The West Virginia State and University of Charleston women's tennis teams were both undefeated when the teams met in Institute Wednesday afternoon in a key Mountain East Conference match-up.
The Yellow Jackets got on the board first with sophomore
Laura Isbey and freshman
Marta Yevstakhevych winning 8-3 at first doubles. Junior
Nina Dillwald and freshman
Kierstin Hensley dropped a tough 8-6 decision at second doubles leaving the score knotted at 1-1.
Both teams and a crowd of about 50 then focused their attention on third doubles. The WVSU tandem of freshman
Lindsay Goff and sophomore
Kayla McKnight eventually lost in a 9-7 tiebreaker as the visitors took a 2-1 advantage into singles play.
The Jackets quickly evened the count at 2-2 when Hensley rolled to a 6-1, 6-0 win at second singles. But Charleston countered with a 6-4, 6-3 win at third singles to retake the lead at 3-2.
The rest of the day belonged to the Yellow Jackets though as first Isbey completed a thrilling, three set win at first singles followed by McKnight winning at five, Goff then won at six to clinch to team win, and finally, Dillwald closed out the scoring with a victory at #4.
The Golden Eagles dropped to 4-1 on the season while WVSU improved to 5-0 and kept its now 48 match winning streak against conference opponents intact.
The Yellow Jackets are on the road for a neutral site match in Ashland against Bellarmine Saturday and then host their final home match of the fall Wednesday when Cal-Pa, ranked #26 nationally, visits Institute for a 4 p.m. match.
WVSU then travels to Buckhannon on Thursday, October 13 for a match-up with currently undefeated West Virginia Wesleyan and a chance to clinch the Jackets fifth straight league crown.
The Jackets wrap-up their season on Sunday, October 16, with a match at UVa-Wise.
The MEC tournament is set for October 21-23 at Marshall University.
