After coming off of their first 10 win season in nine years, the Longwood women’s tennis team traveled to Lynchburg, Va. to face Radford University on April 15 in the first round of the Big South Women’s Tennis Championship. Longwood entered the match as the No. 8 seed, having already beaten No. 9 seed Radford earlier this season, 4-3 on Feb. 27. The Lancers were hoping to capture the win against Radford for the second time and continue on in the tournament, but the match ended in a 4-3 loss for Longwood.
The Lancers went down 3-1, after a comeback from Radford in doubles. It wasn’t until Longwood senior Maria Coronel defeated Radford’s Karlie Pope, 6-3, 6-3, to give the Lancers momentum, closing the gap to 3-2. Longwood freshman Isis Gill-Reid continued the comeback and won her No. 3 singles match against Radford redshirt freshman Meili Martin, 1-6, 6-3, 6-4.
The Lancers and Highlanders played close the entire match, and were tied 3-3 going into the final set between Longwood’s junior Paloma Alatorre and Radford’s senior Grace Sarver. After Sarver won the first set 6-3, Alatorre came back and won the second set 4-6. This brought them into the third and final set, where Sarver gained momentum and took a 6-2 victory.
"We felt very strong about the strength of our ladder. We fought hard, but we got dealt a blow at the end. I take full responsibility for us not advancing. These ladies fought hard and were loyal to the cause of our program," said interim head coach Rich Stoneman on the official Longwood Lancer website.
Despite the loss, the Lancers finished the season with a 10-14 overall record. This was a large accomplishment for the program, especially due to the switch of coaches during the middle of season. Stoneman was very proud of our Longwood women’s tennis team that he acquired half way through the season.
"Whoever takes over this group is one lucky coach," Stoneman said on the official Longwood athletics website. "This is a great team that will fight for you. I appreciate everything they've done for me. These ladies were Lancer Strong in every sense of that phrase."