First opponent was Barton College of Kansas who came in ranked #12 nationally. The match was moved from 10am to 12 noon because of the 28 degrees weather. The lady lions jumped out ahead in the doubles winning lines 2 and 3 respectfully. Line 2 doubles were Yana Goranova / Lisa Guitton winning by the score of 6-2. Line 3 were Laura Rincon-Arias / Carolina Fabbri winning by the score of 6-0. Line 1 lost their match 2-6 and that was Birthe Nulens / Katerina Matusikova.
15 minute break and singles would start. First off for the lady lions was Carolina Fabbri who won her match 6-0;6-1. Followed by Laura Rincon-Arias who won her match 6-0;6-0. Next off was Yana Goranova who won her match by the score 6-2;6-4. Next off was line 1 singles Birthe Nulens (Belgium) for NCTC and she lost her hard fought match 3-6;3-6. Off next would be line 3 singles Katerina Matusikova (Czech Republic ) for the lady lions and she won 6-4; 6-4. Then finally in the longest match of the day was line 4 Lisa Guitton (France) for the lions and she lost a very tough match in a first set tie-breaker 6-7; and then 2-6 in the second set.
Final score of the match was 6-3 in favored of the Lady Lions. It was a great start of the season said "coach Waddell" dealing with first match jitters and the very cold weather.
Saturday's morning match was against Cowley College also of Kansas with the temperatures hovering just above the 32 degree mark. Cowley College came in ranked # 8 nationally and proved to be very tough in the doubles but the lady lions won two of the three matches. Line 1 dual of Nulens and Matusikova played the best match of their young careers (both being freshmen) by the score of 8-3. Next off was line 2 duo of Goranova / Guitton as they won their match by the score 8-6. We got off to a slow start said "coach Waddell" but once we got ahead 4-3 we stayed ahead the rest of the match. Very well played on both sides. Line 3 team of Arias / Fabbri just couldn't find the right rhythm from the start of the match. Arias had several severe blisters on her foot which took away her movement and the team togetherness on certain points. Still came away with a 2-1 team lead after the doubles.
All six singles line went on at the same time as very small ice pellets started to fall to be followed by an all-day rain and the match had to be halted at that point. The lady lions were ahead in 4 of the 5 lines that had started and line 6 singles (Yashleen Kheterpal) hadn't yet started.
Overall a good start playing two nationally ranked teams and missing out on the afternoon match against powerful St. Petersburg College of Florida who came in ranked # 7 nationally. The lady lions will be in action this weekend again in Plano, Texas with matches on Friday and Saturday.