point shy of forcing a tiebreaker. However, Roberts/Frey served through a double break point and pulled out the win in dramatic fashion, 8-6.

"I thought we put our best effort in and competed," Eaton said of the doubles loss. "It helps us feel really positive about the matches that are ahead."

Despite the loss, IUP head coach Larry Peterson was able to come away with a positive attitude.

"This is a match that we're using as preparation for more meaningful matches ahead of us like conference rivalries and other matches inside the region," Peterson said. "There's no substitution for pressure; there's no way to simulated it in practice.

"The only way to get better at handling pressure is to deal with it. A match like this is where they're under constant pressure and that's going to help them get better."

Peterson's spirit wasn't the only one to remain high after the loss.

"We're still positive," said Eaton. "We've come away with really good matches under our belt and we don't give up. We're still competitive with these sorts of teams and they're very good. We're really happy to have taken away something like this."

IUP's match against West Liberty, rescheduled for last Friday, was postponed again and will be played at later date to be determined.

The Crimson Hawks return to action Wednesday in Erie against PSAC West foe Mercyhurst.

"We're just hoping to continue with that level of confidence," said Peterson. "If we can approach Mercyhurst with the same approach that we had for Concordia, I think we're going to have opportunities to succeed."