Eagles Tennis Rallies Behind Freshmen for 4-3 Win Over Lamar

Beaumont, Texas (EMUEagles.com) — The Eastern Michigan University tennis team rallied from down 3-0 against Lamar University to win 4-3 over the Cardinals Thursday, Feb. 22, getting crucial victories from the freshmen duo of Giuliana Ansaloni (Bergamo, Italy-Centro Studi Leonardo Da Vinci) and Natalia Regalado (Alicante, Spain-IES Figueras Racheco) at No. 3 and 5 singles, respectively, to secure the win at the Beaumont Municipal Tennis Center.

   Sticking with the theme for this spring break trip, Thursday's match was delayed for over an hour due to a wet indoor court. The match moved outside and the Eagles quickly fell in the doubles point, before Lamar made it a 3-0 lead with convincing wins at No. 2 and No. 4 singles, setting the stage for Eastern's comeback.

   "We didn't do a good job of managing our energy and intensity during the delayed start and were caught completely flatfooted in the doubles," said head coach Jayson Wiseman. "It was a very frustrating return to a trend of slow starts from earlier this spring. Unfortunately, this time we didn't pick it up much from there as we lost four of six first sets in singles."

   Senior Alejandra Barcelo Almoyna (Alicante, Spain-IES Figueras Racheco) got the Green and White back on the right track, coming away with a 6-2, 7-5 win at No. 6 singles for Eastern's first point of the match. Fellow senior Ani Gogvadze (Tbilisi, Georgia-Khikhani) followed suit with a comeback win at No. 1, 0-6, 6-0, 6-3. With no room for error, Ansaloni pulled out a 6-7, 7-5, 6-2 win at the No. 3 spot to even the match at 3-3. Needing the win at No. 5 for the match, Regalado went to the limit to get the victory for the Eagles. The freshman won the first set 6-4, and after falling in the second 5-7, secured EMU's seventh win of the season with a 7-5 win in the third.

   "Alejandra did a great job of taking care of her No. 6 spot in straight sets and Ani showed great mental toughness to bounce back and win after losing the first set 6-0," said Wiseman. "Our freshmen came up big with the match on their shoulders for the first time. It was a proud moment for all of us for them to come through in that clutch situation!"

   EMU wraps up its spring break road trip Friday, Feb. 23, with a pair of matches against Trinity University and the University of Texas San Antonio.

Singles
1. Ani Gogvadze (EMU) def. Jasmin Buchta (LU), 0-6, 6-0, 6-3
2. Sanja Jolic (LU) def. Marie Mayerova (EMU) 6-2, 6-4
3. Giuliana Ansaloni (EMU) def. Kaela Di Giulio (LU) 6-7, 7-5, 6-2
4. Amelie Vossgaetter (LU) def. Andrea Martinovska (EMU) 6-1, 7-5
5. Natalia Regalado (EMU) def. Milena Belianovich (LU) 6-4, 5-7, 7-5
6. Alejandra Barcelo Almoyna (EMU) def. Natalia Molina (LU) 6-2, 6-5

Doubles
1. Marie Mayerova/Giuliana Ansaloni (EMU) vs. Jasmin Buchta/Natalia Molina (LU), 4-4 unfinished
2. Amelie Vossgaetter/Kaela Di Giulio (LU) def. Ani Gogvadze/Andrea Martinovska (EMU), 6-2
3. Sanja Jolic/Milena Belianovich (LU) def. Alejandra Barcelo Almoyna/Natalia Regalado (EMU), 6-3

Eagles Tennis Rallies Behind Freshmen for 4-3 Win Over Lamar

Next Event

Team Stats

Players Mentioned

Giuliana Ansaloni

Alejandra Barcelo Almoyna

Ani Gogvadze

Andrea Martinovska

Marie Mayerova

Natalia Regalado

Eastern Michigan Athletics