Women’s Tennis Secure Playoff Spot

West Liberty’s women’s tennis team booked their place in the MEC Championships last weekend with a 7-0 win over rivals West Virginia Wesleyan College. This win took the Lady Toppers to a conference record of 4-2 for the season which leaves them in third place in the conference standings.

Coming off the back of four straight losses, West Liberty were hoping to get back to winning ways with their first win of the month. In their last two conference match-ups, they took tough defeats against West Virginia State University and the University of Charleston, winning just one game across the two competitions.
They got off to a much better start this time out though, winning two of three doubles matches to give themselves an early 1-0 advantage. Jacqueline Pena Aceves and Nathalia Valencia took a 6-0 win at No. 2 doubles while Ishika Agarwal and Alex Olson were 6-4 victors at No. 3.

Coach Heather Gallagher’s Hilltoppers were dominant in singles action as they won all six games, meaning that they took home a 7-0 sweep over the Bobcats. What was even more impressive was that each of the Toppers’ six wins came in two sets, with none of them going to a tiebreaker set.

This leaves West Liberty in a good position going into the MEC Tournament semi-finals this weekend, where they will be hoping they can continue their good form. They will enter the tournament as the #3 seed, meaning they will face off against the #2 seed, the University of Charleston. The semi-final matchup is set for this Saturday, May 1 and action will get underway at noon at the Schoenbaum Courts in Charleston, WV.

The Lady Toppers know that it won’t be an easy task to get past the Golden Eagles as they took a 6-1 defeat to them just a few weeks ago. They will be hoping to record their first win in this match-up since 2019 and progress to the conference final on Sunday, which will also start at noon.

Men’s Tennis Qualify Despite Tough Loss

Despite taking a 6-1 defeat against West Virginia Wesleyan College, the West Liberty men’s tennis team has qualified for the upcoming MEC Tournament semi-finals. Boasting a 4-3 conference record for the regular season,the Hilltoppers progress to the postseason for a sixth consecutive season.

It was an extremely challenging game for them on the day with the Bobcats turning out to be too strong for WLU in both singles and doubles play. Daisuke Aota and Isfan Makhumudov put the Toppers on the board with a win in the No. 2 doubles. However this wasn’t enough to secure the doubles point for the team as Wesleyan won the remaining two doubles games to give themselves a 1-0 advantage.

Senior Anton Schulz was the only Topper to put up a win in singles play after defeating his opponent in two straight sets, meaning that the Bobcats took home a 6-1 victory. Having recorded a 7-0 victory in the same fixture earlier in the season, the Hilltoppers will be disappointed with their performances and they will be looking to improve as they head into the conference tournament this weekend.

Head Coach Ronald Hulewicz will be hoping that his side can rediscover some of their impressive form that saw them boost a 4-1 in-conference record at the beginning of the season and take home the conference title. If they were to become conference champions they would be the first West Liberty men’s tennis team to do so since 2016 and it would be a first under the management of Hulewicz.

The Toppers will enter the tournament as the No. 4 seed, meaning they will face off against regionally ranked University of Charleston. The matchup will get underway at 2.30 p.m. at the Schoenbaum Courts in Charleston, WV.

For more information and updates on the tournament visit Hilltoppersports.com