After helping the Seattle University women’s tennis team win the doubles point, Whitney Cheng (Seattle, Wash.) took the third set in her singles match to give SeattleU a 4-3 victory over Portland State Sunday afternoon at the Stott Center in the opening dual match of the spring season for the reborn tennis program.
Placed in the number four singles slot, Cheng won the first set over Anya Dalkin, 6-2, with Dalkin earning the second set by the same score. With the other matches completed and the team score tied, 3-3, Cheng gave SeattleU its first dual match victory in seven years by taking the third set, 6-3.
With Seattle University winning the third doubles slot by default, it needed to win just one of the other two doubles sets to earn the first point of the match. In the number two doubles slot, Cheng and Ariel Ohno (Kent, Wash.) defeated Alyssa Ferry and Dalkin, 8-6, to clinch the point for the Redhawks. In the number one doubles match, Nicole Fleckenstein (Seattle, Wash.) and Audree Jenks (Albuquerque, N.M.) lost in a tiebreaker to Molly Knox and Caitlin Stocking, 9-8 (7-3).
From the fifth singles slot, Katrina Schwab (Spokane, Wash.) also picked up a victory in the singles for SeattleU, defeating Kylea Gleason in straight sets (6-3, 6-0). Because it had only five active players, Portland State was forced to default the match in the sixth singles slot, giving SeattleU another point.
Playing in the number one position, Ohno lost to Knox (6-3, 6-2), while Jenks fell to Ferry in the number two slot (6-1, 6-3) and Fleckenstein lost to Stocking in the number three position (6-3, 6-2).
Seattle University (1-0) returns to action Friday, Jan. 30, for a dual meet against Eastern Washington at the Amy Yee Tennis Club beginning at 12 p.m. These two teams will meet again Sunday, Feb. 15, with Portland State again hosting the contest.
Singles: 1. Molly Knox (PSU) def. Ariel Ohno (SU) 6-3,6-2 2. Alyssa Ferry (PSU) def Audree Jenks (SU) 6-1, 6-3 3. Caitlin Stocking (PSU) def Nicole Fleckenstein (SU) 6-3, 6-2 4. Whitney Cheng (SU) def Anya Dalkin (PSU) 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 5. Katrina Schwab (SU) def Kylea Gleason (PSU) 6-3, 6-0 6. Seattle U. by default Doubles: (for one point) 1. Knox/Stocking (PSU) def Fleckenstein/Jenks (SU) 9-8 (TB 7-3) 2. Cheng/Ohno (SU) def Ferry/Dalkin (PSU) 8-6 3. SU by default Final Score: SU 4, PSU 3