Tiffin University Women's Tennis was met by an angry wolf pack when they took on the Northwood Timberwolves on Saturday afternoon, falling 6-3.
Tiffin has had a different looking lineup this year due to several factors including injuries amongst other things and have had to move players around to fill holes in the lineup. Doubles didn't go the Dragons' way as the lone victory for TU was the 5th ranked team in the region in Nelhage / Kaye as they took down Arnez-Mercado/Aniskina in an 8-5 decision. TU dropped the other two doubles matches by scores of 8-2 and 8-5 respectively. Musina / Sim struggled to attack the Timberwolves 2nd doubles team while Avram and Brozovich couldn't close out the points they needed to come back in the match.
Singles was a heartbreaker for the Dragons as they had opportunities to win the match at several spots, but couldn't come up with the shots to take out Northwood. Nelhage started off strong with a 7-6, 6-4 dispatching of Carol Arnez-Mercado. Nelhage has had stiffer competition in recent years, but has certainly stood the tests that other teams have thrown at her. Emily Sim, a freshman, came up big for the Dragons with a 6-4, 6-2 thrashing of Olesia Riabchuk. Sim has been playing well for the Dragons and looks to be a promising member for the Dragons in the future.
The Dragons began to falter when two 3 set matches didn't go their way late in the meeting. With both Kaye and Musina taking the first set in their respective matches, both faltered late to give up the remaining two sets and the eventual match to Northwood. Musina led 7-5 before dropping the second set 6-2. The third set started off hot as Musina led 3-0 over Veronika Radlinger, but after that moment it was all Northwood as Radlinger rattled off 6 straight games to take the set 6-3. Kaye also started off hot for the Dragons, but cooled off late in the match as well. Kaye started off with a 6-4 set win and then fell in the second set by the same score. The final set was decided by a 7-5 victory in favor of Anna Aniskina of Northwood. Bianca Avram dropped her match to Tetyana Pavych 6-1, 6-4 while Andrea Alaniz fell 6-1, 6-2 to Yuliia Russu.
The Dragons will be playing their next match on Sunday September 11th against Saginaw Valley beginning at 10 am in Tiffin.