Army West Point Athletics
Army West Point
NJIT
Women's Tennis Edged By NJIT, 4-3
March 30, 2012 | Women's Tennis
March 30, 2012
WEST POINT, N.Y. – Army women’s tennis dropped a heartbreaker to NJIT on Friday night at Lichtenberg Tennis Center, as the Highlanders scored a come-from-behind 4-3 win over the Black Knights. The match was the Black Knights’ final nonconference tuneup before beginning Patriot League play tomorrow morning.
Army (12-6) jumped ahead of the Highlanders (16-2) 1-0 after grabbing the doubles point with a pair of victories. Junior co-captain Erin Colton and sophomore Jamila Paul won their sixth match in their last seven tries at No. 2 with an 8-2 decision over Ksenia Kuzmenko and Hannelore MacDonald. Freshman Natalie Allen and sophomore Margaret Iliev collected their first win as a doubles team, knocking off Monika Graff and Carolina Zanotta, 8-6, at No. 3.
Graff evened the contest at 1-1 after defeating Iliev at No. 3 singles, before Paul boosted Army back ahead with a 6-1, 3-6, 6-4 win over Nina Mayevska at No. 2. Paul’s seventh win in a row improved her season mark to 15-7 to rank second on the squad this season.
Sophomore Della Taylor fell at No. 5 before freshman Natalie Allen secured her 20th win of the season with a 6-3, 5-7, 6-1 victory over Jana Luste at No. 4. After Colton lost at No. 1 to Kuzmenko, the match was knotted at 3-3 with Army freshman Elle Taylor and NJIT’s Martina Tripcovic battling at No. 6 to decide the match.
Taylor took the first set 6-4, before Tripcovici won the second by the same margin. The match remained in Tripcovici’s favor, who prevailed 6-2 in the final set to secure the comeback win for NJIT.
The loss to the Highlanders was the first in program history for the Black Knights, who now move to 4-1 all-time against their regional foe.
Army will open its Patriot League schedule tomorrow morning when the Black Knights host Colgate at 9 a.m. The Black Knights will be battling for their 50th consecutive regular season conference win when they take on the Raiders at Lichtenberg Tennis Center.
NJIT 4, Army 3
Doubles
1 Luste/Mayevska (N) def. Taylor/Taylor, 8-4
2 Colton/Paul (A) def. Kuzmenko/MacDonald, 8-2
3 Iliev/Allen (A) def. Graff/Zanotta, 8-6
Singles
1 Ksenia Kuzmenko (N) def. Erin Colton, 3-6, 6-1, 7-6(7-5)
2 Jamila Paul (A) def. Nina Mayevksa, 6-1, 3-6, 6-4
3 Monika Graff (N) def. Margaret Iliev, 6-2, 6-0
4 Natalie Allen (A) def. Jana Luste, 6-3, 5-7, 6-1
5 Carolina Zanotta (N) def. Della Taylor, 1-6, 6-4, 6-2
6 Martina Tripcovici (N) def. Elle Taylor, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2
Order of finish: 3,2,5,4,1, 6
Players Mentioned
