Middle Tennessee women’s tennis (1-3) returned to action over the weekend as the Blue Raiders took on Northwestern University and Lipscomb University in their home-opening slate. 

On Saturday, MTSU opened the weekend with a match against undefeated Northwestern (4-0). 

It was all Wildcats in doubles play as Northwestern’s Maia Loureiro and Marelie Raath cruised to a 6-1 victory over MTSU’s Zora Koenig and Zenn Lim on court three.  

On court one, it was more of the same as Mika Fruchtman and Neena Feldman beat MTSU’s Sara Conde and Lena Peyer 6-2 to take the overall doubles point. 

In singles play, it was once again all Northwestern. The first game to finish was on court five, where Northwestern’s Raath dominated Conde 6-0, 6-0. 

On court two, Northwestern’s Feldman beat Rutuja Chaphalkar 6-1, 6-2.  

The closest match to finish was on court three, where Northwestern’s Autumn Rabjohns bested Sthefany Lima 6-4, 6-3. 

The Blue Raiders couldn’t find anything against a strong Northwestern squad as the Wildcats completed the sweep, winning the overall match 7-0.  

Northwestern remained undefeated on the season, advancing to 5-0, while the Blue Raiders turned their attention towards Lipscomb University (1-0). 

The Blue Raiders came out of the gate hot on Sunday in doubles play as the duo of Peyer and Lim dominated Lipscomb’s Mariia Dolzhenko and Kameliia Tytarenko, winning 6-0 on court three.  

Lipscomb evened the doubles score when Conde and Koenig fell to the Bison’s Deborah Dominguez and Sofiia Paladi 6-3. 

Despite this, MTSU secured the doubles point after Chaphalkar and Lima bested Serafi Bobrovnikova and Martina Bovio 6-4 on court two.  

The first two singles matches to conclude resulted in Lipscomb wins, as Dolzhenko beat Chaphalkar in dominating fashion 6-0, 6-0.  

Over on court one, Peyer fell to Lipscomb’s Sofiia Paladi 6-4, 6-1. This match was a lot closer than the score suggests, as every point was hard fought for.  

Lima and Lim got MTSU on the board as they both won their match 6-2, 6-4 and 6-4, 6-2, respectively.  

Lipscomb evened the overall score at three after Conda fell to Bobrovnikova in three sets 6-0, 6-4, 6-0.  

Despite an outstanding effort from Zara Koenig, she fell to Bovio in three sets 6-4, 6-3, 7-5. Lipscomb took the overall match 4-3, advancing to 2-0 on the season. The Blue Raiders fell to 1-3 with the loss.  

The Blue Raiders’ next game is Friday, Feb. 13 when they travel to Vanderbilt University to face the 6-0 Commadores.