HATTIESBURG, Miss. – For the sixth time since joining the Southern States Athletic Conference, the William Carey women's tennis team secured the regular-season championship with a 5–2 victory over No. 10 Loyola University on Wednesday afternoon.
The win improved the Crusaders to 11–2 on the season, while the Wolf Pack fell to 7–6.
William Carey set the tone early by sweeping all three doubles matches to claim the opening point.
Victoria Vieten and
Isabella Lechuga earned a 6–3 victory at No. 1 doubles, while
JiAn Kang and
Tiffany Chang dominated at No. 2 with a 6–2 win. The duo of
Li-Hsien Lin and
Malak Abarkane completed the sweep with a 6–2 victory at the third position.
The Crusaders carried that momentum into singles play. Vieten extended Carey's lead with a commanding 6–2, 6–1 victory at No. 1. Loyola responded with a point at No. 4 singles, but Kang answered for William Carey with a hard-fought three-set win at No. 2 to push the advantage to 3–1.
Loyola remained in contention with a three-set victory at No. 6, but Lechuga sealed the match at No. 3 singles with a straight-sets win. Chang added a three-set victory at No. 5 to close out the scoring for the Crusaders.
The Lady Crusaders return to action Friday and Saturday, April 10–11, as they travel to Alexandria, Louisiana, to face LSU-Shreveport and LSU-Alexandria.
